Sundance: A Novel

One of my favorite films as a teenager was "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." I watched it so many times that I still have large sections of the dialogue memorized, so I was drawn to David Fuller's novel like the proverbial moth. Once I began reading, I fell headlong into the story. Watching Longbaugh make his first halting acquaintance to the new world around him felt true to his character and true to the period. As he tries to find Etta in the land he knows so well, he has time to ponder many things. Has he truly paid for all the crimes he's committed? What about the men in the gang who were never caught-- do they still have a debt to pay, or are they the better men for having not been imprisoned? He's also surprised that Etta has show more gone off to live her own life; in his mind she's like a fly suspended in amber, waiting for his return.

New York City intensifies the feeling of being displaced in time. Here crowds protest working conditions, and women are fighting for the vote, and it doesn't take him long to realize how much danger he's in while he searches for his wife because strong-minded Etta has made some enemies.

Sundance is a novel that satisfies on many levels. Although it's nowhere close to being an imitation of William Goldman's screenplay, Longbaugh will feel familiar to anyone who knows the 1969 film. It succeeds as a Western, particularly in the beginning just after Longbaugh is released from prison. It certainly succeeds in the mystery and adventure departments as he searches for Etta, and it is also quite the love story. Moreover, Sundance succeeds as the story of a man who finds that-- although he has so much life experience-- he still needs to seek his place in the world. David Fuller immersed me so completely in Harry Longbaugh's world, that it was a wrench for me to leave it. show less

Absolutely wonderful. The story asks the question what if the Sundance Kid never perished in South America and was holed up in jail under an alias for the last twelve years yearning for his wife Etta. When he does get out he is attacked by the son of a former Sherriff, is forced to defend himself and ends up back on the run from the law. At the same time he is searching for his wife who has left a trail of clues to New York. The author has done a magnificent job of setting the scene, we are taken from the Wild West across the country to a new New York City that is coming in to its own. Horses and automobiles coexist, and electricity is quite prevalent. The details are exquisite and I felt like I was walking the streets of New York with show more Harry Longbaugh. Excellent in every way. Highly recommended. show less

Sundance by David Fuller is a novel built around the premise that the Sundance Kid didn’t go to Bolivia with Butch Cassidy, instead he was arrested under an assumed name and spent 12 years in the state prison in Wyoming. It’s now 1913 and Harry Longbaugh is released into a very different world than the one he left. He is introduced to motor cars and electricity, worker’s unions and women marching for the vote. His first and only thought is to find his wife whom he hasn’t heard from in two years when her letters stopped. Doggedly following her trail, he finds himself in New York City.

Sundance is a clever and highly entertaining story of a man trying to find where he belongs while searching for the woman who holds his heart. He show more realizes that Etta has somehow gotten herself in trouble with the Black Hand gang and is leaving him obscure clues to help him find her.

The author has delivered a great story and I couldn’t help but picture an older, rugged Robert Redford as Harry Longbaugh. The character is written much the way I imagine the Sundance Kid would be and the author did a fine job of staying true to the character and the time period. An interesting fact to ponder is that while we are told that the real Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid died in Bolivia, when they opened the grave marked with their names in 1991, only one body was discovered and DNA analysis proved it was neither of the famous outlaws. So the legend lives on. show less

Butch Cassidy (Robert Parker) and the Sundance Kid (Harry Longbaugh) are still part of popular culture in the 21st century primarily because of the Robert Redford/Paul Newman movie made about the pair several decades ago. That movie proved to be as durable as it was popular at the time of its release and, fact or fiction, it is all that most people know about them today.

David Fuller's "Sundance: A Novel" expands on the story told in the movie by considering the belief that Butch and Sundance may not have died in Bolivia when cornered there by the Bolivian military (as portrayed in the movie). In Fuller's scenario, Sundance was in prison under an assumed name at the time of his supposed death, and by the time he was released, he had lost show more touch with the love of his life, Etta Place. This is the story of the former outlaw's desperate search for his wife, a search that will bring him to the New York City of 1913, a teeming, wide-open city like he has never seen. Now all he has to do his find his wife before those who want to see her dead find her first.

"Sundance" is a highly atmospheric novel that blends fact and fiction in a way that makes it a believable "what-if" story. New York City is as alien to Sundance as it is to readers of the novel experiencing it through modern eyes a full century later. But, along with Sundance, we grow accustomed to the world in which Etta has hidden herself, and we are happy to go along for the ride. It is a blend of historical fact and characters with well-developed fictional characters and a plot that will keep most readers turning pages.

I suspect that some readers will enjoy the first part of the book that takes place in the West more than they will Sundance's search through the streets of New York. But don't let the movie scare you away from this one; Sundance makes quite a New York cowboy, one who is generally at least one step ahead of the big city boys trying to find him. show less

David Fuller's "Sundance" is a thoroughly delightful read. You quickly develop an empathy with Harry Longbaugh and his search for his missing wife Etta while enjoying the spirited interplay with the characters he encounters as his search takes him through the old west and then to New York. During the search, Fuller injects bits of history that give substance to the era without taking away from the storyline.
The dialogue is quick and sharp - think Robert B Parker at his best with Cole and Hutch in "Appaloosa" - and the relationships he builds are the kind we all would like to have, warm and trustworthy.
I would have liked to have spent more time with Sundance in the west, but that is often the way of things when a novel is so good you show more don't want it to end.
Four and 1/2 stars and I will look forward to more work from Mr. Fuller. show less

Sundance by David Fuller
My review will be totally biased since my most favorite movie of all time is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. When I saw Sundance as an option on the LibraryThings, Early Reviewers list I wanted it! I am so glad I received this book.
I am not sure if David Fuller was trying to capture the same feel as the movie or not but he nailed it. In every short, precise statement Harry utters I could see and hear Robert Redford as “The Kid”. After finishing the book last night I read where Mr. Fuller is a screenwriter, well no wonder I saw each and every person, scene and dialog as a movie! I WANT this to be a movie and I need Brad Pitt to be Harry. He is the only actor I can see pulling off this part.
For those of show more you who have not seen the movie and have nothing to base this character on but history may find faults with the book and were expecting something different but I am going out on a limb and giving this 5 stars because of the cinematic experience it gave me and the fact that he made so many memories of my favorite scenes came flooding back to me after so many years. I fell in love with “The Kid” all over again.
Very enjoyable read, Thank you David Fuller! show less

Most everyone knows that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were killed in a shootout in Boliva. But what if Sundance escaped? This is the premise of this novel. Harry Longbaugh (aka Sundance) was not killed in South America and under an assumed name was in prison for twelve years. After being released he searches for his wife Etta Place who is no longer at the boarding house, nor waiting for him any longer. He gets approached by a kid who knows who he is and wants a shootout. This naïve boy is killed and Sundance is on the run again. This time to NYC to search for Emma.

But the world is a different place now and Sundance is out of place in the hustle and bustle of the turn of the century city.

I thought this fictional account was show more portrayed with such attention to detail that I almost believed it could be true. What imagination the author has to build quite a fascinating work of fiction. II found it to be truly remarkable. show less