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The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters
Enjoyed by millions since its first publication in 1958 The Travels Of Jaimie McPheeters is the lively story of a 13-year-old boy's adventures on a journey across America in 1849. This million-copy Pulitzer Prize-winning classic details the journey of Jaimie and his father from Kentucky to gold-rush California.
544 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
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8045 people want to read
About the author
Robert Lewis Taylor
27 books19 followersPulitzer Prize for Fiction (1959) for The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters
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June 23, 2023
Dr. Sardius McPheeters, is a dreamer always chasing the elusive beautiful rainbow, but never quite fully grasping it in his hands, the gambler and imbiber of strong drinks, is a capable physician in Louisville, Kentucky, his family suffers though, but his creditors want their money...The time, during California's gold rush, the '49ers from all over the world are descending to the new territory, acquired by the recent war with Mexico, saying goodbye to practical wife Melissa, who very reluctantly gives permission, still the cholera epidemic here, encourages her to let him go, daughters Hannah, Mary stay and taking along their thirteen year old son Jaimie. The doctor is not only escaping unpaid bills, but a job he hates, tending to the sick, promising his wife , that he will soon come back a rich man, Melissa, is skeptical (they gather a small amount of money for the trip), she knows him too well... The not short journey from the city to the Mississippi River, is uneventful, there the two take a paddle wheel boat to St.Louis, but the too curious Jaimie, never reaches it, falling overboard into the muddy, cold waters, his father searches on both sides of the wide river but no trace is found, presumed dead , he writes to his wife about the sad tragedy. But the quest must go on, his wanderlust is too strong, the good doctor has his fantasies , they overpower his sense of duty, and common sense . Jaimie, survives the drop, swims in the dark, to an island on the mighty stream and at daybreak, finds a log and floats down with the current and after many miles, to the western shore, he grasped firmly, gets entangled with lazy farmers, they need a slave, leaves secretly at night, and is picked up by vicious outlaws, becomes a captive along with another, an older, teenage girl, Jennie, witnesses murders, but both escape, he again...Reaching the bustling little town of Independence, Missouri, population 1,000 , gateway to the West, the "good doctor," joyfully encounters his lost son, and regrettably the two bandits who abused Jaimie, they quickly skedaddle. Hitching up to a wagon train led by the trail boss, Buck Coulter, a sarcastic but very competent man, with no friends, but plenty of courage, the 2,000 mile journey begins, over the endless, featureless plains, these grasslands go on forever, with little rainfall, crossing shallow rivers and some not so, seeing Indians, who mostly keep out of sight, they hunt mainly for discarded items the people on the wagons throw out, to lighten the burden on the tired oxen and mules, the poor Pawnee, squeezed by more powerful tribes, from the north and south, have become scavengers, with few horses to chase the buffalo herds. And still yet the very young Jaimie, has to become the adult, to his intelligent, well educated, but perpetually irresponsible father , his reality is not the boy's or anybody else's. Deserts, lack of water and food, high snow capped mountain ranges, to climb, suspicious Mormons, unfriendly Indians, outlaws, illnesses and deaths, disastrous factions developing among the people, but the wagons must roll on, continue forward, month after month in the search for happiness, the promised land. This always interesting book , won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for 1958, well deserved.
October 22, 2021
What I Read Matters.
I mean this title sentence every which way you can read it.
I’m guessing most people will receive it with a glib, “Of course, what you read matters; it influences what you believe.”
But I mean this sentence much more expansively: What I read, the physical form of it, really matters. As does reading it (as opposed to listening to somebody else read a text). I care who may have owned or touched the book before me, and any history I may know attached to the book affects my reading experience.
I spent this week reading a 75-cent, paperback of The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, Robert Lewis Taylor’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1959 novel about a 14-year-old relentlessly smart-alecky (and sometimes very funny) boy’s picaresque adventures during 1849, following his pipe-dreaming gambling doctor father across the country to find gold in California.
If I were reading Jaimie McPheeters as an ebook, I might have abandoned it at the first mention of “darkies” because I just don’t have the stomach for this in 2021. If I were reading a shiny new edition paperback, same thing. Yes, the writing is good, I might have reasoned, but why subject myself to casual racism and so many words? The book is of a bygone era and style.
But I’m reading the cracked brown pages turned and read by my father on his suburban commute to and from his job in New York City in 1960. I know this because I found his train ticket stub, used as a book mark, on the last page, and I know he loved this book because he once told me he did. Probably that’s why I grabbed it from my mother’s last house several years after my father’s own pipe dreams and addictions imploded and he stuck a gun in his mouth. And it’s why the book has stayed on the top shelf in my apartment since 1973.
