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Show The Salt Lake Tribune BOOKS Sunday, Septemb “Raising Holy Hell’ THE WEST UNDER COVER Brings Abolitionist Reviews of books of regional interest by Paul Swenson RE John Brown to Life By Nicholas A. Basbanes SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE John Brown,the infamousaboslitionist whose body lies a-moldering in the grave, was hanged on Dec. 2, 1859 on charges of murder, fomenting insurrection, and committing high treason against «the Commonwealth of Virginia. » This unalterable slice of preiCivil War history, known to ‘countless schoolchildren, is a de»itail not likely to be tinkered with by any fiction writer bent on di- ligiosity, and, thegrand.daddy of them all, racism.” Of paramount importance was that Olds find a personality or an imagination and allow him to explore the historical record on his own terms. “The novel I had in mind would be whatI call fiction out of history. It would not be what is known as historical fiction, and it certainly would not be first choice was Benedict Arncid, the quintessential American traitor, but after 2 month of research, he began looking for other candidates. “T found Arnold to be a thoroughly inhospitable character so utterly without redemption that I couldn’t envision myself spending any length of time with him. I don’t think you have to have sympathy for your subject, but you ‘snotoriety in his lifetime and per-materialism, the various per- man. Strange, then, to read his measured, generous, ironic and almostelegant account of what happened during those 37 days beset by fire, frost, depression, despair and nearstarvation. Once treed by a mountainlion, he became virtual animal himself in a wild country inhabited by wolves, bears and cougars — but remained a uniquely human animal, flooded with images of his daughter, and repeating to himself, “I mustnotdie in this wilderness,’ a mantra that symbolized his survival A Vermont widower who had a biography.I reserved for myself the right to invent out of whole cloth all manner of things that suited my artistic purposes.” His ~off on such a bloody mission. © Brown was born in Torrington, +Conn., in 1800 and lived variously ‘in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Kansas, where he became“captain” of a colony on the Osawatomie River. Along the way, he fathered 20 children with twowives, the first of whom died Pin childbirth. His fiery opposition ‘sto slavery earned him a degree of ! gunplay, schizophrenia, sex, su- Found in October, 1870, after being separated andlost from one of the first exploratory parties in Yellowstone National Park, Truman Everts was frostbitten, sealded, delirious and so skeletal he was almost unrecognizabie as hu- event that might “trigger” his tvining what forces set the zealot n Casting About: When journal‘mist Bruce Olds began casting Sabout a few years ago for the raw material of what would become ‘his first book, a powerful novel ‘titled Raising Holy Hell (Henry “Holt, $22.50), he wasattracted to ‘whathe calls the “pathologies of ‘ American culture.” | Interviewed recently in New ' York City, Olds, 43, described these “pathologies” as a complex of attitudes that derive from our “collective proclivity to viclence, Lost in the Yellowstone Truman Everts’ ‘Thirty Seven Days of Peril’ Edited by Lee H. Whittlesey. University of Utah Press; $10.95. x verse ways that we express our re- ” ‘brought him in contact with such Labead figures as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David ethoreau. = By the time his band of fanatieal followers capturedthe federal warsenal at Harper's Ferry on Oct. {e16, 1859, his name was known and (feared throughout a nation alfeready divided over the most eletemental of moral issues, the conuing institution of keeping jghuman beings in bondage. have to have a very deep empa- thy.”’ While John Brown does not emerge as a particularly likable or,for that matter, especially personable character in the pages of Raising Holy Hell, he does generate a degree of compassion,especially for the sacred cause he represents, “The John Brownin this novel is a very personal John Brown,” Olds said. “When you set out to write a biography or do a work of journalism, just the opposite is true. You have to remain detached, distanced, objective, whatever words you wantto use. Butthis is a very subjective work. Myfeelings for this John Brown are extremely mixed, even though he is a character | created.” Through the deft melding of letters, journal entries, excerpts, newspaper articles, song lyrics, folktales, scripturalcitations and othermaterial from the historical record with interior monologues and recollections of numerous figuresthat are made up, Olds has created a jarring pastiche of a The Horse Whisperer . By Nicholas Evans; Delacorte; $23.95 . ; Price tags should never define a book. But } it's dreadfully hard to read this much-touted, just,published tale, The Horse Whisperer, and > not dweli on the $3.15 million the publisher : shelled outfor this first novel. Not to mention ; the $3 million Robert Redford and Hollywood ! Pictures ponied up for the movie rights. They paid too much. 3 Their reasoning, however, makes sense. | They hoped they had nabbed the new Bridges | of Madison County. The parallels are clear: * Both novels involve mystical, star-cressed » love affairs between what we might eupheniis: tically call mature individuals (i.e., stretch * marks on the heroine are not inconceivable * although this one is a toned andfit woman in > herearly 40's). BEST SELLERS ‘Raising Holy Hell’ author Bruce Olds: “In the aftermath of writing this book, | have found somethingthatis very frightening to me, which is that | am John Brown on many morelevels, tern- peramentally, psychically, than | mightlike.” novel that requires the full attention of his reader. “The truth is that Bruce Oids is Here are the best-selling hooks as they appear Hardcover in next week's iseue of Publishers Weekly: 4 1 Is for Lawless, Sue Grafton (Henry Holt) ‘Biome, Rosamunde Pilcher (St. Mar2, ComingBiome, . {| i] 2] i ] 5 4] ‘ ¢ ‘tia’s). 8 From Potter's Field, Patricia Cornwell Genibner) 4. Beach Music, Pat Conroy (Doubleday), 8. 3emsoch the Devil, Anne Rice (Knop!) &DeadMan's Wa Larry MeMurtry (Simon :.none‘Weather, Carl BiasKnope 8. The Celestine Prophecy, Ji Wamer) .. SS ‘Steel (Delacorte). 10, t, John Grisham (Double- day), il. pkigg ae Robert ee — Roses, Julie Garwood (Pocket 18. A Pisce Called Freedom, Ken Follett (roma 14, ALoag Fatal Love Chase, Louisa MayAI cot (Random House). kind thing else. I just really believe that explicitness and literalnessis the enemy of art.” Oldsis hard at work on another novel, one that he said will return to the concept of “American pathologies” for inspiration, and employ a variety of innovative techniques.Asforthe bent he has to re-inventing history, Olds quoted BE. L. Doctorow’s defense of using a similar device in his gion. who works his healing magic on women and beasts. The child Grace opens up, the horse settles down and mom gets more and more ceeding through a pine forest of post-modernist novels, Olds readily acknowledges the rough spots. ‘“This is not a seamless book, andthatis because I did muchcelebrated novel, Ragtime. “Whathesaid,basically, is that ‘L am satisfied that everything 1 made upis true, and probably all the truer for my having madeit up,’ andto that, I say, ‘Bravo.’ ” not wantto write a conventional, linear, point‘a’ to point ‘b’ narrative, and that’s a matter of temperament as much as it is any- 16, The First Man, Albert Carus (Knopf) Hardcover 1. My Point... and I Do Bave One, Ellen DeGeneres (Bantam) money Manhattan careerists. Dad Robertis a ‘Miass market paperbacks 4,Notadng Lasts Posever, Sidney Sbxiéon 2the ‘theBaty Farm, Patricis Cornwell (Berk S. Insosaselu, Stephen King (Signet) 4 TheAtlentetCaleCart (Bantam), 5. Playing for the Abes, Ei beth George (Bantam) couple of knives and a small op- era-glass were attached to the saddle.” inside Struggle: While the appeal of the Everts chronicle shares the ingenuity, resourcefulness and familiar‘‘will to live” cliches of other survival stories we have read (he finds an unlikely food supply in the long, tapering radish-like root of a thistle plant, and uses a boiling spring as a “cooking pot” for the roots), the real tug of his life-and-death struggleis in his own psyche. At a time of suspenseful extremity when he must decide whetherto followthe route he has chosen or retrace his steps for days over rough terrain, Everts experiences a vision that he himself labels “hallucination” and Yellowstone. He was healthy al- be a rooted, centered, life force type of dude Not All Smooth: Empioying a decidedly unorthodox narrative structure that suggests the best powerful lawyer and mom edits a Vanity Fair-like magazine. (A Ja Tina Brown, Annie Gravesis English, a media darling and legendary for her ruthless journalism.) Te). cept the clothing on my person, a though nearsighted, and, with no wilderness experience, a bit of a dude. upon you.) So Annieloads up the angry daughter and the sick horse; she’s headed for Montana in search for a mystical trainer named TomBooker — the horse whisperer. Yup. You guessedit. Our Tom turns out to “Tn the aftermath of writing this book, I have found something that is very frightening to me, whichis that I am John Brown on many more ievels, temperamentally, psychicaliy, than I might like.” ‘The novel opens dramatically: an out-ofcontrol truck slamsinto two teen-age girls on horseback,killing one and maiming the other Remarkably, the latter's horse survives although hideously woundedin body andspirit. This near-death experience stuns thegirl's parents, both of whom are high octane, big Saccess, Dee va Chopra (New World Library ‘a Good Walk Spoiled, JohnFeinstein (Litt i> Brown) 5. Scope Realing, Andrew Weil M.D (Kay . To RenewAmeries, Newt Gingrich (HarperCalis New Passages, Gail Sheehy (Random k“Widalght In the Qazien ofGood and Evil, John Berendt (Random House) eee Jeen Carper (HarperCol) T'm OnlyOne Man, Regis Philbin with Bill iain me(Hyperion, ‘The Melatonin Miracle, Walter Pierpaoli ini Wiliam Ragesn with Oven Daves So {i OL Man athe Sea, Devid Hays and Daniel Hays (Algongaix Books). 1, Mera & Vesas in the Bosrooms, John Gras (HarperCollins) 14, Sleepers, Lorenzo Carcaterra (Ballautinc) 15. How toArgue andWin Every Time, Gerry Spence (St. Martin’). tackle, matches — everything ex- nal Revenue for the Montana Territory by President Abe Lincoln soon after arriving in the West in the 1860s, Truman C. Everts was, at 54, the oldest member of the Washburn Expedition into the Harsh and Beautiful: His story of the sojourn, originaily published in Scribner’s Monthly in November, 1971, is told in the romantic proseof the 19th Century. Its ethereal quality, combined with a restrained passion and a detailed evocation of harsh but beautiful nature (in which he reached peaksof exhilaration and was plunged to pits of despair) may have a curious appeal for readersin the late 20th century. The decision by the University of Utah Press to republish the forgotten manuscript has serious merit. It is accompanied by a few rare photographs from the expedition and the period, plus a host of beautiful, uncredited woodcut engravings that illustrated the Everts story on original publication. (The artist’s full name has been fost, although the name “Walker” appears on one of the woodcuts.) Editor Lee Whittlesey notes in the book’s introduction that the Washburn Expedition was organized to verify the fragmentary descriptions of Yellowstone available from past forays that suggested everything from volcanoes to crystal lakes to poison gases in the mysterious re- there in every sentence,” he said. Unfortunately, while Evans is the superior writer, Robert James Waller’s Bridges possessed a sincerity and romantic coherencethat The Horse Whisperer lacks. Bridges made millions yearn for lost loves; The Horse Whisperer’s most memorable scenes — and they are good — involve a four-year-old black Morgan horse named Pilgrim. 2. Men Are From Mars, Woren Are From ‘Venns, John oe my horse tookfright and I turned around in time to see him disappearing at full speed among the trees. That wasthelast I ever saw of him.It was yet quite dark. My blankets, gun, pistols, fishing been appointed Assessorof Inter- Nicholas A.Basbanes is a literary columnist and critic based in Massachusetts. ‘Horse Whisperer’ Saddled With Heavy Load of Mysticism ' E5 10, 1995 Theaccident jolts mom out of her self-centered ways and forces her to confrontthe troubled bond with her only child. (Working mothers beware: Mister Evans casts a critical eye iathered. The reader begins to groan, no more yearning looks, not another spirited horseback ride. But in fairness, much of The Horse Whisperer providesa weil-written literary ride — if you ignore the mushy stuff and the price tag. — Deirdre Donahue USA Today PAPERBACKSIN BRIEF After being separated from his expedition companionswhile prothick with fallen trees, Everts built a fire and spent the night. Attempting to pick up thetrail of his companythe next morning, he dismounted from his horse to In 1880 or 1881, a reinvigorat- thered a son at nearly 75 andlived on another 10 yearsafter that. peer through an opening in the forest. “While surveying the ground Paul Swenson is a free-lance writer in Salt Lake