Robert Lautner - The Road To Reckoning

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Gripping, touching and rewarding

I enjoyed this book very much. It is extremely well written and a gripping story.

The story is narrated by an older Thomas Walker, telling the story of a journey he made the age of twelve in 1837. Eventually left alone on the trail, it is the story of his perilous journey home and of the things and people he encounters. To say more would act as more of a spoiler than I would have wanted before reading the book, but the tale, though simple-seeming, is a truly gripping one with a cast of beautifully drawn characters, a building atmosphere of menace with some very exciting episodes, and a vivid picture of life at the time.

Much of this is due to the narrative voice of Thomas, which is exceptionally well done. I am no expert, but the language and period detail seemed utterly convincing to me and I was drawn in completely, both into the historical background and into Thomas's internal world. The book has quietly incisive things to say about goodness and wickedness (both sometimes found in unexpected places), courage and cowardice, the nature of guilt, bluster and genuineness, how society works (including the role of guns) and other things, much of which has real relevance today. The narrative is full of small observations like this on the ladies of a recently-founded town: "We did not have a carriage so we were low to them. They had forgotten that their town was built by lumber and sweat."

It is the language of the narrative which really distinguished this book for me. To give you slightly more of a flavour, Thomas writes this when confronted by a bullying robber on the trail: "He waited for me. And like all violent, laughing children (for that is still what his kind are even in their grown-up mind) they have nothing better to do than wait for you. In their reasoning there is nothing more diverting or entertaining than your misery. As children and as men they do not kiss good-bye to their families to go out for pleasant company or a drink and meal or for diversion. They go out to spread their misery. Good societies ostracize these felons eventually. But I was now aware that I was in the very lands that these men make their streets and homes when the good has had enough of them."

If you like that, you will like the book, I think. Personally, I loved it. I found it gripping, touching and very rewarding, and I recommend it very warmly.