Stations West

by Allison Amend

Dramatic, lyrical, and steeped in the history and lore of Oklahoma Territory, Allison Amend's first novel tells an unforgettable multi-generational -- and very American -- story of Jewish pioneers, their adopted family, and the challenges they face. Amid the founding of the West, Stations West's generations struggle to forge and maintain their identities as Jews, as immigrants, and as Americans.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Jewish, Judaism, Fiction

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Allison Amend was born in Chicago on a day when the Cubs beat the Mets 2-0. She attended Stanford University and holds an MFA from the University of Iowa Writers Workshop. Her work has received awards from and appeared in One Story, Black Warrior Review, StoryQuarterly, Bellevue Literary Review, the Atlantic Monthly, Prairie Schooner and Other Voices, among other publications. Her debut short story collection, Things That Pass for Love, was published in October 2008 by OV Books. Visit her on the web at www.allisonamend.com."

Reviews

[Ken Hada · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remarkable novel! Magnificent command of pace, powerful, lyrical narration. One of the best novels I’ve read in years.

[Zehava (Joyce) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so unique and interesting. It tells the story of two families, Swedish and Jewish, melded together for life as immigrants to the early days of the Oklahoma territory. It spans about 50 years and tells the stories of fathers and sons and mothers and daughters all inhabiting a land that does not want to be inhabited, searching, wandering and yearning. These characters are not likable in the least but it is fascinating seeing how they lived their lives. This is definitely a book worth seeking out.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really western story, unpleasant. What a mix of people.

[marymurtz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, but the characters were so irredeemably depressing, apathetic and unlikable I struggled to care enough to finish. Their actions were inconsistent with their circumstances, their circumstances woefully depressing...I thought I was going to read about how Oklahoma was settled, read about the until-now unexplored history of Jewish settlers in Indian Territory in the late 1800s. Instead, I was treated to a skimming of the history of a family made up of people who hate each other, don't take their responsibilities to their children seriously, and skip around from one fate to another.

It starts with Boggy Horowitz, who marries a Cherokee, but abandons her when he thinks his cousin from the old country is more appealing to her. Then he's upset when he returns years later to find his wife, his cousin and four of his five children are dead. The one surviving son, Moshe, is an unambitious milquetoast who marries a whore, and brings up a son who is first a sympathetic character but who later turns into a hardened bully.

Peripheral characters turn into main characters, and interesting characters disappear. The storyline skips giant chunks of plot that we're essentially left to divine on our own from section to section. It's like "There Will Be Blood" meets some pulpy latter Colleen McCullough novel, except even those knew how to choose a main theme and main character that, regardless of their striving and cheating, were people we cared about.

I did NOT like this book.

[Cflack · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although obviously very well research, I found Stations West rather clunky. I was looking forward to a "different" story of the old west, told from the view of the first Jewish settlers in Oklahoma. What I read was a story about some interesting complex characters, but it skipped and jumped around too much, not just in locations and character focus, but also jumping over chunks of years with the reader expected to follow along with a single paragraph defining a large passage of time. Other than the main characters of Moshe, Garfield, Rika and Dora, many other family member pass in and out at various stages of their lives without much continuity. The most interesting parts of the story for me were of the wanderings of characters, not their domestic lives - Garfield riding the rails, Dora as a Harvey girl, their lives before they settled down with what they didn't really want. The overriding emotion of this book was regret (Bogy for leaving his family, Moshe for leaving his family, Moshe for not being strong enough, Dora for leaving her child, Fritz for leaving his family, Garfield for soooo many things) and I'm not sure that is a sustaining enough theme to carry an entire novel.

[Audra Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is super. It follows the story of Boggy Haurowitz--Oklahoma's first Jewish settler, back before Oklahoma was a state--and his descendants through the 1930s. Maybe you're not a regular reader of westerns or historical novels (I'm not), but if you give it a few pages you will be drawn in by Amend's compact, yet evocative writing. I was consistently amazed at the amount of history/emotions/complex relationships she was able to convey in the most economic way. Amend is an excellent storyteller (her book of short stories is also great); I recommend this book.