I’d been eying it for months while I did my aerobic workouts. The spine drew me. I even got up on a ladder a few months ago to see what it was and when I saw, I remembered Dad’s smile and joy when he said it was a really good book. I’ll read that, I thought.
And it took until this week, months after the first beckoning, for me to pull it down and wipe off the dust bunnies.
When I lie on my couch and read this book, I know I’m touching something my father thought was good. I know that when he read this he was the sane, loving man who loved to read and loved the fact that I loved reading too, even though we had almost nothing else in common.
As I carefully turn the cracked pages, I feel stretched across time, from this moment in 2021 to 1960 to 1849, and I feel all of the eras viscerally which expands me into an ocean-size tolerant witness—more curious than judging. And the transformations over time are astonishing. And just that gives me hope for a future I cannot see. My nausea at casual racism doesn’t clear, but a glimmer of light penetrates it, whispering, “Don’t give up. Things can change.” And gradually I see that the violence and racism in this book were not at all casual. Rather they were brutal and intentional. Taylor was showing the sadism and cruelty in all its horror by so glibly conveying it as a fact of life. And a fact of life that has not changed is that as powerful as is our will to survive, we humans have an equal capacity for violence, superior judgements, and self-destruction either directly or indirectly (by destroying whomever we categorize as “other”).
I’m not a terribly tolerant person. I avoid people who complain incessantly and usually am more interested in solutions than listening to spiraling tales of misery. But reading the packed small type in this 500+-page Giant Cardinal Pocket Book edition that “includes every word contained in the original, higher-priced edition” that is “printed from brand-new plates made from completely reset, clear easy-to-read type,” rather than being annoyed, I find myself marveling that my 42-year-old father read this without glasses and so did lots of other people in 1960. I admire his vision! Isn’t that silly? But it’s what I feel.
As I read Jaimie’s father, Dr. Sardius McPheeters, M.D., exaggerate his possibilities of good fortune, accounting assiduously for how he squanders money in letters to his wife back in Louisville, and eventually be done in by his flaws, I realize my father, who did virtually the same things in 1968, must on some level have known himself and even had a sense of humor about it at one time. And I’m amazed at how fast and dramatic was his fall from self-knowledge into paranoia, financial desperation, and who knows what else. And knowing he loved this story, I cannot unknow that he had goodness and humor in him. And I feel glad. And sad. And so, 53 years after his death, I know him a little better. And that makes me glad and sad too.
Some things may never change, but if we can see them, perhaps we can choose to mitigate them. I’d not have seen what’s really in Robert Lewis Taylor’s book if I hadn’t given myself time to move out of my knee-jerk reaction to words. And it is only because my father liked this book that I gave myself time to see this.
And all this insight from a cracking 61-year-old 75-cent paperback.
I mean this title sentence every which way you can read it.
I’m guessing most people will receive it with a glib, “Of course, what you read matters; it influences what you believe.”
But I mean this sentence much more expansively: What I read, the physical form of it, really matters. As does reading it (as opposed to listening to somebody else read a text). I care who may have owned or touched the book before me, and any history I may know attached to the book affects my reading experience.
I spent this week reading a 75-cent, paperback of The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, Robert Lewis Taylor’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1959 novel about a 14-year-old relentlessly smart-alecky (and sometimes very funny) boy’s picaresque adventures during 1849, following his pipe-dreaming gambling doctor father across the country to find gold in California.
If I were reading Jaimie McPheeters as an ebook, I might have abandoned it at the first mention of “darkies” because I just don’t have the stomach for this in 2021. If I were reading a shiny new edition paperback, same thing. Yes, the writing is good, I might have reasoned, but why subject myself to casual racism and so many words? The book is of a bygone era and style.
But I’m reading the cracked brown pages turned and read by my father on his suburban commute to and from his job in New York City in 1960. I know this because I found his train ticket stub, used as a book mark, on the last page, and I know he loved this book because he once told me he did. Probably that’s why I grabbed it from my mother’s last house several years after my father’s own pipe dreams and addictions imploded and he stuck a gun in his mouth. And it’s why the book has stayed on the top shelf in my apartment since 1973.
I’d been eying it for months while I did my aerobic workouts. The spine drew me. I even got up on a ladder a few months ago to see what it was and when I saw, I remembered Dad’s smile and joy when he said it was a really good book. I’ll read that, I thought.
And it took until this week, months after the first beckoning, for me to pull it down and wipe off the dust bunnies.
