Gunman's Rhapsody

I loved Robert B. Parker's Cole & Hitch stories, particularly Appaloosa and Resolution, so in looking for a new Western fix I turned to Gunman's Rhapsody, Parker's take on the legend of Wyatt Earp and the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Unfortunately, it's not that great.

It's not that I was expecting Appaloosa and feel aggrieved that I got something different. Quite the contrary: Gunman's Rhapsody is very similar in style, pace and content to the later Cole & Hitch stories. It's just not that good. Parker's writing style is to pare everything back to the bone, and when this works there is nothing better, nothing more enjoyable to read than one of his books. When it doesn't work, it really doesn't.

This book doesn't: the writing is show more sophomoric at times and there is a lack of killer dialogue (usually one of Parker's main selling points). The Wyatt Earp story is a good one (the Kurt Russell film Tombstone did it best) but, unfortunately, anything interesting in Gunman's Rhapsody comes from the legend itself and not Parker's telling of it. Here, there is a lot of build-up, but it lacks suspense, and there is a flurry of action at the end, but it happens too quickly to savour and leaves you feeling short-changed. The O.K. Corral fight itself lacks build-up (I didn't know it was happening until it was nearly over) or foreboding or any sense of theatre – which should be a criminal offence for a Western writer. And save for one piece of dialogue about a twenty-five-dollar watch, Wyatt's vengeance after the death of one of his brothers lacks any real burning rage. It is hard to keep track of the feuds – Curley Bill and Johnny Ringo, though crucial to the plot, are underdeveloped, as is the enigmatic Doc Holliday – and some of these feuds seem to bubble up out of nothing or nowhere. I think I would have been more lost if I didn't already know the legend.

Some of Parker's stuff is elevated pulp, artful pulp, but this is just pulp, I'm afraid. That's fine, but when pulp doesn't come out right, it just leaves you dissatisfied. Gunman's Rhapsody is quick and easy to read, and that is typical Parker, but if you want a Western from him, read the excellent Appaloosa instead and let Hollywood tell Wyatt Earp's story. show less

I recently discovered the works of Robert B Parker, and I believe I'm hooked...

Gunman's Rhapsody is a retelling of Wyatt Earp's time in Tombstone, and a good one at that. The author writes dialogue that sounds like real-life conversations, and his characters are interesting, flawed, though likable. This was my third western by this author, and I plan to read more from his plethora of published works.

This novel follows the story of the Earp brothers and their women from their days in Dodge City to the more famous time in Tombstone. Wyatt's story is the main focus of the novel and specifically his meeting and developing relationship with Josephine Marcus with whom he spent the rest of his life.

His brothers Morgan, Virgil, Warren and James are all part of the story as are his enemies, Ike Clanton, Tom & Frank McLaury, William Brocius and Billy Clanton. Doc Holliday is also part of the Erp story but to a lesser extent then the movie versions lead us to believe.

One neat and informative addition to the novel were the excerpts from newspapers of the year in which the action was taking place in Tombstone giving the reader an overview of show more what was happening in Europe and England and other parts of the world while the Earps were policing Arizona in the 1880's.

An enjoyable read with many insights to life in Tombstone of that era. show less

Gunman’s Rhapsody is Robert B. Parker’s fictional take on the saga of the Earp brother’s stay in Tombstone, Arizona in the early 1880’s. I have read one excellent nonfictional account of the story (Jeff Guinn’s The Last Gunfight), which supports Parker’s depiction of the principal facts, even down to the location of the streets in Tombstone. In fact, Parker’s account was written ten years earlier (2001) than Guinn’s, which should attest to the volume of earlier literature on the subject.

Parker is at his best when creating the dialog of taciturn, macho men. And what better examples could he find in real life than Wyatt and Virgil Earp?. They may or may not have been as unloquacious as Parker limns them, but they were show more certainly as macho. In any event, in the hands of a master story teller, the Earp’s tale is gripping and rings true.

(JAF) show less

Decades ago, I went through a western phase. Max Brand, Louis L'Amour, Zane Grey, Owen Wister (I once lived in the Wister house in Germantown, PA, and I still think The Virginian is one of the great western novels along with Shane by Jack Schaeffer,); all could be counted on for a reliable and consistent story with good (always slightly flawed) triumphing over evil. Then came writers like Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove, a classic that, with prequel and sequel, raised violence and ambiguity to an art. Robert B. Parker is now writing a series that's equally fine.

Robert Parker is author of the Spenser P.I. series (classic westerns in a different setting, really, but which went downhill when Susan entered the picture,) the Jesse Stone show more series (excellent) and recently a series of westerns that rival some of the best. I have listened to Appaloosa (well-read by Titus Welliver) and now Gunman's Rhapsody (rather amateurishly narrated by Ed Begley - he just doesn't have the grave and gravely voice of other better western narrators), a moody novel about events at the OK Corral that turn Hollywood black and white into multiple shades of gray.

The Earps are a family with typical family problems, and they are integrally part of political corruption and deceit in which they are willing participants. The catalyst for the shootout was Wyatt's interest and consummation of a love affair with Josie who just happened to be his friend the sheriff's girl. (The ultimate result was a county posse chasing a federal posse.) Throw this in with lingering Union versus Confederate sympathies, lots of guns, and a recipe for disaster was cooking. It's always difficult writing about events that have achieved mythic status; Parker does a credible job.

Some reviewers have suggested that the brooding Earp bears some resemblance to Spencer, Parker's hero of the long-running series. I didn't sense that although I might be myopic to the connection, certainly not the Spenser of Susan years.

Parker intersperses in the story actual news stories and letters, of questionable value to the story, but which I found historically interesting if not pertinent. An epilogue lists the deaths of the participants. Surprisingly, Josie lived until 1944. I suggest reading the Wikipedia entry for Wyatt to place everything firmly in historical perspective show less

Lean and vivid at times, yet also repetitive and clunky (Wyatt Earp drinks truly absurd amounts of coffee, many conversations have a deja vu aspect, people are forever grinning on the page, executing the most mundanely detailed actions, etc.). Had me wondering if all Parker's novels (this is my first) veer so oddly from effective to amateurish, or if this one-off was just careless (won't be bothering to find out, probably). Parker's take is that the whole Tombstone mess happened because Earp stole Behan's girlfriend, and he doesn't skirt the moral ambiguity of the situation. Serviceable. Guess I'd just assumed Parker as a writer was a notch above this.

Many books have been written about the Earps, and many more will be.This work presents them as two-dimensional and somewhat perplexing because so little is revealed through dialogue or their thoughts. We know they shoot a lot of people dead, but there is no remorse or even a sense of tragedy for the taking of life. Wyatt, as a main character, could have shown more about who he was and why he behaved as he did, but he didn't; he was as unsympathetic as any of the cowboys. The story rings historically correct (with the usual historical fiction license), so I may be expecting a Kevin Costner or Kurt Douglas version of Wyatt Earp, rather than the real McCoy. Is Parker's Wyatt Earp true to life? Having spent considerable time in Tombstone, I show more enjoyed the descriptions of the town, saloons and other commercial establishments, the walking up and down of named streets (where I have walked), and the picture that Parker drew of a hard, spare, almost joyless town that reflects the present. If you want to learn about the man Wyatt Earp, read something else. If you're a Parker fan, it's worth the read, but I recommend the Appaloosa series first. I enjoyed reading Parker's westerns with Virgil and Everett and their spare conversations, which are downright chatty compared to the verbal interactions in Gunman's Rhapsody. show less