Welcome to BookCrossing! This is a site for catching and releasing books for those who want to share the joy of reading. If you find this book, please leave a journal entry to let previous readers know how and where you found the book. Feel free to do this anonymously if you wish. You are welcome to keep the book, but I encourage you to pass it on and let it continue its journey.

Review from Amazon:

An Amazon Best Book of the Month, June 2013: In 1859, Eli McCullough, the 13-year-old son of Texas pioneers, is captured in a brutal Comanche raid on his family's homestead. First taken as a slave along with his less intrepid brother, Eli assimilates himself into Comanche culture, learning their arts of riding, hunting, and total warfare. When the tribe succumbs to waves of disease and settlers, Eli's only option is a return to Texas, where his acquired thirsts for freedom and self-determination set a course for his family's inexorable rise through the industries of cattle and oil. The Son is Philipp Meyer's epic tale of more than 150 years of money, family, and power, told through the memories of three unforgettable narrators: Eli, now 100 and known simply as "the Colonel"; Eli's son Peter, called "the great disappointment" for his failure to meet the family’s vision of itself; and Eli's great-granddaughter Jeanne Anne, who struggles to maintain the McCullough empire in the economic frontier of modern Texas. The book is long but never dull—Meyer's gift (and obsession) for historical detail and vernacular is revelatory, and the distinct voices of his fully fleshed-and-blooded characters drive the story. And let there be blood: some readers will flinch at Meyer's blunt (and often mesmerizing) portrayal of violence in mid-19th century Texas, but it’s never gratuitous. His first novel, 2009's American Rust, drew praise for its stark and original characterization of post-industrial America, but Meyer has outdone himself with The Son, as ambitious a book as any you’ll read this year--or any year. Early reviewers call it a masterpiece, and while it's easy to dismiss so many raves as hyperbole, The Son is an extraordinary achievement. --Jon Foro

I am not a fan of the wild west genre but I found that I couldn't the book done. The writing keeps you wanting to know "what happens next" and how it all connected. Enjoyed the book despite the venue.

I know very little about Texas’s history, so I found it fascinating to read this saga covering four generations of the McCullough family and their interactions with the Mexicans and Comanches. There’s great storytelling and characters with real depth. I was surprised by how very much I enjoyed this novel, as I rarely read anything in the Western genre.

I've offered this book up for a bookring. Participants are as follows:

cinnycat (USA, will ship within US)
bookworm2525 (US, will ship to UK)
Blue_berry (UK, will ship within Europe)
penelopewanders (Switzerland, will ship within Europe)
Lubiette (Greece, will ship to Australia)
Billbooks (Australia, will ship anywhere)
sarahmangan (UK, prefers UK/EU shipping)
dutch-book (The Netherlands, will ship anywhere)
HappyHarryBabe (UK, will ship anywhere)

This book has started its bookring journey and is on its way to cinnycat!

thank you thank you for sharing some of the 'Tournament of Books' books! For the unaware, it starts in March every year here: themorningnews.org (or more specifically themorningnews.org/tob when it eventually goes up..right now it has the tournament for last year).

I've got around 150 pages left of The Goldfinch and I know I said I would put down The Goldfinch as soon as I received these, but I didn't think I'd be this close to the end when these showed up. So I will write another journal entry soon! thanks again mathgirl40! I appreciate it so much!

Another book in the running for The Tournament of Books this year! (themorningnews.org/tob) What a sweeping epic this one is! There are three view points here, mainly The Colonel, a Texas cattleman who as a child survived an Indian kidnapping and life with them in the mid 19th century, the story of his son who is somewhat of an outcast among the cattlemen/oilmen in 1915 as he seems to be hesitant to murder an entire neighboring Mexican family for stealing horses, and his great granddaughter still at the ranch who is taking a really long time telling her story while lying on the floor dying. The book never gets boring, pretty fast paced, but how could it not be with multiple generations who have fought in at least three wars when the mid 19th century was a warzone itself? There are many "sons" here. But in my opinion, the book relies a little too much on brutality and the shock factor. There are many scalps and much torture. Maybe I am too sensitive to these things. Violence on all sides... the west really was a warzone back then and it really doesn't seem that long ago. I'm not sure how real it was for Indians to kill every person they ran into, unless it seemed they would lose. But the Texas rangers was just as bad. The book is very brutal and sometimes it seems it relies on that too much for an interesting story. If the writing skills are there, if the characters and the story are there, there doesn't need to be so much shock factor. I think there are writers who have writing styles that I love more, but wow this book is a beast... it's like you are actually living 200 years of history in the best possible way. With enough of the story going to three characters in the same family, it would have been interesting to see perspectives from another culture: one third of the book going to an Indian perspective and one third of the book going to a Mexican perspective, rather than the entire book staying with the rich white family. But really my only complaint is how brutal it is... I think this has to be the most violent book I've read.