When I lie on my couch and read this book, I know I’m touching something my father thought was good. I know that when he read this he was the sane, loving man who loved to read and loved the fact that I loved reading too, even though we had almost nothing else in common.
As I carefully turn the cracked pages, I feel stretched across time, from this moment in 2021 to 1960 to 1849, and I feel all of the eras viscerally which expands me into an ocean-size tolerant witness—more curious than judging. And the transformations over time are astonishing. And just that gives me hope for a future I cannot see. My nausea at casual racism doesn’t clear, but a glimmer of light penetrates it, whispering, “Don’t give up. Things can change.” And gradually I see that the violence and racism in this book were not at all casual. Rather they were brutal and intentional. Taylor was showing the sadism and cruelty in all its horror by so glibly conveying it as a fact of life. And a fact of life that has not changed is that as powerful as is our will to survive, we humans have an equal capacity for violence, superior judgements, and self-destruction either directly or indirectly (by destroying whomever we categorize as “other”).
I’m not a terribly tolerant person. I avoid people who complain incessantly and usually am more interested in solutions than listening to spiraling tales of misery. But reading the packed small type in this 500+-page Giant Cardinal Pocket Book edition that “includes every word contained in the original, higher-priced edition” that is “printed from brand-new plates made from completely reset, clear easy-to-read type,” rather than being annoyed, I find myself marveling that my 42-year-old father read this without glasses and so did lots of other people in 1960. I admire his vision! Isn’t that silly? But it’s what I feel.
As I read Jaimie’s father, Dr. Sardius McPheeters, M.D., exaggerate his possibilities of good fortune, accounting assiduously for how he squanders money in letters to his wife back in Louisville, and eventually be done in by his flaws, I realize my father, who did virtually the same things in 1968, must on some level have known himself and even had a sense of humor about it at one time. And I’m amazed at how fast and dramatic was his fall from self-knowledge into paranoia, financial desperation, and who knows what else. And knowing he loved this story, I cannot unknow that he had goodness and humor in him. And I feel glad. And sad. And so, 53 years after his death, I know him a little better. And that makes me glad and sad too.
Matlock stripped, and we led the way up the knoll, the children running behind, screaming, “Fight! Fight!” dogs barking, the women taking a stand at a distance where they could not be accused of unseemly curiosity, but able to see a little, too, and over all the air of serious, hurried portentousness that such physical encounters always breed. It’s infectious; it stirs up the blood; one finds oneself on the point of bristling out of sympathy, and even looking around for somebody giving offense. (203-204)After the fight is over, the losers—the people who had initiated the fight—were gradually idealized:
Before the ruckus, there wasn’t hardly a soul could stand those clodhoppers, or their womenfolks either, but now you would have thought they were a collection of missionaries. It was disgusting.
My father said it wasn’t worth worrying about; it was just part of the general cussedness of humans. He said they’d go baaa-ing off in another direction as soon as something occurred to them.
“I’ve seen this sort of perverseness in elections. A man will be in office, doing fine, honest, upright, hardworking, even noble, as far as you can find that quality in a politician, and the opposition will put up a known scoundrel that hasn’t a thing to recommend him except noise. But if he brays long enough and loud enough he’ll bray himself right in. People are prepared to believe anything about a person as long as it’s bad.” (207)
Some things may never change, but if we can see them, perhaps we can choose to mitigate them. I’d not have seen what’s really in Robert Lewis Taylor’s book if I hadn’t given myself time to move out of my knee-jerk reaction to words. And it is only because my father liked this book that I gave myself time to see this.
And all this insight from a cracking 61-year-old 75-cent paperback.
“. . . A man ort to hold judgment till he’s sure.”
That seemed to be the sentiment all around. There wasn’t any harm in these people; they were only average. Most of their bad thoughts came out of fear, and to tell the truth, that’s what causes most of the troubles in the world. (246)
February 10, 2017
Well, I finally finished this epic. It's three books, IMHO. The first is leaving Louieville and commencing the trip. The second everything that occurs with Jaimie and also his Dad before they get to Salt Lake City. And the third book is Salt Lake City, the journey to the gold fields and the subsequent years in San Francisco and ultimate locations for all the principals.
And are there numerous CHARACTERS in this complex, brutal, jarring, and continent heaving novel! There are at least 30 characters for which you find more depth and intrigue of their cores than you will for the center cut duo protagonists of a "normal" novel. Beyond the primes, there are at least 100 other under characters. Expertly drawn, they are particularly set into their places and this time. 1849 westward ho!
It's written without excuse, explanation of behaviors, or kudos to most current sensibilities. The style of this is mid-20th century. No swearing whatsoever, but far less p.c. than anything I've real in this last decade.
