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The Stone Garden: The Epic Life of Billy The Kid
The White Sands Region, New Mexico, 1908. It is twenty-seven years after the alleged death of Billy the Kid and rumors abound throughout New Mexico and the United States that the Kid is still alive. Those who believe him dead, are labeling the Kid's killer, Pat Garrett, a traitor. While Sheriff Garrett expected a hero's reception for his assassination of William H. Bonney, alias, The Kid, Garrett has become the most despised man in the state. Instead, assassins are now lining up to gun him down. Garrett watches as the Kid's exploits become the stuff of legend, of dime novels and of myth. And the myth continues that the Kid is alive. When an assassin's bullet finds Garrett, many secrets go to the grave with him. Among those secrets is the identity of his own killer.
- GenresWesterns
256 pages, Paperback
First published June 27, 2001
35 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 11, 2022
A fascinating "what if" story. Well-written and moving.
June 21, 2022
Well, give this one the most oddball outlier 5 star I've read this year so far. And also in Large Print copy on top of it. It was the only one available and I got full attention by the hardcover design.
This is a book I could easily put into the Literature with the big L category. The poetry, the leading to each chapter quotes from antiquity to nearly modern times! That with adding the juxtaposition for all of Billy's (Henry's) different ages and periods of time in that Southwest territory or Mexico! (All scrambled for/ in priority to their overall long term fallouts?) Just a stupendous setting for the surrounds of "the Kid" in all of his various aspects.
And in this presentation "the Kid" was mighty. Nearly everyman. Lover, killer, book reader, composer, thief, dancer, animal owner and protector of and for all things corporal or loved/desired. All things.
This is fiction. But what an "if Garrett again blasted the wrong man" composite for imagination. Which reality or which legend? Oh the legends!
And the women in this cut to their core emotional and physical treatises. Because that is what this is. Life or death in the minute or the month or that year core to survive and BE human. Manuela, Cesla, Isabella, Susanne- all the loves and lovers of years or moments were characterized down to their areola tints.
But beyond all that of Henry (Billy the Kid's real name) - there is the stinging Garden of Stones cemetery of the Wild West. Read the crooked sticks of carved names which tell the story. Tom, Charlie, infant, infant, infant. Dozens lying on the bend of the Pecos.
Really, really opens your eyes to the when the West was not only lawless but what friendship entailed in that period. Or even structures of town or mound.
This reads like poetry. I seldom appreciate poetry. But I do appreciation when speechifying or tales get the flow and sounds of a Shakespeare adventure. (And some of these quotes are aptly his.)
Very much recommend. Yes, it is brutal. And I can picture Henry in great age very easily.
OMG, can this guy write. I will read more of his for sure.
Too many excellent quotes to list but just a few:
"Kingly confines stern and cold where blood and guilt is bought and sold" - Shelley
"I do not see them here; but after death God knows I know the faces I shall see. Each one a murdered self, with low last breath."- Dante Rossetti
"To withdraw is not to run away, and to stay is no wise action. When there's more reason to fear than to hope." - Cervantes
"For you and I are past our dancing days."- Shakespeare
So glad I picked this one serendipity. Lastly, never borrow or take as a gift another's well known hat. Or scarf, or horse. Or boots.
This is a book I could easily put into the Literature with the big L category. The poetry, the leading to each chapter quotes from antiquity to nearly modern times! That with adding the juxtaposition for all of Billy's (Henry's) different ages and periods of time in that Southwest territory or Mexico! (All scrambled for/ in priority to their overall long term fallouts?) Just a stupendous setting for the surrounds of "the Kid" in all of his various aspects.
And in this presentation "the Kid" was mighty. Nearly everyman. Lover, killer, book reader, composer, thief, dancer, animal owner and protector of and for all things corporal or loved/desired. All things.
This is fiction. But what an "if Garrett again blasted the wrong man" composite for imagination. Which reality or which legend? Oh the legends!
And the women in this cut to their core emotional and physical treatises. Because that is what this is. Life or death in the minute or the month or that year core to survive and BE human. Manuela, Cesla, Isabella, Susanne- all the loves and lovers of years or moments were characterized down to their areola tints.
But beyond all that of Henry (Billy the Kid's real name) - there is the stinging Garden of Stones cemetery of the Wild West. Read the crooked sticks of carved names which tell the story. Tom, Charlie, infant, infant, infant. Dozens lying on the bend of the Pecos.
Really, really opens your eyes to the when the West was not only lawless but what friendship entailed in that period. Or even structures of town or mound.
This reads like poetry. I seldom appreciate poetry. But I do appreciation when speechifying or tales get the flow and sounds of a Shakespeare adventure. (And some of these quotes are aptly his.)
Very much recommend. Yes, it is brutal. And I can picture Henry in great age very easily.
OMG, can this guy write. I will read more of his for sure.
Too many excellent quotes to list but just a few:
"Kingly confines stern and cold where blood and guilt is bought and sold" - Shelley
"I do not see them here; but after death God knows I know the faces I shall see. Each one a murdered self, with low last breath."- Dante Rossetti
"To withdraw is not to run away, and to stay is no wise action. When there's more reason to fear than to hope." - Cervantes
"For you and I are past our dancing days."- Shakespeare
So glad I picked this one serendipity. Lastly, never borrow or take as a gift another's well known hat. Or scarf, or horse. Or boots.
November 7, 2024
There is not much epic material in this story.
April 3, 2016
Oh, I LOVED this! Four and a half stars! I've always been fascinated by the Billy the Kid legend. I never really thought about his death being a cover up, but the more I read about it the more I realize how possible it could have been. I'm going to have to read The Saga of Billy the Kid to get the whole low down, but Mr. Brooks did a wonderful job with this story. I don't know if his other books are as good as this, but I'm going to have to check them out!
August 11, 2024
I liked the story very much. The idea he escaped it all and went on to fight in the Spanish-American war and marry one of his dead pals' companion is intriguing.
April 2, 2019
Ostensibly a sequel to Garrett's Authentic Life of Billy, The Kid. Tells what Billy did after getting "shot" by Garrett and how he got his revenge. Not great. Good idea, but the book jumps all over the place time-wise and the narrator changes half way through.
May 5, 2022
Two stars=it was okay according to Goodreads. This book was okay. I didn't dislike it; I just wasn't particularly moved by it. Perhaps I'm just not ready for an introspective, philosophical Billy the Kid whose passion is nearly extinct.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews