I don’t I have anything unique to say about this. It lived up to the hype, and basically every review I’ve seen from people I follow is 5 stars, so I had high expectations. I also don’t particularly drift toward this era for historical fiction either.

But as much as it’s a pretty granular accounting of what life was like for cowboys, it’s also a thorough character study and rumination on gender dynamics and the inability to comprehend the full context of any single life.

After all, we follow Gus and the band from before they had the notion to drive cattle from Texas to Montana (a staggering feet, truly), all the way through and beyond that endeavour. And in all that time, to be honest, I had been so sure that the painting I had been looking at, for that is how well drawn the characters are in this book, that I thought I had the measure of every single one of them.

But of course as soon as we hear memories of Gus’s past—memories he recounts a few times at the fire with the boys—lived by others who shared them being told, it becomes clear that all people, especially Gus, are so multifaceted we fail to see certain moments as they really are. And when such things are fundamental to a person, that is truly the building blocks or the drive and the hopes of a person, and they involve someone else, well it’s almost terrifying how much can be internalized without ever getting the “full picture.”

Anyway, this book made me think about things like that. And the book starts you off with a notion and never really stops giving you something to chew on. That is exactly what I’m looking for from fiction. This is so rich you sink right into it. What’s more is the ending, which so many stories struggle with, is perfect, I think. Can’t say that of very many books at all.