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Far Bright Star Audiobook
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(3.07) - 305 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Acclaimed author Robert Olmstead's Far Bright Star "packs a potent emotional wallop" (Booklist). In 1916, aging cavalryman Napoleon Childs leads an expedition into Mexico to capture Pancho Villa and bring him to justice. But Childs' troops are wiped out, and he is left to die alone in the Mexican desert. "[This] brilliantly expressive, condensed tale of resilience and dusty determination flows with the kind of literary cadence few writers have mastered."-Publishers Weekly
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"Bloody hell. A haunting, gruesome western in which you are drawn into this aging cavalry officer's world of death, death and horses, death and the barren earth, arrogant youth getting themselves killed - he is a man traumatised by atrocity and haunted by death. Stark, finely-honed writing, a beautifully corny drawl, some truly horrific passages, and a narrative that seems to reside between two worlds, twisting from reality to dream, from the living to the dead, and maybe back to the living.."
— Roberto (4 out of 5 stars)
Far Bright Star Listener Reviews
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" I thought this was a great little read. Olmstead is a very economical, but descriptive writer. He made the situation and the characters feel very authentic. It was graphic in parts and difficult to read about the characters' suffering, but the violence was not gratuitous. I'm going to check out COAL BLACK HORSE sometime soon as well... "
— Sue, 2/20/2014 -
" Westerns are not my genre but I'm reading this for book club. I had to stop at page 86 because it was just to gory. Yuck! "
— Lisa, 2/1/2014 -
" Reminds me of Cormac McCarthy, but Olmstead has his own style of writing that's different from McCarthy. If you like BLOOD MERIDIAN, you'll probably like this. "
— Michael, 1/11/2014 -
" this was so rich and delightful I feel like swooning! Babbling fangirl, sorry, but character and voice are everything to me. A book for the desert island. thanks for this book, and please get to work writing another. "
— Sarah, 1/3/2014 -
" Must read...fast paced and beautifully written. "
— Terese, 12/9/2013 -
" Read out loud to my husband. We both enjoyed! Language is amazing! "
— Laura, 11/7/2013 -
" Tough dude in the horse cavalry chasing Pancho Villa in Mexico. Brutal, doomed, poetic Cormac McCarthy pastiche, but well-done copying. Won a 2009 award for best Western, and could be for all I know. Enjoyed it. "
— Tony, 11/3/2013 -
" "really liked" his writing, but the story was harsh! "
— Caroline, 3/24/2013 -
" beautiful and horrific book. not totally satisfied with the ending but Olmstead is an amazing writer. his prose is gorgeous. "
— Erica, 3/21/2013 -
" This was an amazing book. I had the chance to talk with the author and I am a sold and solid fan. I can't wait for the next book this spring! "
— Erik, 2/25/2013 -
" Olmstead's stories are similar to Cormac McCarthy's - tough, laconic men, bonding with their horses, killing each other, not talking about it. The story starts slow, but it escalates as the hero navigates a bleak, unsparing desert, and man's bleak, unsparing capacity for violence. "
— Mike, 2/8/2013 -
" I did not enjoy this story as much at Coal Black Horse. It was missing something. However, it was a well written descriptive story that i would recommend. "
— Annie, 11/6/2012 -
" This is a beautifully written historical novella about an aging cavalryman serving in General Black Jack Pershing's punitive expeditaion against PAncho Villa in Mexico in 1916. It has echoes of Cormac McCarthy. Some of the sentences are works of art in and of themselves. "
— John, 8/21/2012 -
" This is not a book I would typically read; initially I thought I had erroneously picked a western (oh horrors!), but I really enjoyed this book! I found myself wanting to write down passage after passage. It is a skilled author that makes me slow down and think. Robert Olmstead has down this. "
— Terra, 7/12/2012 -
" This book is in the same vein as Cormac McCarthy's "The Border Trilogy" books. This book appears to be well researched and provides some insight into American cowboy's in Mexico in the early 1890's-1900's. "
— Jasonb, 9/10/2011 -
" I hadn't read a western for decades, and picked this one up only because it was recommended. Very impressed. It's brutal and literary at the same time. "
— Lynn, 8/12/2011 -
" Westerns are not my genre but I'm reading this for book club. I had to stop at page 86 because it was just to gory. Yuck! "
— Lisa, 5/12/2011 -
" Stunning writing capturing the essence of the old horse soldiers of the dying West as WW1 looms. Tough scenes, brutal, beautiful and compelling.<br/>Perhaps an unforgettable book.<br/> "
— Cindy, 5/4/2011 -
" If you like real writing about the old west you would enjoy this one. It won the Spur award as the best western of the year. "
— Burt, 4/17/2011 -
" Very stark and in some parts extremely graphic. This was an audiobook for me and there were a couple scenes that I felt a little nauseous when I was driving. That hardly ever deters me though, and I plowed through it. "
— Dorothy, 3/20/2011 -
" This was a good story almost a short story but too long for that. They never got Villa and this focused on one small gun battle, the brutality almost too harsh for me to read through. Horses are a big deal and well described. "
— Liam, 12/22/2010 -
" i liked this book, but didn't love it. A lot of my favorite elements of a good western were there: tough guy characters, a good gunfight, and powerful landscape depiction. However, overall it was fairly slow, and most of it didn't grab my attention. "
— Patrick, 11/22/2010 -
" Western, not usually my genre so that's my caveat. Story is a bit thin but the descriptions are sublime. "
— Joanne, 10/21/2010 -
" This is a beautiful book. My favorite line is "Why live when you could die?" I find that question mesmerizing. "
— Joette, 8/25/2010 -
" Still thinking about my own bright star and what Olmstead's saying about human nature. Violence, dust, men and horses make quite a yarn. Is survival enough? "
— Jeff, 8/24/2010 -
" this was so rich and delightful I feel like swooning! Babbling fangirl, sorry, but character and voice are everything to me. A book for the desert island. thanks for this book, and please get to work writing another. "
— Sarah, 8/5/2010
About Robert Olmstead
Robert Olmstead is an award-winning author and educator. His novel Coal Black Horse was the winner of the Heartland Prize for Fiction. His other fiction work includes America By Land, A Trail of Heart’s Blood Wherever We Go, Far Bright Star, and Soft Water. Olmstead is the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship and an NEA grant. Along with his fiction work, he has also written a textbook for fiction-writing workshops and a nonfiction memoir, Stay Here With Me. He is currently director of the creative writing program at Ohio Wesleyan University. Previously, he served as Senior Writer in Residence at Dickinson College and as director of the creative writing program at Boise State University.
About Ed Sala
Ed Sala has narrated dozens of audio books throughout his career. His readings include Harlan Coben’s Tell No One, Stephen Sears’ Gettysburg, and Cormac MacCarthy’s Outer Dark.