The Son

By Philipp Meyer

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES starring Pierce Brosnan and co-written by Philipp Meyer

The critically acclaimed, New York Times-bestselling epic, a saga of land, blood and power, follows the rise of one unforgettable Texas family from the Comanche raids of the 1800s to the oil booms of the 20th century.

Eli McCullough is just twelve years old when a marauding band of Comanche storm his Texas homestead, brutally murder his mother and sister and take him captive. Despite their torture and cruelty, Eli - against all odds - adapts to life with the Comanche, learning their ways and language, taking on a new name, finding a place as the adopted son of the band's chief and fighting their wars against not only other Indians but white men too, which complicates his sense of loyalty, his promised vengeance and his very understanding of self. But when disease, starvation and westward expansion finally decimate the Comanche, Eli is left alone in a world in which he belongs nowhere, neither white nor Indian, civilized nor fully wild.

Deftly interweaving Eli’s story with those of his son Peter and his great-granddaughter JA, The Son maps the legacy of Eli’s ruthlessness, his drive to power and his lifelong status as an outsider, even as the McCullough family rises to become one of the richest in Texas, a ranching and oil dynasty that is as resilient and dangerous as the land they claim. Yet, like all empires, the McCulloughs must eventually face the consequences of their choices.

Panoramic, deeply evocative and utterly transporting, The Son is a masterpiece American novel - part epic of Texas, part classic coming-of-age story - that combines the narrative prowess of Larry McMurtry with the knife-edge sharpness of Cormac McCarthy.

'Stunning ... a book that for once really does deserve to be called a masterpiece' Kate Atkinson

'Magnificent ... McCarthy's Border Trilogy is a point of reference, as is There Will Be Blood, but it is not fanciful to be reminded of certain passages from Moby-Dick - it's that good'The Times

'Brilliant ... a wonderful novel' Lionel Shriver
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Jul 18, 2013
• ISBN: 9780857209450

Philipp Meyer

Philipp Meyer is the author of the critically lauded novel American Rust, winner of the 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize. It was an Economist Book of the Year, a Washington Post Top Ten Book of the Year, and a New York Times Notable Book. He is a graduate of Cornell University and has an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a James Michener Fellow. A native of Baltimore, he now lives mostly in Texas.

Reviews for The Son

[draak_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I bought this book after watching the series The Son and I am so glad I did. This book has it all from the Indian raids to the settling of Texas. It is told by 3 people, Eli, his son Peter, and his great granddaughter Jeanne Anne. It tells the story of Eli being taken hostage by the Indians after his mother, sister and brother are killed. His life with the Indians and how he returned to his own kind and how he made his fortune. Although I think his life would have been kinder to him had he stayed with the Indians because his own children weren't kind to him at all. All in all a very good read with a few surprises at the end.

