Turpentine

by Spring Warren

A comic glance at the old American West and a serious story about transformation and redemption, Turpentine is a bold, inventive novel about a young man’s attempt to make sense of the past while unsteadily growing into adulthood. In 1871, Edward Turrentine Bayard III, sick and restless, leaves his Connecticut home to recover out west. But when the private sanitarium in which he is to stay proves to be nothing more than a rickety outpost on the Nebraskan plains, he becomes a buffalo skinner. After returning to the East, Ned teams up with Phaegin, who earns her money rolling cigars, and Curly, a fourteen-year-old coal miner, but the newfound trio is wrongly accused of triggering a bomb at a labor rally, and they must flee. With a Pinkerton agent following their every move, the gang of winsome ne’er-do-wells takes flight on a circuitous escape through northern outposts into Indian country, past the slums of Chicago, and into the boundless Great Plains. En route they become witness to the transformation and growing pains of a burgeoning nation. A picaresque novel of wonderful energy and unforgettable characters, Turpentine is a comic, prescient look at the growth of an individual and a country.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Westerns, Literary Fiction

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Bruce Woodbridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dickensian novel disguised as a Western, along the lines of "Great Expectations" meets a Zane Grey story. Set in the mid 19th century (post-Civil War), the story follows a young man from sickness and poverty through health and success. Various historical figures make a cameo. I took a chance based on the blurb and the cover - I was not disappointed. A very good story, well written and interesting, and kind of upbeat in its own way.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of the best I read in a long time. The characters are well defined. This book has funny, laugh out loud moments. For me,though, the story was gritty and hard to read at times due to the realism in the story telling. The last chapter was amazing. By way of warning, I am an animal lover and have trouble when bad things happen to animals. It happens in this book, but works within the story.

[Karen Klink · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish there were such a thing as four-and-a-half stars . . . oh, shucks, this one deserves five.

As the cover states, ". . . brings the Old West back to life . . . in a novel filled with wit, brilliant characterizations, and descriptions that will leave you feeling as if you can still feel the dust of a buffalo stampede settling around you." I could not put this book down. What a yarn. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes heart-wrenching, this novel is why we read.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun romp in the 19th century old west...very entertaining.

[Louis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wonderful novel reads like Little Big Man as written by Charles Dickens. While not as great as Thomas Berger's comic western classic, this picaresque tale follows the (mis)adventures of Edward Turrentine Bayard III. A sickly young man, "Turpentine" journeys to the frontier from his Connecticut home to build his health, only to find more adventure than he bargained for. Thrilling and comic, this book laughs at western conventions from dime novels on while honoring them at the same time. In the end, the hero is transformed by the West even if it is a funny version of the region. An enjoyable update of an old genre.

[Heather(Gibby) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edward Turrentine Bayard III is either the luckiest or unluckiest character to have ever graced the pages of a novel. Nothing goes as planned, but he always seems to scrape through it.


This reads a bit like a spaghetti western, but it is spun very cleverly, and humorous and suspenseful all at the same time. A pleasant surprise!

[Rahna Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a pretty good read. I enjoyed the historical context. However, I didn't enjoy the portrayal of the the Native American characters; even if it was accurate from the perspective of a (racist) non-native person of the time period. Turp, the main character, grows and develops, which always good.

[Lyle Wichman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unusual History of A Man Named Edward

Ned’s fortunes were good,then poor then bad then good again. Quite a story. It was a little too long for me. However the people and the history of the places he lived were very interesting. The characters were vivid and the making of this book.

[Daryl Sparr · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story of a misfit trying to find his way. Ned searches for love and acceptance. Ned is an unlikely protagonist who struggles to find his way as he navigates the old world and the new, an elite world and poor, being a hero and being a coward. The story is entertaining and a new take on the western. A good read though the ending is rushed.

[elise · Rating 2 out of 5]

there were parts that were super graphic out of nowhere that personally i thought were unnecessary. the pacing was also weird and i wish it was written from multiple points of view, especially from Lill

[Glen J · Rating 5 out of 5]

A romp, a journey, a tale to savor

Turpentine and his adventures will keep you turning pages much faster than the indomitable Chin escaping a bounty hunter or a burning prairie city.

[Nae · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, the premise was a good on, and parts of it were really good, but the other parts outweighed that. No offense to the author of this one but it was almost like he was trying very, very hard to be "precious" and it just was not happening, at least for me.

[Carrie Wilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet story.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picaresque novels aren’t for everyone, but I really enjoyed the book. The ending still stays with me a decade after I read it. It seems even more important today than it was then.

[Carmen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this, but ultimately I have up on it. There were interesting bits that were few and far between. It has little to no atmosphere and a plot that rambles on and on. I gave up on it.

[Trina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary tale of 1871 western life. Characters were fabulous and many surprises in the plot. Humorous and engaging

[Brandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. The main character grew so much during the course of the story that you couldn't help but cheer for him to overcome all of his obstacles. There are many painful points in the story; Warren deftly creates characters that are real and flawed. This book is worth picking up and I hope Warren continues writing.

[Tami · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edward Turrentine Bayard III is a man without a name, without family, and without a living. After the death of his beloved grandmother, he was sent to Nebraska. He was told that he was going to a special facility with great hopes of curing his ills. Instead, Ned (as he becomes known) finds nothing. Penniless, he takes a job as a buffalo skinner. Then impatiently waits for a reply from his mother. Little does he know that his estate back home is gone, his inheritance is gone, and his mother has gone run off with the pickle man (or was that the mustard man).

Although his health troubles seem to have abated, Ned just can't seem to catch a break. He falls hard for Lill, a woman who was rumored to have killed her fiancée. Although Lill enjoys stringing Ned along, she always seems attracted the guys with money and land. Then, there's Ned's attempts at a paleontology career. That almost gets him strung up.