It's difficult to believe this won't go far in the tournament, as the book is constantly reminding me of big American classics. The Colonel's section reminded me of Mark Twain's 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' (maybe it's because he had a tree hammock 30 feet in the air he would sleep in), the granddaughter's story (in her childhood) reminded me of Harper Lee's Scout Finch and The Colonel's son's story reminded me of Steinbeck. Now those are some classics.

thanks so much again mathgirl40 sharing these! Of the four I've read for the tournament (The Goldfinch, How To Get Filthy Rich In Rising Asia, The Tuner of Silences, The Son), I think the two that you have shared have been my favorites!

Sent out today! I'm liking this book more as I think about it more.... thanks again!

Got this in the mail this weekend. I will read ASAP and send it on to the next in line. Thanks for the bookring :)

Not something I would normally read but a good book. Glad I was able to join the ring. Sent off to Blue_berry.

Received safely, thank you!

I really enjoyed this epic story about the McCullough family and learned a lot about the history of Texas. The characters were also quite 'epic' and well written. Thank you for sharing!

Sending off to Switzerland to the next reader. Enjoy!

This tome has arrived in the Swiss Alps, thank you. It looks like something I'll enjoy tackling during my up-coming holidays.
I am a bit perplexed as I had requested to only be included for European shipping, and Australia is a bit far off to fit that bill. (Couldn't resist the pun, billbooks).
If there is no other option, I will take the liberty of sending this from France where I will be in the second half of August - they have a very book-friendly postal service and it would cost about an eigth of what I'll have to pay from here or Spain where I'll be during the first part of the summer.
I hope this is ok - if someone else in Europe joins in the meantime, I can of course send it there. Otherwise I'll send to Australia, but will have this book a bit longer than usual.
Thanks so much for making it available and for sending.

Saga,epic tale... Although I tend to zip through books, there was something quite strenuous about reading this, and it took me a while. (This was also related to work,so perhaps not so much connected to the book). I started out by keeping a bookmark on the page with the family tree as the switching to and fro was confusing at first. Eventually this became clearer. The harshness of the characters corresponds, I suppose, to the harshness of the land, the climate, the topography of the region. None of the characters are particularly endearing - even Eli, who we encounter first as a child and whose story I felt was most fascinating (and most thoroughly developed) morphs into a rather unpleasant person. This certainly de-romanticizes the whole cowboy and indian / wild west story, and the deep seated prejudice against others (I was going to write Mexicans, then realized I could just as easily write any other group)seems so integral to the society that one wonders how it could ever dissipate. In the long run it was an interesting and even educational read- but felt a bit like a long run.

Now headed to Greece... enjoy! Thanks so much for sending and making available.

Just arrived, thank you !

An amazing, gripping texan saga, one of the best books I have read lately.

In the post to Billbooks, happy reading !

Book has safely arrived in Australia

Nearly a year Oops. Anyway the replacement copy has arrived to replace the one I managed to gget water damaged so now off to the next reader.

Thanks - this looks really interesting. I have a couple of books ahead of this but should get on to it in the next couple of weeks.

Wow! An absolute epic in every way. This is the best book I've read in a long long time - thank you so much for including me in this ray. Like others I found the history of Texas in the novel fascinating. It was completely brutal, but I think that fit the context - it wouldn't have had such an impact without the violence, even though some bits were quite hard to read. The characters were absolutely fascinating: all 3 of the main narrators were so well-drawn.

Thanks again for sharing such a great read.

This one arrived last week. To be read.

Oh jeez, I didn't realise this was a ringbook. So sorry! I finished it a little while ago and I liked it. It was brutal, but very interesting. I've learned a lot about this time in American history.
I will send HappyHarrybabe a PM to ask her if she still would like to read the book.

Mee naar de meeting.

I got this from the Dutch meeting!