[widsith_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I had loved Meyer's American Rust when I read it during a holiday in Pennsylvania a couple of years back; a trip to Texas last week seemed like a good excuse to read his follow-up, which showed every sign of being a culmination of his many talents. The Son is a sprawling, multigenerational family tale, not a million miles away from the kind of AGA-saga that people like Joanna Trollope have been writing for years, though because the author is male and American the book – which in alternating chapters follows the members of three different generations from the 1830s to the present day – has been lauded as some kind of revolution in narrative structure.The earliest storyline, which is by far the most compelling (there's problem one), consists of a first-person account by the family patriarch, who was abducted by Comanches and brought up first as a slave and eventually as an accepted member of the tribe. Here Meyer is in fine deadpan Western mode, channelling Faulkner and – especially – inviting risky comparisons with Cormac McCarthy, in relation to whom Meyer occasionally seems almost to be a pasticheur:By sundown the walls of the canyon looked to be on fire and the clouds coming off the prairie were glowing like smoke in the light, as if this place were His forge and the Creator himself were still fashioning the earth.Meyer's prose style is not as distinctive as McCarthy's, and he doesn't have quite the same bleakness of vision (Meyer reacts to man's violence with weariness and sympathy, while McCarthy reacts with pure horror), but he does have a stronger sense of plot and incident. Following Eli McCullough's early life as a Comanche captive is totally compelling from a purely narrative point of view, the inside portrayal of Comanche life is impressively convincing, and interleaving the stories of Eli's descendants makes it very clear how this violence was handed down to future generations.There is a practical point being made here, which appealed to me: it's not anything high-flown about the metaphysics of conflict and death, but rather about the sober realities of how the American West was built on constant cycles of killing – whether of animals, Native Americans, Mexicans or neighbours – and how these cycles do not just replay endlessly in place but are also even exported (notice how later generations of McCulloughs, heavily involved in the oil industry, discuss creating further opportunities in Iran and Iraq).On the ranch they had found points from both the Clovis and the Folsom, and while Jesus was walking to Calvary the Mogollon people were bashing each other with stone axes. When the Spanish came there were the Suma, Jumano, Manso, La Junta, Concho and Chisos and Toboso, Ocana and Cacaxtle, the Coahuiltecans, Comecrudos…but whether they had wiped out the Mogollons or were descended from them, no one knew. They were all wiped out by the Apaches. Who were in turn wiped out, in Texas anyway, by the Comanches. Who were finally wiped out by the Americans.The book's title, then, doesn't refer to any son in particular. Rather, it brings to mind Biblical warnings about where the sins of the father will be visited: that sense of retribution, unfairness, and cyclical violence is what the novel is finally about. The cycles have not stopped and they show every sign of continuing to play out until we're all long gone.The question is, do you need six hundred pages to illustrate that point? I felt that you didn't, and the book overstayed its welcome slightly for me; from around the halfway mark, I was silently urging, yes, yes, we get it and battling a growing sense that the more modern strands of narrative were underdeveloped and contributing little – they wouldn't stand on their own two feet and only worked as adjuncts to the richer story of the 1860s.This practical problem, I suspect, is what motivated the novel's structure. Nevertheless, there are passages in here, of Comanche raids and southwestern hoodoos, that I wouldn't have missed for anything; and as a man-hands-on-misery-to-man family drama, it's full of gruff charm, emotional resonance, and pointed reflections on what lies behind the making of America.

[fhudnell-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This long family saga set in Texas is primarily told from the point of view of three related characters of different generations. Unfortunately, I found the story of only one of the characters interesting and even that storyline sort of petered out. Eli McCullough is taken by the Comanche when he is 12 and lives with them until he is 16. I liked his description of life with his captors, who became his new family. His life after he returned to live with white people also had an interesting progression. In contrast, the lives of the other two protagonists had no progression at all and did not interest me very much. The story of Eli's son Peter is mostly about the murder of Mexicans by the white Texans who then stole their land. There was also Peter's affair with a Mexican woman, which probably wasn't a good idea for either of them. The chapters of the book dealing with Eli's great granddaughter were like episodes of Dallas - all money, politics and oil deals. Also there was a lot of whining about the problems of a woman in a man's world (which are hard to take seriously coming from someone enormously wealthy). I don't think the blurb does this book any favors by comparing it to the work of Larry McMurtry and Cormac McCarthy.I'd had this book for a while but only decided to read it when I heard about the upcoming TV series based on the book. After listening to the audiobook, I'm still undecided about whether or not I want to watch the series. I can easily see it sinking in a morass of sex and violence. The audiobook had multiple narrators and I particularly liked the narration of the Eli chapters by Will Patton.

[alexrichman_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A brilliant sprawling tale of a Great American Family. The Eli sections - a more accessible, less gruesome Blood Meridian - are so good that they outshine the other two strands quite dramatically, but it's fun flicking back and forth in time to see quite how the formidable patriarch's reputation was formed.

[unkletom_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Meyer's book is a sprawling family chronicle told through the eyes of four members of the McCullough family spanning from the 1830s to modern times. Only one of the characters, family patriarch Eli has a story that is compelling enough to keep me wanting more. Kidnapped as a boy and raised by Comanches, he later goes on to become a Texas Ranger and Confederate officer before starting his family empire. I liked his character so much that all others were pale caricatures by comparison.

[npjacobsen · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In "The Son," Philipp Meyer allows us to follow the triumphs and misfortunes of the McCullough family. It also parallels the the rise of Texas, and thus the McCullough's fate is symbolic of the destiny of the state. Spanning more than 150 years, Meyer takes us from Texas' independence through both World Wars and into modern times.The book is written through the eyes of three McCullough family members (and near the end a fourth is added): Eli McCullough, the family patriarch; Eli's son Peter; and Jeannie McCullough, Eli's great-granddaughter. Each generation has its own crises to deal with and the history of the times are seamlessly added. The format is consistent with a diary or memoir told by these three characters.Eli's story was the most interesting to me. His family was attacked by a Comanche raiding party and Eli kidnapped at the tender young age of 13. Initially a slave, Eli would prove his worth and eventually was accepted as a full member of the tribe. He did not have too much difficulty adapting to the new culture, and the Comanche lifestyle seemed to be made just for him. In fact, he had more trouble assimilating to the white man's culture when he returned to it. He joined the Texas Rangers to help himself adapt as it was the closest thing to the Comanche lifestyle that he could find. Blessed with the gift of long life, Eli was over 100 years old when he died. Eli's story started during Texas' independence from Mexico in 1836 and ended during the great depression of the 1930's.Next was Peter McCullough, Eli's son who was known as the "great disappointment." Peter's story took place in the years around World War I and focused on his philosophical differences with his father and the problems between the whites and the Mexicans in the area surrounding the McCullough ranch in southern Texas. In my opinion, Peter was too compassionate to succeed in the tough Texas landscape and was destined to be the outcast of the McCullough family. It seemed rather ironic that this trait would lead to the downfall of Peter McCullough.The final point of view followed Jeannie McCullough from the era of the great depression through the time period surrounding the dawning of the 21st century. Living in a man's world, Jeannie suffered the discrimination directed toward women during the time period covered. She learned the skills required to succeed in the cattle business and was better at most things than her brothers, yet she was discouraged from these activities. She was responsible for the transformation of the ranch's main business from cattle to oil, which had been started by Eli before his death.I did not really like this book, but also did not dislike it. With the exception of Eli's story, it seemed to lack the substance to grab my attention and interest. Also, I was not able to form a connection with any of the characters. Additionally, I did not care for the inclusion of the Spanish and Comanche languages without corresponding translations into English. Although it was not excessive, there were enough instances to be annoying. For these reasons, I rated this book 3 stars, an average read in my opinion.

[timbazzett · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

THE SON, by Philipp Meyer.Philipp Meyer's second novel, a multi-generational saga of the taming of Texas, has enjoyed unparalleled success and an outpouring of critical praise, so there's probably very little I can add that will make much difference. I enjoyed the book very much.A book like THE SON does not evolve from a vacuum, however. So I thought I would list a few of its esteemed predecessors, all of which occurred to me as I was reading this book and made me wonder if Philipp Meyer had read any or all of them. Here they are, in no particular order:LITTLE BIG MAN, by Thomas Berger;GIANT, by Edna Ferber (indeed, Ferber becomes a minor off-stage character in Jeannie's story);LONESOME DOVE, by Larry McMurtry;THE SEARCHERS, by Alan Lemay;THE OLD GRINGO, by Carlos Fuentes; and maybe evenTHE CARPETBAGGERS, by Harold Robbins (for the Nevada Smith character).I know there are many other such books. Philipp Meyer's THE SON stands pretty tall amongst these though, and I suspect it will hang around for a long time. I'm giving it four and a half stars only because I thought the conclusion meandered somewhat, trying to figure out just how and where to finish up. But wow, what great characters he has created, ones that will endure for a long time. Bravo, Mr. Meyer. Very highly recommended.

[eenerd · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What an engrossing and enjoyable family saga. Particularly interesting in that it really dives into some not-well-remembered historical eras, including antebellum and pre-WWI Texas (and Mexico, for that matter). I listened to the audiobook, and all the readers were fantastic, although Will Patton is without a doubt one of my all-time favorites--his performance really blew me away.

[schmerguls · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This 2013 multi-generational novel spans events in Texas from the early 19th century to the present day, concentrating on Eli McCullough, (who at age 13 is captured by Comanches and fits right into their way of life, learning many able things and doing much evil as well), and on his son Peter (who is appalled by .the things his father does against the Mexicans who were in Texas long before the whites) and on Peter's granddaughter who lives into the present time. None of the characters in the novel are wholly admirable and some more evil than good. The book jumps between the characters in successive chapters and while I usually dislike that device in this case it did not annoy. The book is easy to read and holds one's interest, but it would have been neat to have some more admirable characters--but I suppose that would have made it unhistorical. It reminded me of Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove (read by me 17 Jan 1987) and of Edna Ferber's Giant (read July 11, 2007). It was good to see that Peter had adverse reactions to his father's evil doings but even Peter was a flawed man. It would have made a better novel if it had had more actual history in the account, though apparently the author did huge amounts of reading preparatory to writing the book, so one perhaps can rely on the book not being ahistorical--though when reading of the torture and murders one hoped it was,

[josephking6602 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A sweeping historical novel about the Texans, the Mexicans, the Indians and a family that lives through it all. Very engaging read! The story-line did a wonderful job of weaving together the generations across 250+ years of history. A very clever and insightful story. Highly recommended.

[agnesmack · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read The Son because it was shortlisted for the Pulitzer and I'm doing that super-time-consuming-yet-fun-yet-frustrating Pulitzer winner vs. Shortlist thing in which I read the books that were shortlisted for the Pulitzer and decide if one of them is better than the winner. The Son was shortlisted in 2014 and I've now read both shortlisted books and the winner. I'll do an official comparison sometime in the next week but for now - The Son.This is a massive epic that spans, I don't even know how many years: lots? Yes, lots. It's the story of a Texas . . . not really town, but enormous parcel of land that once belonged to Mexico and by the end of the book is split up amongst a number of families. The story is told from numerous points of view, including the land owners, their various family members, and the Native Americans who were there long before any of these other jokers. This is a book with a much-needed cast of character list in the front so you can keep track not just of which character is narrating each chapter but what century it takes place in. The author did an excellent job of making this as easy to navigate as possible. I do love a book told from many perspectives but it can be done really terribly. That was certainly not the case here. I gave this book five stars on Goodreads because it was so easy to identify as a Very Good Book. The writing was solid, the character development was on point, and the author admirably made several conflicting impressions of the situation seem valid. That said, I can't say that I loved this book. It was very good. I never dreaded getting back to it. But I also didn't connect with any of the characters on a personal level. I didn't think about them when I wasn't reading the story and I wasn't disappointed to finish this book. I would absolutely recommend this book to a person who enjoys reading a very realistic Western where all guys are both good guys and bad guys, and to anyone who likes family dramas that span centuries.

[folivier-3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Très beau roman. Dépaysant, captivant, très agréable à lire. Trois personnages d'une famille texane nous racontent l'histoire de leur famille, de l'état du Texas et de notre monde depuis le milieu du XXI° siècle jusqu'à nos jours. Phiipp Meyer nous décrit l'émergence des Etats-unis modernes, et une Amérique entrain de disparaître, la fin des peuplades indiennes, la fin des grands espaces, le début de l'industrialisation, de la croissance des villes et surtout les débuts de l'industrie pétrolière. Au travers de cette histoire de famille, Philipp Meyer démonte les mythes des origines des Etats-unis, dénonce la violence et le mépris du blanc envers les indiens, les mexicains, mais rappelle que l'histoire se construit malheureusement sur la lutte violente et cruelle de la loi du plus fort, de plus égoïste et du plus cynique.La construction du roman est original par son basculement permanent entre les trois discours. le récit de Eli McCullough, le Colonel, à l'origine de la fortune de la famille, étant un roman épique racontant les indiens, les combats, la guerre de Sécession et surtout la description des grands espaces, la nature omniprésente. Le récit de son fils, Peter, sous forme d'un journal, relève plus du roman social, se mettant au niveau des hommes et des luttes de consciences face à la violence de cette société et la haine des autres et de la différence. Enfin le récit de Jeanne-Anne l'arrière-petite-fille, qui à près de quatre-vingt ans se voit entrain de mourir et se remémore sa vie, le texte devient alors par petite touche une critique forte des Etats-unis en particulier et de nos sociétés occidentales en général, la destruction de la nature, l'oppression des plus faibles, le racisme et la violence toujours présent, une société opulente, sans but et sans valeur.

[nilsjohanostlund · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the best ever.

[carltonc_5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a well written, page turning, epic story of the McCulloughs from the 1840's up to the present day told primarily through the alternating stories of three members of the family. It may also be interpreted as a view of any family dynamic that goes from rags (to riches) to rags or more generally the passing of the American dream.Eli McCullough's story is best told and, for me, dominates the book. It is the story of the young son of a frontier settler, taken into slavery by the Comanches when the rest of his family is killed. Eli tells the story of his progression from slavery to near equality with the Comanches and it is this story that is most powerful, engaging and well told. This story on its own would make an excellent (although violent) book.Eli then goes on to tell his story as he passes back to the "white folk", his work during the Confederacy and how he then changes (has been changed) so that he becomes a successful businessman and landowner. This is believable but is necessarily very episodic. Eli dominates the book and is a very rounded character. I felt that I understood why he became "the Colonel" in the memory of the other characters.The story of Peter (Eli's son) is told with excerpts from his journals kept in 1914 to 1917. Peter is therefore necessarily a less engaging character and this is more so as I did not fully believe why he was the character he was. Very much a farmer (cattleman), he does not appreciate the drive of his father and takes a course of action that leads to a more normal ordinary life. Although he starts as a melancholic figure, I thought that he probably ended as the most content character, but he achieves this by escaping from his father's influence.Jeanne, great grand-daughter of Eli, is the third story and is the more familiar story of a successful business person (unusually a woman for her time) in the middle and latter part of the twentieth century. Her story is told as flashback and shows how, although she is shaped by her great grand-father's drive, she cannot pass that on to the next generations.There is a tragic but what feels like an inevitable conclusion, to bring the three stories together in a satisfying way (although it feels too contrived because of that).The past is a different place and the story of Eli makes you believe this. This part of the story might be compared to Blood Meridian, but the book as a whole is a multi-generational family epic.A very readable book, well written, with Eli McCullough bestriding it all.

