The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta: The Celebrated California Bandit

Exactly what I wanted from this book!
A simple adventurous story about a noble bandit and the various fiends in his company. I found Joaquin really likeable and I enjoyed reading about him. The way he's described I adored- I could really picture this being a film.

I found myself highlighting a lot of passages, as I really like the way it's written and a lot of phrases stood out to me!

Of course there are a few problems. The racism and way women are written for one (always swooning...). And on a lesser level, I wish there was more focus on Joaquin himself. There was a lot of musing on other characters. But it wasn't too glaring.

I really liked this book! Very fun and reminiscent of folk heroes.

I picked this up because it was mentioned in a book I just finished reading, "There There" by Tommy Orange. In that book, this one was mentioned as "The first novel by a Native person, and the first novel written in California...". I felt duty bound to pick this up!

This book takes place in the 1850's, in California. Joaquin gets whipped for stealing a horse he didn't steal, and the same mob that did that, killed his half brother. Well, he decides then and there to get revenge on that mob, and on all white Americans, or "Yankees", and forms a band of outlaws, or banditti, to do so! Most colorful of those fellows, besides Murieta, is Three Fingered Jack, but all the banditti are ruthless robbers and killers.

This book is ok, in that it has show more historical relevance and has some decent, if bloody, action. What I didn't like is that it is all one big long piece, no chapter breaks or anything. It sort of reads like a person talking too fast! Even if they just divided the story up at date/season changes, it would have read better, for me. But if you like westerns, and robbers, you'll probably like this! show less