Jaimie's father, Dr. McPheeters is one of the most finely drawn men that I've read in quite a few years. His flaws, his language, his questing intellect, his inquisition for over the hill- just exquisitely framed in nearly all circumstance imaginable for these places and this time.
If you are of a peaky stomach or snowflake fragility, this book is not for you. Animals have it extremely bad, that is an understatement.
There are too many excellent quotes to parse here. Hundreds of wonderful dialect phrases of both delicacy and belligerence. Human nature at its most cruel and at its most vulnerable. And in situations of crosscut cultural nuance in more than a few shapes.
It also taught me. Several technical procedures of mule and oxen cart transit, but even more about the reality of many of those groups so featured in 1840-60 era fare. Way beyond the gold rush groups too. For instance, the Mormon sections of great length! I had no idea of those Danites, or of the original and optimal constructions of the early Salt Lake City. Beyond that, the years and histories of those Latter Day Saints' groups meanderings from Illinois onward.
Or of the specific Sioux, Crow, Snake, Blackfeet and other tribal propensities and interactions. Studied separately, not quite the same at all.
This book took me thrice the time of a more norm novel for this length. Descriptions of plant life, animal movements, geographic and topography feature! Magnificent but lengthy.
And the adventure of falling in the Mississippi, being kidnapped, etc. So many multiples of these.
But throughout, Jaimie is Jaimie. No childish Tom Sawyer attending his own funeral here.
Coulter! I'm sure John Wayne was filtering in there somewhere as I read this.
True history? A version. But this west and this journey feels very real, extremely human, and fateful compelling in karma. This was Taylor's masterpiece.
I'm sure this one will be on my top ten for the year 2017 for entertainment value. When it was filmed for hour episodes in 1963, Kurt Russell was Jaimie, I just read in the Intro. (I always read that last when it makes more sense to read it.) Time flies, yes it does. But I'm glad I hit this one finally now, and not back in the days when Westerns were such a commodity. And when this one was new. I would never have appreciated it by half. Also it is JAIMIE, not Jamie as spelled on this site's title.
Typical quote:
Mormons as a sect, you see, took a downright view of their enemies, and didn't believe in mincing words. Finishing up his talk, the elder said, speaking about disbelievers. "May they be winked at by blind people, kicked across lots by cripples, nibbled to death by young ducks, and carried to hell through the keyhole by bumblebees."
And are there numerous CHARACTERS in this complex, brutal, jarring, and continent heaving novel! There are at least 30 characters for which you find more depth and intrigue of their cores than you will for the center cut duo protagonists of a "normal" novel. Beyond the primes, there are at least 100 other under characters. Expertly drawn, they are particularly set into their places and this time. 1849 westward ho!
It's written without excuse, explanation of behaviors, or kudos to most current sensibilities. The style of this is mid-20th century. No swearing whatsoever, but far less p.c. than anything I've real in this last decade.
Jaimie's father, Dr. McPheeters is one of the most finely drawn men that I've read in quite a few years. His flaws, his language, his questing intellect, his inquisition for over the hill- just exquisitely framed in nearly all circumstance imaginable for these places and this time.
If you are of a peaky stomach or snowflake fragility, this book is not for you. Animals have it extremely bad, that is an understatement.
There are too many excellent quotes to parse here. Hundreds of wonderful dialect phrases of both delicacy and belligerence. Human nature at its most cruel and at its most vulnerable. And in situations of crosscut cultural nuance in more than a few shapes.
It also taught me. Several technical procedures of mule and oxen cart transit, but even more about the reality of many of those groups so featured in 1840-60 era fare. Way beyond the gold rush groups too. For instance, the Mormon sections of great length! I had no idea of those Danites, or of the original and optimal constructions of the early Salt Lake City. Beyond that, the years and histories of those Latter Day Saints' groups meanderings from Illinois onward.
Or of the specific Sioux, Crow, Snake, Blackfeet and other tribal propensities and interactions. Studied separately, not quite the same at all.
This book took me thrice the time of a more norm novel for this length. Descriptions of plant life, animal movements, geographic and topography feature! Magnificent but lengthy.
And the adventure of falling in the Mississippi, being kidnapped, etc. So many multiples of these.
But throughout, Jaimie is Jaimie. No childish Tom Sawyer attending his own funeral here.
Coulter! I'm sure John Wayne was filtering in there somewhere as I read this.
True history? A version. But this west and this journey feels very real, extremely human, and fateful compelling in karma. This was Taylor's masterpiece.
I'm sure this one will be on my top ten for the year 2017 for entertainment value. When it was filmed for hour episodes in 1963, Kurt Russell was Jaimie, I just read in the Intro. (I always read that last when it makes more sense to read it.) Time flies, yes it does. But I'm glad I hit this one finally now, and not back in the days when Westerns were such a commodity. And when this one was new. I would never have appreciated it by half. Also it is JAIMIE, not Jamie as spelled on this site's title.
Typical quote:
Mormons as a sect, you see, took a downright view of their enemies, and didn't believe in mincing words. Finishing up his talk, the elder said, speaking about disbelievers. "May they be winked at by blind people, kicked across lots by cripples, nibbled to death by young ducks, and carried to hell through the keyhole by bumblebees."
March 23, 2020
This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of RLT, follows Jaimie and his (Dr) father who has creditors after him, he is a bit of a gambler and prone to drink. The Dr's solution is to strike it rich in the gold rush by the way of a long journey across barren mountains. plains, canyons and deserts. The wagon-train was lead by a guide book that led them through, sometimes they would get lucky and it was right on, other times though there were setbacks, that seem to be lying in wait behind the next corner.
Jaimie is a mischievous scamp, full of misadventures and is the storyteller along with his father's letters to Jaime's mother. Jaimie makes the whole tale fun and humorous. From the time he falls off the river boat, to a couple that want to use him for hard labor, to his run in with thieves and murderers. How he gets out of every mess..well let's say he is quick thinking. Heart-warming interaction that is contrasted by horrible times.
Taylor's characters are across the board and very well detailed to the point you feel like they are alive. A very insightful story telling of how it was during the frenzy of the Gold Rush. 4.5 stars!
Jaimie is a mischievous scamp, full of misadventures and is the storyteller along with his father's letters to Jaime's mother. Jaimie makes the whole tale fun and humorous. From the time he falls off the river boat, to a couple that want to use him for hard labor, to his run in with thieves and murderers. How he gets out of every mess..well let's say he is quick thinking. Heart-warming interaction that is contrasted by horrible times.
Taylor's characters are across the board and very well detailed to the point you feel like they are alive. A very insightful story telling of how it was during the frenzy of the Gold Rush. 4.5 stars!
February 9, 2017
Jamie and his ner-do-well father grew on me and by the end I found myself unexpectedly touched when I had thought I would just be amused and diverted. What is so clever is that Jamie and his father are both (at least at the start) unreliable narrators so the reader is left to wonder in bemusement how much of the tall-tale telling reflects reality. The list of sources shows that Taylor did a tremendous amount of research, with many story lines and descriptions drawn from the diaries of actual pioneers. This is one novel that deserved its Pulitzer Prize and it's a must for any fan of Westerns or stories of pioneer life.
January 19, 2018
I’m still not quite sure what to make of Robert Lewis Taylor’s The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters. I found the first half of the book exasperating due to the seemingly overblown exploits of the title character. Too, I found his father’s pie-in-the-sky outlook equally vexing. However, I came to the book with an awareness of its Pulitzer and, as a result, assumed a certain degree of artifice on the author’s part. So, I was patient, and figured I just hadn't yet divined the author’s tricks. That patience paid off.
I found myself on the brink of giving up on the story, despite its wondrously compelling nature, because my disbelief suspension mechanism was simply worn out. And then… somewhere around the halfway point, the story began to get tighter and tighter, ultimately achieving an almost painful authenticity, and I began to fully appreciate Taylor’s intent (and the Pulitzer committee’s judgment). His characters are simply the embodiment of his allegory, and the tale, as told through Jaimie's eyes, demonstrates that the boy's worldview, for a time at least, is just as fanciful as his eccentric father's. The arc through which Jaimie's worldview transits during the course of the story represents well the one we all travel, one way or another, during our evolution from innocence to... well, that's Taylor's point. Not everyone loses their innocence.
His story is about dreamers - specifically, those dreamers who followed their inchoate, heroic hopes into the West during the first half of the nineteenth century. It’s about desire and faith, and the point he makes, with surprising subtlety, is that this country was founded and expanded on the visions of such dreamers. Without them, all the pragmatists in the world would never have ventured west of Boston or New York or Philadelphia. And despite the often maddening nature of the fantastical thinker, no story at all would be possible without him. Perhaps, one of Taylor's charming, down-home characters explains it best;
Though Jaimie may have lost his innocence along the way, The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters is just as much about those who haven't. It's about all the dreamers who possess the courage to nourish our hopes. And, by the time I reached the end of Taylor's epic tale, I'd begun to grasp just what a barren existence this would be without them.