[alexander19-2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Son is an epic if there has ever been one. It follows different members of the McCullough family through different generations, from back in the old days when Texas was overrun by Indians, to present day. The writing and story's pace was wonderful throughout the novel. My favorite character (As I'm sure he is most everyone's) would have to be Eli. That voice was just so original and one for the ages. Nothing was held back in this novel either: from screwing people over in land/oil deals to how the Indians used every piece of a Buffalo. If not for the amazing story, read this book to show you the inner workings of greed and want, and because it is just that good a novel.

[samsattler · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Philipp Meyer’s The Son is one of those books that instantly clicked with me. It happens sometimes that the perfect-for-you book comes along at just the right moment, a book that intrigues you from the first page right on through the last one (and there are 561 pages in The Son, so that is really saying something). I am not naïve enough to believe that everyone will have the same reaction to The Son that I had, but at this point it is my favorite novel of the first half of 2013.This is the story of seven generations of the McCulloughs, a Texas family whose third generation was sired by Eli McCullough who claims to have been the first Anglo male child born in the Republic of Texas (March 1836). But, unlike so many family sagas, this one is not told in a linear, let’s follow the family tree right down the line, kind of way. Rather, Meyer lets three generations of the McCullough family carry the brunt of the action: Eli (second generation), Peter (third generation), and Jeanne Anne (fifth generation). By alternating narrative chapters from his three main narrators, and having each of them fill in the backstories of other family members, Meyer makes it easy for the reader to follow this remarkable family’s entire 200-year saga.Living in Texas during Eli’s generation was not for sissies, something Eli and the rest of his immediate family learn the hard way when a Comanche raiding party targets the McCullough family farm. For Eli, however, the raid will turn out to be one of those cases of “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” The years he spends with the tribe, his new family, prepare him for anything that Texas will be able to throw at him for the rest of his life. But Peter McCullough, born in 1870, is not the typical Texan of his day, especially for a man fathered by Eli McCullough. Peter is the “sensitive” type, a man whom his father and two younger brothers see as strangely unwilling to defend the family interest in the long running border war between American and Mexican ranchers. His empathy for his Mexican counterparts is considered a weakness by even, if not especially by, those closest to him.The formidable Jeanne Anne (Peter’s granddaughter), already an old woman by the end of the twentieth century, brings the family into the modern era. Partly because she is somewhat of a feminist, but largely because there is no one else of her generation to do it, Jeanne Anne personally oversees the family’s enormous oil fortune at a time when women do not even think of attempting such a thing. The Son has become a personal favorite of mine, a novel I am likely to read several times over the years. I cannot guarantee that it will work as well for you, of course, but this Philipp Meyer novel is certainly worth a look.

[novelcommentary · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Son has been an excellent novel; a big sprawling novel, much like the state of Texas where it takes place. Learning about the three competing races that occupied the Texas frontier, the Comanche indians, the Mexicans, and the American settlers was captured vividly and sympathetically. Then seeing the progression of the times as the American settlers discover that oil is more lucrative than cattle ranching gives a portrait of a era that has ended as well. Three narrators enable the reader to experience three generations of Texas frontier life. The earliest narrator was kidnapped by the Comanche Indians, his son was a cattleman who regrets his experience with the macacre of the local Mexicans and then his granddaughter is the wealthy daughter of a cattleman turned oil driller. Eli's story is by far the most engrossing as he lives as a Comanche Indian and then later becomes a Texas Ranger. Peter's discarded journal provide for us some empathy for the cruelties that seem necessary in a land whose owner is the last to take it over by force. Jeannie's story is more intriguing because the reader is introduced to her lying on the floor unable to move at 86 years old. It is not until the very last pages of the book do we find out the unique circumstances that leave her in this position and this discovery completes a certain cosmic circle. I thought this was an excellent historical fiction piece and look forward to reading American Rust. It was a great way to spend my August reading time.

