Selected Product:
| The Legend of Colton H. Bryant
Hardcover
Author: Alexandra Fuller
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Release Date: 2008-05-06
ISBN-10: 1594201838
ISBN-13: 9781594201837
List Price: $23.95
Average Customer Rating:
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Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
From the bestselling author of Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight and Scribbling the Cat, the unforgettable true story of a boy who comes of age in the oil-fields and open plains of Wyoming; a heartrending story of the human spirit that lays bare where it is that wisdom truly resides
Colton H. Bryant was one of Wyoming’s native sons and grown by that high, dry place, he never once wanted to leave it. “Wyoming loves me,” he said, and it was true. Wyoming—roughneck, wild, open, and searingly beautiful— loved him, and Colton loved it back. As a child in school, Colton never could force himself to focus on his lessons. Instead, he’d plan where he’d go fishing later, or he’d wonder how many jackrabbits he might find on his favorite hunting patch, or he’d dream about the rides he would take on the wild mare he was breaking. “At my funeral, you’ll all feel sorry for making me waste so much time in school,” he said to his best friend Jake—and it was true.
Two things got Colton through the boredom of school and the neighborhood “K-mart cowboys” who bullied him: His best friend Jake and his favorite mantra, a snatch of a saying he heard on TV: Mind over matter—which meant to him: If you don’t mind, it don’t matter. Colton and Jake grew up wanting nothing more than the freedom to sleep out under the great Wyoming night sky, to hunt and fish and chase the horizon and to be just like Colton’s dad, a strong and gentle man of few words. When it was time for Colton to marry and make money on his own, he took up as a hand on an oil rig. It was dangerous work, but Colton was the third generation in his family to work on the oil patch and he claimed it was in his blood. And anyway, he joked, he always knew he’d die young.
Colton did die young, and he died on the rig—falling to his death because the drilling company had neglected to spend two thousand dollars on the mandated safety rails that would have saved his life. His family received no compensation. But they didn’t expect to—they knew the company’s ways, and after all as Colton would have said: Mind over matter.
In Scribbling the Cat, Alexandra Fuller brought us the examined life of a Rhodesian soldier; now—in her inimitable poetic voice and with her pitch-perfect ear for dialogue— she brings before us the life of someone much closer to home, as unexpected as he is iconic. The moving, tough, and in many ways quintessentially American story of Colton H. Bryant’s life could not be told without also telling the story of the land that grew him—the beautiful and somehow tragic Wyoming; the land where there are still such things as cowboys roaming the plains, where it’s relationships that get you through, and where a just, soulful, passionate man named Colton H. Bryant lived and died.
portrait of an unsung hero
| Customer Rating: | In this non-fiction novel, Fuller somberly tells the story of an unsung American hero, a young oil drill rig worker; one of many who support this country's oil industry. You might call this a true crime novel--the crime being capitalistic greed and unfair treatment of workers; or you might call it a modern western for all the broad sweeping Wyoming landscapes, and the timeless struggle of its inhabitants ("who appear as tiny dots against the great swell of land") to work and prosper.
Getting into this book was really slow. It was kind of like watching a boring documentary...There is no plot focus at first, just short snippets of people and scenery. And I couldn't get past the pretentious writing. We are told Colton had a walk "like he had never really found the difference between sky and earth." I stuck with it because my friend liked it, and the chapters are short.
I was indifferent to Colton's character for the first half of the book. This is a boy who "put ketchup on his ketchup" and almost froze himself to death--twice. Things started to pick up when his horse runs away and he looks everywhere for her. But mainly I thought he was a goofball.
What saved this book for me is that Colton grew as a person into a responsible husband and father. I liked the last third of the book, and also the descriptions of the weather. But I can't say I liked the whole book since the first half annoyed me so much. It took me six weeks to finish it, because I could only take so much at one time. Even so, I would say that Fuller is a good and effective writer. Even though her writing don't get an enthusiastic "Whee-haw" out of me, it got the job done.
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A masterpiece that tells two stories
| Customer Rating: | | Alexandra Fuller is an extraordinary author who's done it once again. This book tells a story that affects every single energy consumer in America from a painfully human perspective - and does it with grace and amazing talent. Colton H. Bryant walks off the page from the first chapter of this book into the life of the reader; by the end, it's nearly impossible to not want to do something about the state of the oil and gas industry in the American West. Beautiful, touching, moving and inspiring - an absolute read. |
Thhis author never disappoints
| Customer Rating: | This is easily one of the best books I have read in a long time. Fuller's descriptive prose drew me instantly into the lives of the Bryant family and made me long to see this region of the US. As in her other books, her ability to bring to life the commonalities that exist in places and situations uncommon, is engaging and thought provoking long after the book's end.
I particularly appreciate the way she describes people and situations in ways that do not marginalize or villainize despite pain and culpability.
Excellent read! |
Not so Legendary
| Customer Rating: | | Where's the legend in this book? By standard definition a legend is a story of the past, a myth, a thing that inspires. This book did not qualify on any account. This story of "oil field trash" addresses a young person you don't want to be in a place you don't want to go. It speaks of a class of people that think lightly and feel deeply. The characters have extreme loyalty but not much sense. The protagonist did not reach notable proportions although his demise was touching in an overly sentimental way. His issue of personal success in the light of special needs in school was perhaps the message that stayed with me most. All in all, an average read. |
A Beautiful Tale about a Beautiful Soul
| Customer Rating: | I devoured this book. It is an amazing read. Of course, I knew how it ended (by the introduction and also the review in the newspaper) ...still, the end of the story broke my heart into a million pieces.
The reader gets to know Colton and to embrace his sweet and enthusiastic life of dreams and unfufilled hopes. He never gave up and never grumbled about his lot in life.
What really made my heart break though, was the small portrait of Colton at the very end. A sweet faced boy, his face haunted me as I read the book and long afterwards, too.
I can't be sure that Colton wasn't an angel on earth when he lived, but he is certainly an angel now. I heartily recommend this book. |
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