Turpentine was entertaining from the first page to the very last word. Well written. A surprising favorite.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

You likely will find Spring Warren's "Turpentine" nestled next to Robert Penn Warren's "All the King's Men" in your bookstore. Nice digs. Likewise, the book "Turpentine" in some ways might aspire to be, "Little Big Man," is an all-time winner. Spring Warren's debut has some nice writing to recommend it, but falls well short of Thomas Berger's novel.

This first-person account of Edward Turrentine Bayard III's days as an American West buffalo skinner and his subsequent transformations has the ingredients to be quite good but never quite coheres. The writing, particularly the dialogue, often is intentionally archaic and obscure, sometimes irritatingly so, but there's enough nice writing to keep your hopes up. Alas, the story just doesn't grab, and "Turpentine" (Bayard's nickname, of course) never comes alive, and nor does anyone else, particularly. There's more to good writing than the flash of occasional good prose, and this narrative ultimately fails (2.5 stars).

[Dirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometime in the 1870’s Edward Turrentine Bayard The Third, an invalid most of his 17 years, is bundled up (and bled and dosed with some medical arsenic) by his personal physician and then sent off to Nebraska to a private sanitarium where it is hoped the fresh air and Western spirit will help him recover his health. Problem is, when Ed gets to Nebraska he finds out the sanitarium is a hoax.

Letters sent home are unanswered and Ed finds himself abandoned on the plains and starts working as a buffalo skinner and that’s about where the book begins :)

I dug this book. It’s a Western but not of the Louis L’Amour variety. It had several laugh out loud passages and some sad ones too. Lots of memorable characters.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not really sure how I felt about this book. I liked it, but I also don't care much for bittersweet books, which this one is. It also took me a long time to get into the story, but once I did, I had a hard time putting it down. The book was very well written, there were some very coloful characters, and there were a lot of layers to the story that made you feel and think about the negatives that life throws at you when you're just trying to do right. That said, the ending felt rushed to me and was maybe too neatly tied up with a bow. This is probably a book that would require multiple readings in order to really absorb all of what the author is presenting in this story.

[emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I may never have said this before, but there's too much plot in this book. So much so, that I found myself checking back a page or two to remember "oh -- did this character die?" or "wait -- I thought we were still in Connecticut." The speed with which we moved from one thing to the next meant that there was never time (or, that the author never took the time) to make the characters particularly knowable, and that things that should have involved some tension (the scene in the mercantile, for one) were over before we as readers had much investment that anything bad would actually happen.

[Corinne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining, funny at times and heartbreaking at others. I'd love to see this optioned for film. The narrator is exasperating at first - a young man with romantic notions and flights of fancy - but as the novel progresses he grows up. The last chapter seemed a little rushed; all the scenes up to that point were very detailed, but the last felt as if it were trying too hard to wrap things up. I don't recall the last time I read a novel categorized as a western, and I don't know if I would again, but I'd definitely read more by Ms. Warren. She did a fantastic job.

[Sandie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absorbing and entertaining story about a weak and meek young man who travels to the western frontier to recover his health and instead ends up earning his character the hard way. (He gets his health back too - the hard way!) The best thing about this book, though, is not the story, but the characters. Some really well-drawn, unforgettable folks populate this country, not the least of which is a contrary horse named Chin. Spring Warren really surprised me with this one, and I will seek out more from her in the future.

[Paul Landes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and uproariously sad at times I absolutely loved this book. I tried to stay ahead of this author to see where she was going, but I obviously lack her talent and vision. The writing style is unique and creative in its very own way, which for me kept me perfectly in tune with the events of the time and kept me turning page after page. One of my all time favorites for sure.
http://www.amazon.com/Turpentine-A-No...

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

As soon as I finished reading this book, I began to miss the characters in it. Always the mark of a very good read!
Young Turpentine seems to be blindsided by life and yet his resiliency is remarkable. Led by his own naïveté, he finds himself adrift among scoundrels and opportunists in the early days of the American West. He manages to stumble through more incidents than any one human ought to endure and he is so darn likeable you find yourself rooting for him all along the way.
This is Spring Warren's debut novel. Brava!

[Jake Bialos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really REALLY enjoyed this book. Loving originally voiced historical fiction that rings true, I was enchanted with Spring Warren's funky and idiosyncratic characters and incidents. Also, the surprises in the novel have deep points to make on the nature of Love and Value and Constancy and Faith. All this with considerable humor and gore and perspective. The young scamp "curly" is worth the price of admission alone. Destined for a bad end from the get go, his dialogue is hysterical to read and he is just one of the many wild eccentrics that populate this novel.

[Barbara Bravo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warren starts out her tale with the first person narrator as an engaging but callow youth. As he matures with experience and adventure she is able to change his tone and language to reflect his growth. The young protagonist is sent "out West" for his health but the story cuts back to Connecticut and academic circles, to labor rallies and Pinkerton agents and back to Indian country without losing its focus. It's 400 pages but a good, fast read.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finished reading Turpentine, and it is a fun story with a lot of action. Maybe a little too much, which adds to a lack of flow in the story. Although the book was a pretty enjoyable read, I think it would have benefited greatly from a more vigilant editor. The author tried to cram too much into the story and there were actually dates/times later in the book that didn't jive at all with what had come before. But, all in all, it is a fast and fun read.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book started out very slow. About 25 pages in, I was about to toss it back in the library drop box when I saw that it had received really good ratings on this site. So, I kept with it. What do you know, about 60 pages in and I was hooked. It was a great read and kept up my interest. I loved Chin and following Turpentine's antics and calamities. Would recommend it.