I found myself on the brink of giving up on the story, despite its wondrously compelling nature, because my disbelief suspension mechanism was simply worn out. And then… somewhere around the halfway point, the story began to get tighter and tighter, ultimately achieving an almost painful authenticity, and I began to fully appreciate Taylor’s intent (and the Pulitzer committee’s judgment). His characters are simply the embodiment of his allegory, and the tale, as told through Jaimie's eyes, demonstrates that the boy's worldview, for a time at least, is just as fanciful as his eccentric father's. The arc through which Jaimie's worldview transits during the course of the story represents well the one we all travel, one way or another, during our evolution from innocence to... well, that's Taylor's point. Not everyone loses their innocence.
His story is about dreamers - specifically, those dreamers who followed their inchoate, heroic hopes into the West during the first half of the nineteenth century. It’s about desire and faith, and the point he makes, with surprising subtlety, is that this country was founded and expanded on the visions of such dreamers. Without them, all the pragmatists in the world would never have ventured west of Boston or New York or Philadelphia. And despite the often maddening nature of the fantastical thinker, no story at all would be possible without him. Perhaps, one of Taylor's charming, down-home characters explains it best;
"He says your pa's one of them with dreams always in their heads. He says your pa's got to chase his dreams all his life. But he says it makes things kind of beautiful for backwoods folks like us. Says we must pick him up if he stumbles."
Though Jaimie may have lost his innocence along the way, The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters is just as much about those who haven't. It's about all the dreamers who possess the courage to nourish our hopes. And, by the time I reached the end of Taylor's epic tale, I'd begun to grasp just what a barren existence this would be without them.
December 2, 2020
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters follows Jaimie and his father, a doctor who finds no joy in his profession, as they journey across the U.S. from Kentucky to California with the intent of reaching California and making their fortune by striking gold. The novel is an easy read and flows well as you might expect with an adventure story. As the trip progresses, Jaimie and his father join with a family, the Kissels, headed to California to farm, Jennie, who Jaimie encounters on one of his first mishaps, Buck Coulter, initially the group’s trail guide, Po-Povi, an Indian girl who Dr. McPheeters purchases in order to save and Todd and his Uncle Ned. This group becomes tightly bound to one another and their stories are interwoven in multiple ways.
The trip West is filled with mishaps that don’t seem reasonable, fortunate outcomes that seem unlikely and coincidences that just are hard to swallow, such as running into the same bad guys on multiple occasions in vastly different parts of the country. All this is mixed with episodes of significant and gruesome violence, which does bring greater realism, relative to time and place, to the story. A winter’s stay in Salt Lake City not only provides for an exploration of Mormon’s beliefs and culture, but also a shift as the plot through a combination of bad luck and bad decisions becomes more realistic.
Through everything it is Dr. Sardius McPheeters, Jaimie’s father, who always approaches the next day, the next week, the next challenge with optimism and the vision that there is great opportunity in the future. Although Dr. McPheeters becomes lost at times and lacks discipline, he is the sustaining force on which the group depends. He represents the American dream, the push westward that was the foundation of the country at that time. While the vision that Dr. McPheeters embodies is commendable and full of hope, the author states the message very explicitly through the words of various characters. As Buck Coulter conveys late in the novel,
“Doc, you’re the backbone of this party, and always was. There was a kind of poetry in all those stories you spun around the campfire. I don’t think anybody entirely believed all your fancy dreams, but we enjoyed hearing them told, and what’s more, they kept us going.”
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters won the Pulitzer Prize in 1959.
The trip West is filled with mishaps that don’t seem reasonable, fortunate outcomes that seem unlikely and coincidences that just are hard to swallow, such as running into the same bad guys on multiple occasions in vastly different parts of the country. All this is mixed with episodes of significant and gruesome violence, which does bring greater realism, relative to time and place, to the story. A winter’s stay in Salt Lake City not only provides for an exploration of Mormon’s beliefs and culture, but also a shift as the plot through a combination of bad luck and bad decisions becomes more realistic.
Through everything it is Dr. Sardius McPheeters, Jaimie’s father, who always approaches the next day, the next week, the next challenge with optimism and the vision that there is great opportunity in the future. Although Dr. McPheeters becomes lost at times and lacks discipline, he is the sustaining force on which the group depends. He represents the American dream, the push westward that was the foundation of the country at that time. While the vision that Dr. McPheeters embodies is commendable and full of hope, the author states the message very explicitly through the words of various characters. As Buck Coulter conveys late in the novel,
“Doc, you’re the backbone of this party, and always was. There was a kind of poetry in all those stories you spun around the campfire. I don’t think anybody entirely believed all your fancy dreams, but we enjoyed hearing them told, and what’s more, they kept us going.”
