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

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

Sundance is the story of what might have happened if The Sundance Kid did not die when history says he did. Most of the story revolves around his search for his wife after he gets out of prison. The search takes him to the city where he sees things that he has never seen before. He is out of place in a world of electricity and automobiles. There is a lot of fish out of water, man out of time stuff. The idea may not be unheard of but the original setting gives it an interesting spin. The story is more of a mystery than anything else. Sundance has turned into more of a detective than a gunfighter. There is some action in the story but there is more following of clues than shooting going on. That's not necessarily a bad thing but I went in show more expecting a western and that is not really what I got. I did like the way he learns about his wife during his search for her; finding out what she has done and who she has become while he was in prison. I thought that was an interesting way to develop a character that you haven't even met. Unfortunately I had lukewarm feelings about just about everyone in the book and had trouble caring much about them. I think I would have liked it better if it was not about The Sundance Kid and just about some other gunfighter. It could have been much the same story and I would not have gone into it with expectations that were not met. It was not a bad story it was just not quite as exciting or as interesting as I had hoped. 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

The Wild West held a fascination for many and no one filled the bill better than the adventures of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. David Fuller takes us to a possible scenerio - what if they didn't die in Bolivia but lived? Harry Longbaugh gets out of prison after doing his time under another name and begins his search for his wife. After a rough start Harry will do his best to follow the clues that lead him to New York City looking for Etta. What better place for Harry to see the brave new world than the wild city in 1913. The city where Teddy Roosevelt is head of the police, the scene of the horrific shirt waist factory fire and where the teeming masses from Europe are rising up and creating havoc. He will become embroiled in a show more nasty plot, keeping one step ahead of the law and meet up with some old friends. Even with the huge leap in settings from the Wild West to New York, Harry's quiet but deadly manner works. David Fuller does an excellent job of introducing us to this Wild East - where one man is determined to find the love of his life and hope that she still feels the same way about him. Thanks to LibraryThing Early Reviewers for allowing me to read this book early. 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

So who knew that the Sundance Kid did not die in a blaze of glory in South America? if you are like me, you grew up on the legend, watched the movie, and knew about the end of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Mr. Fuller has brought the legend to life and breathed new life into it!!! I enjoyed reading about the various adventures that Sundance goes through in his search for his wife. Would have enjoyed a few more gun battles, but guess that the Sundance Kid is a little long in the tooth for this! Great Book, fast read. Everyone should add this to the beach bag for a couple of days on the beach!!