Far Bright Star

Starred review from February 16, 2009
In his seventh novel, Olmstead (Coal Black Horse
) delivers another richly characterized, tightly woven story of nature, inevitability and the human condition. In 1916, the aging Napoleon Childs assembles a cavalry to search for the elusive bandit Pancho Villa in Mexico. The ragtag group includes Napoleon’s brother, Xenophon, and “America’s eager export of losers, deadbeats, cutthroats, dilettantes, and murderers.” Riding on horseback for months at a time, Napoleon finds himself and his men always just a few hours behind Villa, whose posse navigates the unforgiving terrain with ease. When a band of marauders descend upon the group, many of Napoleon’s men are brutally slaughtered and Napoleon himself is left beaten and emotionally broken. After the attack, Napoleon proclaims to his brother that the person he was died out there. But this revelation doesn’t last long, and soon Napoleon sets out on yet another date with destiny on the open plains with his followers. Reminiscent of Kent Haruf, Olmstead’s brilliantly expressive, condensed tale of resilience and dusty determination flows with the kind of literary cadence few writers have mastered.

This bleak, thoughtful look at the brutality and futility of war is masterfully narrated by Ed Sala. In the summer of 1916, an inexperienced group of "America's eager export of losers, deadbeats, cutthroats, dilettantes, and murderers," led by veteran officer Napoleon Childs, travels into Mexico to pursue Pancho Villa. After an ambush, most of the men are killed. Childs, beaten, bloodied, devastated, and left to die, begins both a trek for survival and an inward journey as he attempts to understand himself and his experiences. Robert Olmstead (COAL BLACK HORSE) writes cowboy-lean prose, and Sala delivers each gritty exchange with exceptional honesty. His interpretations of greenhorn cowboys and Mexican villagers ring with authenticity, and Childs's near-death delusions are convincing, thanks to Sala's sensitive performance. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine