Volume three of the Berrybinder narratives, a group of novellas that could have been easily combined into half as many volumes, but where is the money in that? ( )

The story of the Berrybender family, a traditional British family who is transported to the frontier West by the patriarch for a hunting and sightseeing expedition. Along the way, they run into Sin Killer, an Indial fighter and frontiersman, who immediately falls in love with one of the Berrybender girls. The story follows the Berrybender's arduous trek through the rugged landscape. The story is filled with rich and strong-minded characters, all crashing into one another.

I enjoyed the opening novel the most, while the others seemed to fall back onto a redundant story line a few times. Also, the characters do not connect easily with the reader in some cases. And the ending novel in the series left me a little disappointed in the resolution. But, I am a McMurtry fan and his wit and ability to create raucous and unusual situations was ever present. There were quite a few laugh out loud moments. ( )

You know, I had to quit on this. I really like the plots and characters, but McMurtry just spends too much time on sex. Seriously. I listened to only 3 discs out of 10, and there had already been numerous sex scenes, including an adulterous relationship. I'd love it if it were just the western stories of the trappers and all that, but I really just don't enjoy or need to entertain myself with ribald tales of random love affairs. It is unfortunate because the stories are pretty good! ( )

By Sorrow's River is part three of a four-part series chronically the adventures of the aristocratic, English Berrybender family exploring the American West in the 1830's on a steamship on the Missouri River. Lord Berrybender is accompanied by his gluttonous wife and six of his 14 legitimate children. The series is historical fiction in that it incorporates actual people such as Kit Carson and Jim Bridges, yet the tales are so fanciful that history is left in the dust.

Outrageous is the best general characterization of these stories. The adventures and their characters seem larger than life and more colorful than neon. Not for the faint of heart, unexpected, random, senseless and disturbing atrocities, injuries, and deaths litter these tales, with a side of lots of “rutting.” The majority of the initial primary characters do not survive to see book four4 of the series.

Yet, the stories grabbed me. I went through the series like popcorn, wanting to see what amazing events would occur to the crazy Berrybenders and their growing entourage. The series is intense, rollercoastering through every facet of human emotion and many aspects of abnormal psychology. Nothing dull in these books. The frequent connections to actual historical persons and events keep the tales interesting and grounded, despite the continuum of bizarre incidents. Not for everyone, but I liked it. ( )