The Bells of San Juan

Great reading of a transgressive Western

(5 stars)

Nullifidian

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook. Listening to it really brought home to me how many Westerns are created using the Stoic virtue ethics, with its emphasis on fortitude and civic responsibility. Seneca and Marcus Aurelius would have no problem recognizing the motivations of the hero Rod Norton. But at the same time it is also transgressive in its plot, which relies on the fact that white settlers of the Southwest were prepared to blame Mexicans rather than other white people for crimes, and in having a love interest who is a fully rounded, capable, intelligent, and educated woman (a doctor, no less, at a time when women doctors were so rare as to be almost nonexistent). The reading is excellent, though the reader stumbles at a few less common English words. My favorite was when "nonplussed" became "non-pulsed", momentarily turning this into a Zombie Western. Incidentally, there's an interesting portion of the novel that strongly implies that Jackson Gregory was familiar with the case of Phineas Gage and that he kept up with the latest neuroscience.

Sparky

(4.5 stars)

SPARKY

I cannot say any more clearly than the previous Nullifidian..a few bits seem far fetched but the reader made it believable and is a favorite of mine

(5 stars)

Mick Bradford

John Michaels has knocked another one out of the park!!

couldn't get into story, became background noise after chp. 3

(1 stars)

AZRooster1981