Joseph A. West: Me and Johnny Blue

Signet Historical Fiction (Paperback), ISBN 0-451-20017-9

How can I possibly review a book that begins:

Well, boys, you’ve asked me to write down the story of me and Johnny Blue Dupree and how we bested the vicious outlaw Amos Pinkney and his woman Cottontail, and in so doing saved our great Republic for democracy, freedom and decency.

Picture yourself sitting at a campfire with the narrator telling you tall tales, tales spiced with cowboy humor, cowboy deeds, and maybe even a whopper or two. Then underscore your pleasure with the realization that your narrator based all his or her stories on rigorous research and a love of history, and still told the tales in an authentic voice.

The heroes of the story, two cowboys and blood brothers — one black, one not — manage to get into more trouble than one might imagine. The narrator says, “I got a stub of pencil and a stack of brown wrapping paper from Jack Ryan’s hardware store, and I’ll write it down plain and simple just the way I recollect it.” But I suspect he embellishes the truth on several occasions, though that only adds to ambiance.

Okay, I’ll admit I chuckled so often that I forgot to note whether or not the plot developed in an organized and orderly fashion. I suspect it didn’t, but I know I didn’t care in the slightest. The characterization rated the highest marks, and the setting became another character.

The diction and mood enhanced the sometimes bawdy, sometimes touching tale of two friends, two men of honor — cowboy honor. Lean times and no work led them in strange directions, maybe into a little dishonesty, but in the end they still intend to search for their missing sister, the one sold into slavery and missing for years.

If you value originality, humor, and wonderful storytelling — which I do — don’t miss this book. It will surely become one of the great ones, a true classic.

Patricia Lucas White

Patricia Lucas White’s latest historical novel, To Last a Lifetime, was an Eppie finalist for 2003. To Last a Lifetime and two of her fantasy romances, the Sapphire Award-winning A Wizard Scorned and The Godmother Sanction, can be ordered through Hard Shell Word Factory. Her recent contemporary, PS, I’ve Taken a Lover, is available from Lionhearted Books.