Joe Pepper

by Elmer Kelton

Joe Pepper is a Texas badman with quite a past. In fact, there isn't much that Joe hasn't done in his forty years of living on both sides of the Texas law-except face the hangman. Now, convicted of murder, Joe is about to get that privilege. But before he goes, Joe has a few things he wants to say-and a few stories that he wants to set straight.

With Joe Pepper, legendary Western writer Elmer Kelton tells a fine and moving tale of the history of his home state of Texas.

Genres: Westerns, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Audiobook

182 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Elmer Kelton (1926-2009) was award-winning author of more than forty novels, including The Time It Never Rained, Other Men’s Horses, Texas Standoff and Hard Trail to Follow. He grew up on a ranch near Crane, Texas, and earned a journalism degree from the University of Texas. His first novel, Hot Iron, was published in 1956. Among his awards have been seven Spurs from Western Writers of America and four Western Heritage awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. His novel The Good Old Boys was made into a television film starring Tommy Lee Jones. In addition to his novels, Kelton worked as an agricultural journalist for 42 years. He served in the infantry in World War II. He died in 2009.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/elmerk...

Reviews

[Seb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't my favorite Elmer Kelton's. But it just was perfection because I listened to it instead of reading it!

The narration is a first-person account of Joe Pepper's life, retelling his memories to a priest while in jail.

Listening to Pete Bradbury was like listening to Joe Pepper himself. The acting is awesome! It gives the story texture and credibility.

4 stars upped to 5 for the audiobook 🙌

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joe Pepper is quite a character. He tells a preacher his story while he waits in jail to be hung, so the style of the story is more like a fireside yarn. The narrator did a perfect job. I really thought I was listening to an old cowboy in his last hours.

Joe wasn't really a bad man, though he had that reputation. Life was hard & Joe was just a bit harder than some others around him. Often enough, he did unto others what they would have done unto him, but he did it first. Not always. He wasn't the smartest, fastest draw, best shot or card player, but he was usually a bit better than the other guys & he knew when & how to run as needed.

There is a lot of interesting history & facts about the Old West, but this certainly isn't a lecture. Just a name dropped here & there. Some situations come up like the graft or revolution in Mexico where he had a good thing going for a while. As he got older, the story got a bit thinner, but there's enough to see how he became more desperate to earn a dollar & that got him into some nasty situations. He didn't dwell on them, but some pain came through. And then there was the end. Fantastic!!!

Highly recommended, especially the edition narrated by Pete Bradbury. Again, he does a really fantastic job.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to believe that this is the first Elmer Kelton novel I've read. Kelton is not just another western author, he's a great storyteller.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The more books I have read by Elmer Kelton, I really believe he is one of the best story tellers ever. This book is almost like writing in the first person as if Joe Pepper was actually telling you the story of his life. At first I didn't know if I was going to like this type of writing, but just like any other Elmer Kelton book I have read it didn't take me long before I was totally immersed in the story. The character himself is strong, as Kelton's writing lets us in on his life from his eyes and soon you realize instead of being an outlaw waiting to be hanged, as he is telling the story of his life to a preacher, that this could have been any of us taking a wrong turn in our lives. The story left me with a strong sense of how my life could have been changed by perhaps taking another fork in the road or making different choices. You get the sense that the character Joe Pepper was in the wrong place at the wrong time along with making some bad choices. A good book for a lot of people on the wrong side of the tracks to read and I think they might come out of it with a sense of things they should change in their lives or things they might do different. The book is typical of Elmer Kelton and like most of his books, is a quick and enjoyable read. This would be a nice book to take on a plane or simply just for an evening of reading!

[Nelda Wilhite · Rating 5 out of 5]

ELMER KELTON AT HIS BEST

***** A different style of story but intriguing as well as humorous. Recommended to more than just the western reader.

[Candace Simar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joe Pepper is told in a pitch-perfect voice. It's about an old man telling a minister about his life before he is scheduled to be hanged. Lots of telling, but the voice makes it worth the read.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't read many westerns these days, but I read this book on the treadmill and it held my interest sufficient to distract me from the terrible misery of exercise. And that ain't nothing.

[Jeff Dickison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good western told with tongue firmly in cheek. Old gunfighter is waiting in jail to be hung and tells his life story to a preacher. Nice ending! Recommended to western fans!

[Jeff Tankersley · Rating 2 out of 5]

"A lot of people are good about minding their own business as long as it don't cost them nothing, but you put money into the situation and they come down with a bad case of public responsibility" - Joe Pepper

A convicted murderer is confessing sins before his hanging in "Joe Pepper" (1975). Kelton tells the tale in a meandering stream-of-consciousness style with some yokul-speak but not enough to be off-putting - I'm imagining how rough it would be if Max Brand or Zane Grey were writing it - but instead it rests in that Kelton zone straddling the line between authenticity and over-drama that we get from many of his other novels.

Joe Pepper starts his story at the beginning, his parents among the first Texas pioneers and his father fighting with Sam Houston and then dying in the Civil War. Joe himself serves in the Civil War and returns home with a friend, defeated by the Yankees and now having trouble differentiating between what is illegal and what is wrong, moral equivalencies all out of whack as men try to survive during and after the war, and then through the beginnings of the cattle wars when barons and lawmen in the barons' pockets would run roughshod over those who came next.

Verdict: Pepper's tale could have been more interesting but is actually quite boring. Kelton's stream-of-conscious stubborn preaching (reams of side-commentary content like the intro above) frequently comes across like just an extended 167-page front-porch rant. There are a few fun twists but whatever.

Jeff's Rating: 2 / 5 (Okay)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG

[Sandra Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel, which I read through Audible in the book Long Way to Texas, was an excellent expository tale (as told to the preacher) of a life in early Texas. Joe proved to be, in his own words, a bit loose on right and wrong and found his way to the end of this story through quite a string of dubious decisions. Well told characterization of old Joe.

[Chuck Eaton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve probably read 20 Kelton books, and Joe Pepper is one of the best. This is an easy read that keeps the reader interested all the way through the book. I love the book’s format of Joe telling his life’s story to a preacher while he awaits the gallows, and what an interest life he led. Kelton is a master at character development.

[Henry McLaughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elmer Kelton is, in my opinion, the best Western author ever. And his novel, Joe Pepper, does not disappoint. Joe's story is part of the saga of the American West after the Civil War. Kelton brings that world to life through the adventures of Joe Pepper, a man with dreams who has to face the reality of the violence of life on the frontier. His life and his choices touch the reader's heart.

[Garth Pettersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written story with a memorable protagonist. Very enjoyable.

[Milo Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Would have given it four stars but the ending felt a bit rushed and a little cheesy. A really fun story told in a cool way. I would recommend to a friend

[David Brimer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too episodic for it’s own good. Just doesn’t compare to Kelton’s great work.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was originally written under the pseudonymn, Lee McElroy.

This book was a change of pace for Kelton. Kelton tells the life story of Joe Pepper, a gunman and an outlaw, whose life story had been greatly exaggerated.

Kelton chooses to write this in a completely conversational manner. The lead character, Pepper, is telling the true story in hopes of setting it straight. The story describes how a man might "become" a gunman and an outlaw, some of the scrapes he'd been in, and some of the misunderstandings about who he really was. We learn that Pepper is not really a bad guy, just a tough guy who survived.

A great book, a quick read, full of traditional western action, and well worth the time you take to read it.

[Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joe Pepper has been convicted of murder and condemned to death by hanging. As the gallows are being built, he tells a preacher about his life and how he got into this predicament. As the reader "listens" to the story, Pepper becomes a most likeable character. This is a well-written and fun western that made me think about choices and consequences.

[Floyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pleasant interlude of old west entertainment. Some great one liners.

[Julie Sparks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never killed a man but what needed it.