[naphta0853 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An extraordinary epic. Brilliantly crafted with alternating voices and visions of a multigenerational family coming to terms with its destiny. If possible, I'd recommend reading Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne prior to The Son for a perfect introduction to and history of Comancheria.

[bookqueenshelby · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The Son by Philipp Meyer I have lusted for this book since I saw the first ad for it. Disappointed I am.
Is this novel that great American novel that it is being advertised as? For me-no. I liked the parts of the book involving "the Son" Eli especially the part where he was a Comanche captive. The research on that part of the book was fascinating and honestly that's the only part of the whole book that kept me from just putting it aside.
The parts that involved his son Peter and granddaughter Jeanette were just filler that did not add to the story for me. I so wanted to like this book.
I loved "Lonesome Dove" and keep hearing this book compared to it. Not even. It doesn't even deserve to be allowed to sit next to that book on a shelf. I am giving 3 stars just because I did like the aforementioned part. Mostly I'm just ticked at myself for spending almost 3 days on this book.

[knittingmomof3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Son by Philip Meyer, while extremely well written, was not a book I enjoyed. However, my son, who prefers this sort of genre found the book to be quite exciting. I highly suggest reading the book synopsis well (better than I did) and checking out other reviews before deciding of this is the book for you.

[mom2acat · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This epic novel spans several generations of a Texas family. As the story opens, 100 year old Eli McCullough is telling the story of his life to a reporter. In 1836, he was the first male child born in the newly established Republic of Texas. He is 13 years old when a band of Comanche storm his family's homestead and kidnap Eli and his brother.Eli is brave and clever, and quickly adapts to the Comanche life, and earns acceptance into the tribe. But a few years later, when disease begins killing off the tribe, Eli finds himself alone. Neither white nor Indian, he must carve a place for himself in a world he doesn't fully belong to. Love, honor, and even children are sacrificed in the name of ambition as the family becomes one of the wealthiest in Texas.The story of the family is told in turns by Eli, Eli's son Peter, who has to bear the emotional cost of his father's drive for power, and Jeannie, Eli's great granddaughter, who had to fight hard to succeed in the oil business, at a time when business of any kind was considered a "man's world".Eventually, the McCoulloughs must face the consequences of their choices, starting with those that Eli made which affect the generations to come.There is a lot of violence in this novel, quite detailed at times, (especially the things done to the whites by the Comanche), but it doesn't feel gratuitous, it's a reflection of how brutal things were in that time and place. While Eli's chapters of the story deal with Indians vs. whites, Peter's story deals with the racism of the whites against the Hispanics, which led a lot of senseless violent acts committed against the people of Spanish descent.This is a long novel, 572 pages, but the story never feels slowed down or lagging. At first, I wasn't sure I was going to like it, mainly because of the violence, but as I got further into the story, I really appreciated how well written the characters were, and the plots twists all throughout the story really drew me in. The author has a real gift for giving a good feel for the times and places without going into overly long descriptions of scenery, which I liked because every word in the book really stuck to the heart of the story. It's not as easy feat to pull off a story that spans so much time, from 1836 to 2012, but Philipp Meyer has accomplished it with this novel.I received a free advance readers copy of this book from TheReadingRoom.com. It will be released to the public May 28, 2013.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Son by Philipp Meyer tells the epic story of the McCullough family and in doing so also tells the story of the settling and growth of Texas. The scope is huge, as this tale of a cattle and oil dynasty unfolds over the course of 150 years of history. The story is revealed through the voices of three members of the McCullough family: First and foremost is Eli McCullough , Indian captive, Texas Ranger, rancher and oil man, a strong, powerful and complex character . Secondly, his son Peter , a more introspective and gentle man who is often in conflict with his harsh father but who is definitely the moral compass of the story. Lastly, Jeanne, great-granddaughter of Eli, a strong willed business orientated woman who struggles to find her place in both the male dominated family she grows up in and the oil industry that is top heavy with masculine oil barons.Of the three stories I was most taken with Eli’s dealing as it did with the early days, his being taken captive by the Comanche, his difficulties when returned to the white world, his years as a Texas Ranger, and his days of cattle ranching. Peter’s tale is a difficult one exposing the racism that existed in the early 1900’s between the Texans and the Mexicans as the U.S. and Mexico were on the brink of open warfare. Peter walks a taunt line with his father on one side and his own inner feeling of compassion and decency toward those of Mexican descent on the other. Unfortunately, I found the author showed a weakness in depicting realistic women characters and that weakness extended to the female voice of Jeanne McCullough. I never felt invested or even particularly interested in Jeanne which was too bad as her story covered an interesting time period and should have been a more exciting read.Ultimately, I did enjoy The Son, I was both entertained and educated, but I wish I could say that this story totally swept me away and that I “felt” more. After a truly epic opening, I found myself distanced from the characters and the plot and I wish the author had offset the violence and coldness of his story with some humor and fleshed out his characters a little more to produce a more approachable and human story.