[Zoe Zolbrod · Rating 5 out of 5]

True fact (as opposed to the other kind): In the early-mid 1800s, a Jewish settler stumbled into wild, wide-open Oklahoma Territory, the first to do so. From this nugget, Allison Amend weaves a fascinating generational saga that traces the history of the west as much as it does the specifics of a family that blends Jewish and Cherokee blood. Anyone interested in the birth of the railways and the American character should like this well-researched book.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I review Allison Amend’s “Stations West” in the Sunday, April 4, edition of The Raleigh News & Observer:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/04/0...


and in The Charlotte Observer:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010...

Joe

[Betsy Randolph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the book! Being a transplant Okie myself, I felt a kinship to the characters and the impeccable draw to Oklahoma. The characters are believable, heartbreaking, and conflicted...just like real life. The author's strong suits: dramatic dialog, pacing, character development, authenticity on place and Jewish customs.

[Erika Dreifus]

I have an interview with Allison Amend, focusing on this book, forthcoming. Stay tuned!

[reed · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got about a third of the way through, but I couldn't work up any feelings for the characters beyond mild impatience.

[Rondia]

Allison came to our book club as a guest author.

[Linda Huigens · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very enjoyable book to read. Allison Amend has a very eloquent writing style that keeps me coming back for more.

[Kat Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, I haveca thing for multi-generational historic sagas, especially those in a western (i.e., cowboy) setting and this one is very good indeed.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Jewish fiction, particularly about lesser explored topics, it's easy to expect a book to be a magnum opus. This isn't that by a long shot, but it's an engaging tale spanning around 80 years about a group of Oklahoma settlers and their offspring--some of whom happen to be Jewish.

Amend starts her tale by co-opting the name of the first recorded Jewish settler in those parts--Boggy--and provides a line for his family after that. He married a Cherokee woman and his son married a non-practicing Irish Catholic; for decades there was no mention of any sort of organized Jewish community, though both Boggy, his son Moshe and his grandson Garfield were referred to, and at least partially thought themselves to be Jewish. I guess I'm surprised by how much (though not overly much) Jewish education they had and how separate they felt themselves from the Christian religion surrounding them, but with a name like Haurowitz, they couldn't escape antisemitism either. It was a time of a very different, derogatory sort of "identity politics," with heritages one couldn't forget, although ironically, many people in the area were said to be a mix of Black, white and Native American blood.

So the novel isn't so much about how Judaism flourished in Oklahoma as much as it was about how *some* Jews flourished. And they were only a handful of characters; we also had a prominent family of Swedish immigrants. Others popped up, too, but weren't necessarily as central.

I'd say that the central story took place around the turn of the century when Moshe, Garfield and the Swedes (did they ever get a last name?) are thrust rather unconventionally into a family unit. This is around the time where the are that Moshe grew up in is now referred to as "the Oklahoma Territory," and their neighbor ropes them into starting a town to coincide with the creation of a rail line.

The changing cultural and geographical history is more than fascinating, but I felt like the story sped up a little too much for the humans at times. I'm not even sure that the years on the section headings always matched up with the years being discussed in the narrative, and we were always lurching forward. This led to a lot of character development feeling more explained than explored, even for the two strongest characters: shy, overworked Dora with her deep secret, and cantankerous and tempestuous Garfield. I also appreciated Moshe's quiet thoughtfulness, and his different ways of connecting to his Jewish and Cherokee ancestry.

The train culture provided a useful outlet for the men to work off some of their restlessness for a time, and it was also an intriguing slice of life to read about. When it came to the physical, historical research, Amend was always on point. I also appreciate how she tried to explore human longings and tensions as people try to carve out a place called home. I do kind of wish she could have focused a little more on Jewish community, but I don't think it would have fit the story. Certainly opens a doorway for me to explore this in nonfiction, too! My own Jewish family hails from the Midwest, and this history has long been a point of interest to me.