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters won the Pulitzer Prize in 1959.
June 11, 2009
I picked up this book because its title was the same as a televison show from my childhood. What a surprise! What a good book. This book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1956 and it's still a quality read today. If you like Mark Twain or Larry McMurtry sagas, this is a book for you. The author's use of a first person narrative by an adolescent boy was inspired. A writing teacher who wants to give her students examples of how a character reveals himself would be smart to look at this book. Because of this book, I am going back and looking for other prize winners that never made it to the required reading lists.
August 20, 2008
Imagine Twain sending Huck Finn to California via Wagon Train. What fun! But also exciting, poignant and heartbreaking at the same time. This is the story of Jaimie McPheeters and his father Sardius (a doctor), who is a bit of a gambler and prone to drink. Sardius has run afoul of his creditors and decides it's best to strike out with Jaimie to the California Gold fields to make their fortune and the adventure is on.
The story is told both in the first person view of Jaimie and by Sardius via letters home to his wife. Jaimie has one adventure after another -- from falling off the river boat, encounters with murderous thieves (loved how he got himself out of that one!), getting separated from the train and after being caught in a thunderstorm finally "finds" his camp again although it's really another camp he "found" (no spoilers here, you'll see that one coming a mile away). There are so many laugh out loud moments in this book one can't describe them all, but I have to say the time when Sardius tried to teach Jaimie the "dead" language of Latin was tops with me. ROFL.
Jaimie's travels take you across the plains of the Midwest, the Rockies, a winter stopover with the Mormons in Salt Lake (now those were some interesting moments), across the desert and finally over the Sierra Nevadas and on into the Gold Country and burgeoning San Francisco. All in all a jolly good yarn, both for the very young and the still young at heart. Highly recommended.
The story is told both in the first person view of Jaimie and by Sardius via letters home to his wife. Jaimie has one adventure after another -- from falling off the river boat, encounters with murderous thieves (loved how he got himself out of that one!), getting separated from the train and after being caught in a thunderstorm finally "finds" his camp again although it's really another camp he "found" (no spoilers here, you'll see that one coming a mile away). There are so many laugh out loud moments in this book one can't describe them all, but I have to say the time when Sardius tried to teach Jaimie the "dead" language of Latin was tops with me. ROFL.
Jaimie's travels take you across the plains of the Midwest, the Rockies, a winter stopover with the Mormons in Salt Lake (now those were some interesting moments), across the desert and finally over the Sierra Nevadas and on into the Gold Country and burgeoning San Francisco. All in all a jolly good yarn, both for the very young and the still young at heart. Highly recommended.
July 14, 2019
This was an entertaining read. I enjoyed it and thought the writing was pretty good. The subtle sarcastic humor was well-done and cleverly written. The characters were suitably well-developed. I didn’t think it had a really profound message. In fact, its value is almost exclusively as entertainment. I found it to be a bit unbelievable and the coincidences of characters re-emerging halfway across the country to be actually too coincidental. But it made for good storytelling. Worthy of the Pulitzer? Perhaps. I’ve read worse winners. But it’s certainly not in the top tier.
August 19, 2018
An unexpectedly captivating story told masterfully. Enjoyed every page. Strongly recommend (it's available on Kindle too).
January 16, 2022
Coming nearly a decade after A.B. Gutherie's Pulitzer winner The Way West also about the Oregon Trail, Jaimie McPheeters is a more comical, but still visceral look at this period of American history. In what starts out as more of a Twain-styled story, our hero goes witnesses far more gore and violence than Huck or Tom ever did (in their books anyway) including a particularly graphic, gruesome Amerindian initiation ceremony which the reader will find quite hard to forget. The tone remains somewhat light and Jaimie makes it out to California where things do not always work out as Steinbeck's protagonists could have warned him. It makes for a good story and avoids many of the racist and sexist stereotypes that litter the Western genre. It is not perfect, but was probably a deserving winner of a post-WWII prize in the midst of McCarthy and the Cold War when folks were looking backwards to seemingly simpler times. The other contenders included The Dharma Bums by Kerouac which was IMO less engaging than its predecessor, the masterpiece On the Road for which he or arguably Elizabeth Spencer (The Voice at the Back Door) were both robbed a Pulitzer in 1957, and Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories by Capote which I would say was more deserving despite its short length which is what likely disqualified it. Capote would be robbed of his Pulitzer some 8 years later when In Cold Blood lost out to a good but inferior The Fixer by Bernard Malamud and join the ranks of splendid American authors denied the big prize with Francis Fitzgerald.