City. Dunne; Plume; $13.95. Tim O'Brien; Penguin; $10.95. In Dunne’s immensely enter- In 1986, 40-year-old John taining tale, screenwriter Jack Broderick attempts to piece to- Alvarez charts a poignant journey in her vivid, fact-based novel about the four Mirabelsisters,ordinary women turned freedom fighters in the struggle against the Trujillo regime in the Domi ean Republic. There is pious Pa- tria, who, although she marries at 16, burns with reiigious fervor throughoutherlife; willful, rebellious Minerva, a catalyst for change in her family and country; ienderhearted, romantic Maria Teresa, the baby of the bunch; and sensible, hard-working Dede, who, in her later years, becomes “the grande dame of the beautiful, terrible past.” Qo the famous child star of the 1930s. The narrative — often Shelter; by Jayne AnnePhillips; Delta; $11.95. mordantly funny, occasionally It's high summerat a Girl Guide camp in West Virginia in July of 1963. But there are snakesin this wilderness paradise, both literal and figurative, and Camp Shelter cannot protect several of its young charges, already damaged by varying degrees of parental abuse, from a further, shocking loss of innocence. Shifting the point of view among sisters Alma and Lenny; Parson, a visionary drifter; and Buddy, the young son an air of deep foreboding, setting the stage for a tragic confrontation. o Playland; by John Gregory “Go back immediately, as rapidly as your strength will permit,” says the voice of an old clerical friend that he thinks he sees before him. “Thereis no foodhere, and the idea of scaling these rocks is madness.” Everts protests that he can't last the distance. “Say not so. Yourlife depends upon the effort. Return at once. Start now lest your resolutionfalter. Travel as fast and as far as possible — it is your only chance.” When his visionary companion later abandons him, Everts conduets an eerie dialogue with his own body parts, frostbitten feet, emaciated arms and legs and his burned hip, scalded by the steam of a hotpool, that he imaginesare consciousentities, On another occasion, his dreams arefilled with the epicurean delights of a gourmet meal he prepares for himself in the gleamingkitchen of a modern hotel. On the 37th day of his exile, on the brink of a river, Everts falls into the strong arms of a search party. ed Truman Everts at 64 or 65, married a 14-year-old girl, fa- Wade and his wife Kathy reireat te an isolated Minnesota cabin after John’s poiitical career is getherthe life story of Blue Tyler. By Nancy Pate ORLANDO SENTINEL In the Time of the Butterflies; by Julia Aivarez; Plume; $11.95. which he says his friends might misname “‘insanity.” ruined by the revelation of his participation in the 1868 My Lai massacre. Then John wakes up late one morning and Kathyis tawdry and almost always skeptieal — zips along with cinematic ease and quickness as Broderick gone, along with their boat. Did she get lost in the maze of lakes? chronicles the days when Blue Did she deliberately run away? Or did John have a handin herdisappearance? In the end, it hardly matters. O’Brien may have thought he was writing a thrillercum-domestic drama about that was a teen-age comet in the Cosmopolitan Pictures firmament and how she was pulled into the dangerous orbit of Jacob King, the good-looking gangster building a gambling casinoin the Nevada desert Oo unresolved mystery of never truly knowing those we love most. But Vietnam is still the heart of darkness that makeshis fiction pulse. In the Lake of the Woods; by ioeWe es Ghee an Ge S VOYEUR. More fun than Come See Our New Location SRo- Gror,: ya ne “ee, All Dresses SALT: LAKE CIry ABRAVANEL wis HALL MONDAY, OCTOBER 2 AT 7:30PM All Seats Reserved: $16.50 at the Capitol Theatre Box Office and selected Art Tix outlets, Charge By Phone 801-355-ARTS. Please join us in support of Utahns Against Hunger by bringing a donation of non-perishable food to the concert. & Veils? 25% OFF HURRY! TWO WEEKS ONLY Has Relocated 1124 East 3300 So. 485-7800 e Beautiful *excluding Fall 95 stock you're supposed to pi Sores ba Today! | i leeHest z W& 2 i ave in a wardhouse. Saturday"s Voyeur has returned to The Salt Lake Acting Company—ie all nas, political andsatirical glory. So pack a picnic and join es amy 8:11), hursday ar 7:30, Friday or Saturday at or Sunday et 2:00 and 7 00, July 19 through 24. All tickets are $24.50 through September ART-TIX. So call 355-ARTStoday THE SALT LAKE ACTING COMDARY 168 West 500 North 4 “7 |