[lit_chick_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

2013, Harper Collins Publishers, Read by Will Patton, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Shepherd, Clifton Collins Jr."By 1846 we had moved past the line of settlement, to my father’s headright on the Pedernales … Grass up to the chest, the soil deep and black in the bottoms, and even the steepest hillsides overrun with wildflowers. It was not the dry rocky place it is today. Wild Spanish cattle were easily acquired with a rope – within a year we had a hundred head. Hogs and mustang horses were also for the taking … the country was rich with life the way it is rotten with people today. The only problem was keeping your scalp attached.” (Ch 1)The Son is an epic multi-generational saga of the McCullough family and a fabulous account of the settling of Texas over a period of roughly one hundred fifty years, beginning in 1849. MuCullough patriarch, Eli, the ruthless, driving force of the novel, opens the narrative. Kidnapped as a young teen, he spent several years as a member of the Comanche tribe, returning home later to join first the Texas Rangers and later the Confederate Army. Eli makes his fortune in cattle ranching and forges the way to the McCullough dynasty which will subsequently include enormous wealth from oil. A generation later, his son, Peter, will accept the burden for the cruelty with which his father mastered the land; and will pay for the sins the family accumulated along with its riches. Speaking to readers through diaries he wrote pre-WWI, Peter is the voice of human decency: he despises the racism he witnesses towards those of Mexican and Native American descent. Unlike his father in every imaginable way, Peter is as weak as Eli is ruthless. Finally, we hear from Peter’s granddaughter, Jeanne, who has much in common with Eli in terms of personal grit. Jeanne is made to feel out of place running an oil company as well as several other business interests in the Texas boys' club. Eighty-six years old at the point of her narration, she is enormously wealthy and powerful, and has achieved monumental success as an "oil woman" but the path was fraught with difficulty: deceit, arrogance, snobbery, cruelty.Meyer’s tale swept me up immediately, and I remained fascinated with the characters and the Texas frontier throughout its substantial length. Lyrical, brutal, and raw, The Son is an American story for the ages. The narration of this audiobook by Patton, Mulgrew, Shepherd, and Collins is magnificent. Most highly recommended.“It occurred to me, as I watched the oil flow down the hill, that soon there will be nothing left to subdue the pride of men. There is nothing we will not have mastered. Except, of course, ourselves.” (Ch 39)

[janismack · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting story of the early days when Texas was part of Mexico. The book is penned by 3 of the descendents but the most interesting character is Eli who was kidnapped by the Comanche Indians when he was 13 years old. I liked the book but I found that my mind wandered toward the end. The descriptions of the raids by the Comanche were violent and I had a hard time reading right through. I enjoyed it, it was a different spin on stories of the old west.

[froxgirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I enjoy multi-generational sagas - and this one, with its laser focus on native Americans, Mexicans, and women, is one of the best ever.It's the McCullough family in three eras: Eli, who is taken hostage by Comanches as a young child when his family is murdered; Peter, who joins in a massacre of Mexican ranch neighbors for reasons that are stunningly revealed almost at the novel's end; and J.A., the woman who was brought up to be a cattle and oil baron by her background but not in her gender. Each McCullough burns and gets burned in horrific ways. The most vivid passages are Eli's time with the Comanches, Peter's longing for a daughter of the Garcias whom he and his kin drove off their land, and J.A.'s business acumen and dissatisfaction with her entire life and the family's accumulated wealth.My interest and pleasure was sustained over the course of more than a year on my Kindle. That's rare. For me, the novel stands on the shoulders of its McMurtry - Edna Ferber predecessors and makes it into my Texas top three, with Lonesome Dove and Giant.

[rivercityreading · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Philipp Meyer's The Son focuses on three generations of The McCulloughs, a family made wealthy through years of oil drilling on their vast Texas ranch. In alternating chapters, the novel starts with the family's patriarch Eli McCullough, who is kidnapped by the Comanches prior to the Civil War and slowly adopted by the tribe. Haunted by an incident involving his landholding Mexican neighbors and unwilling to fully prescribe to the McCullough way of life, Eli's son Peter struggles to find his place in the early 20th century. Jeanne Anne, Eli's great-granddaughter, looks back from modern day on her life as a fiercely independent businesswoman, wife and mother.

"It occurred to me, as I watched the oil flow down the hill, that soon there will be nothing left to subdue the pride of men. There is nothing we will not have mastered, except, of course, ourselves."

Meyer's novel starts small, allowing the reader to navigate both the McCullough family tree and the book's structure in short snapshots, but gradually builds to beautiful chapters that more deeply explore each character. The Son is a perfect example of successful plot building with a non-traditional narrative; despite a jumping timeline, it is easy to follow and feels like a fully examined world.

The Son breaches a number of topics in its journey through the centuries: success, power, feminism, war, legacy. Instead of leaving trails of each theme throughout his novel, Meyer weaves them into the plot, making connections thorough the bloodlines of his central characters. Each generation must live with the choices of the one before them while also trying to carve out a life of their own.

That struggle to find a compromise between the ideals of her great-grandfather, her father and the modern world is what makes Jeanne Anne such an incredible character; now one of my favorites in my reading history. Meyer's ability to get into the mind of a strong minded woman questioning her place in society, both as a single girl and later a married mother, is uncanny. Yet, like all of the novel's characters, he holds her accountable for her choices, leaving her vulnerable to tragedy.

"The Visigoths had destroyed the Romans, and themselves been destroyed by the Muslims. Who were destroyed by the Spanish and Portuguese. You did not need Hitler to see that it was not a pleasant story. And yet here she was. Breathing, having these thoughts. The blood that ran through history would fill every river and ocean, but despite all the butchery, here you were."

A big read that begs to be both devoured and savored, The Son is an epic novel of a family's history that will soon find itself on shelves alongside our treasured American classics.

[candyh_64 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Son is the story of the McCullough family through several generations as they settle in Texas, build their lives and all of the challenges and situations that the family deals with through the ages. This is an excellent story, but it seems to jump around quite a bit. I would recommend this book.

[fcpiii · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is a bit of an odd book, unless you like books told by multiple narrators each of whom is in a different time. My biggest complaint is that it is predictable that the family will end tragically, and of course you know they amass huge fortunes in whatever industry is driving Texas growth that decade... land cows or oil. The characters are interesting but lack gravitas in most cases. Eli the abducted progenitor gives up life suddenly with his Comanche kidnappers, but I wasn't sure this was a realistic decision for a 18 YO... For some reason all the Indians speak perfect english and say things like "How does that make you feel?" while still torturing captives. In the end of course the families sins against Native Americans and Mexicans come back to haunt them... Save $20 and read "Empire of the Summer Moon" and "lone Star" by Fehrenback In the case of Texas Truth is stranger ( and better written) than fiction

[norinrad10 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I can not say enough about this book. Hands down the book of year. This a grand sweeping novel in the tradition of John Steinbeck. Meyer tells the tale of three generations of McCoulloughs. A family that sees its fortunes rise as its tragedies mount. Pick this one up. You won't be sorry.

[maryreinert · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved this novel about generations of a Texas family starting with old Eli McCullough born in 1836 and captured by the Comanches when a young boy. Peter, his son, is also a product of the frontier but with very different values than his father. Eli's story is told in alternating chapters with entries from Peter's diary and the story of Peter's granddaughter, Jeanne born in 1926. Jeanne's life began when Texas was still part of the "Old West." But her life takes her into today's world of oil production.Without the family tree at the first of the book, I would have had some difficulty figuring out who was who, but after I got to know these characters they became so alive with faults, foibles, motives, ethics, loves, and the invisible but strong ties that bind families. Peter is so different from Eli. To Eli, the end always justifies the means; to Peter, life is just the opposite. Jeanne is definitely her great-grandfather's daughter as she learns to hold her own as a woman in the world of Texas oil.These three provide the backbone of the book which is then encompasses Indians, Texas Rangers, Mexicans, corrupt politicians, and a host of other memorable characters. This is a story of family love and hate and of the effects of greed and wealth on a family. It is a portrait of a violent, prejudiced, yet colorful history of Texas.