Returning to Taylor and Jaimie, if you are a fan of the Western genre, this is definitely worth your time. Hard to find being out of print, I found it here on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/travelsof...
Returning to Taylor and Jaimie, if you are a fan of the Western genre, this is definitely worth your time. Hard to find being out of print, I found it here on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/travelsof...
October 5, 2011
I really didn't feel the need for another novel about the Gold Rush, but I was surprised and impressed by the Pulitzer Prize winning novel of 1959. It is full of the usual hardships and pitfalls of westward travel in the 1800s: Indians, lawless villains, weather and death. Unique for this sort of tale is the humor.
Jaimie McPheeters is the son of a reluctant medical doctor from Louisville, Kentucky; a man who would rather gamble and dream of great adventures. The story is told from Jaimie's 14 year old point of view interspersed with his father's bombastic letters back to his wife. Between the two voices you get a full picture of their adventures. Jaimie, in his impulsive youthful way, lands himself in trouble and danger over and over. He is a gambler with his own person. But he has no illusions about his father and as he matures he finds it ever more difficult to maintain his belief in the man.
When they finally reach the gold fields they experience the disillusionment you know is coming and go through even harder times. Since they made a group of true friends during their trek, something like a community keeps Jaimie afloat as his father loses the battle with his addictions. The characters in this novel are wonderful.
In the end I felt enriched for having made my way through what amounts to a reading journey. I came to see that some events in history are so vast, so varied, that it takes hundreds of stories to fully cover them.
Jaimie McPheeters is the son of a reluctant medical doctor from Louisville, Kentucky; a man who would rather gamble and dream of great adventures. The story is told from Jaimie's 14 year old point of view interspersed with his father's bombastic letters back to his wife. Between the two voices you get a full picture of their adventures. Jaimie, in his impulsive youthful way, lands himself in trouble and danger over and over. He is a gambler with his own person. But he has no illusions about his father and as he matures he finds it ever more difficult to maintain his belief in the man.
When they finally reach the gold fields they experience the disillusionment you know is coming and go through even harder times. Since they made a group of true friends during their trek, something like a community keeps Jaimie afloat as his father loses the battle with his addictions. The characters in this novel are wonderful.
In the end I felt enriched for having made my way through what amounts to a reading journey. I came to see that some events in history are so vast, so varied, that it takes hundreds of stories to fully cover them.
September 22, 2017
This book was compared to Lonesome Dove and I blame my disappointment on this statement. While this novel does involve a long journey, all similarities end there. The style, although funny at first, grew repetitive and boring quickly. The characters were mostly cardboard flat, undergoing little to no development. Events mostly rely on unlikely coincidences and cartoon-like situations where every weak-looking man ends up being the strongest in a fight, and the like. Very disappointing, sarcastic writing notwithstanding.
September 23, 2021
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER: 1959
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I actually really enjoyed this one! I have to admit, I didn't go into this with high expectations, given the blurb didn't particularly appeal, and it was on the longer side, but I found it quite interesting and entertaining. It's primarily narrated by a young boy recalling his and his father's journey along the Oregon trail, interspersed with some of his father's letters home and his journals. The narrative style was quite interesting, the pacing was great, and there were so many characters that were quite richly drawn. I had difficulty reading some of the passages with regards to the viewpoints on Native Americans and Black enslaved peoples, which was probably the biggest issue for me, though to be expected for a work set in this time period. I also found the constant running into people from their past back home was a little far-fetched and sometimes a bit annoying, but a minor quibble.
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I actually really enjoyed this one! I have to admit, I didn't go into this with high expectations, given the blurb didn't particularly appeal, and it was on the longer side, but I found it quite interesting and entertaining. It's primarily narrated by a young boy recalling his and his father's journey along the Oregon trail, interspersed with some of his father's letters home and his journals. The narrative style was quite interesting, the pacing was great, and there were so many characters that were quite richly drawn. I had difficulty reading some of the passages with regards to the viewpoints on Native Americans and Black enslaved peoples, which was probably the biggest issue for me, though to be expected for a work set in this time period. I also found the constant running into people from their past back home was a little far-fetched and sometimes a bit annoying, but a minor quibble.
March 24, 2021
A combination of Charles Dickens and Mark Twain.
May 2, 2025
An interesting, historical fiction novel about Jaimie McPheeters, a thirteen year old, and his father Dr. Sardius McPheeters. Jaimie and his father tell the story in turns. The two head westerward in search of gold in 1849 - 50. . Dr. McPheeters is fleeing Louisville because of debts and due to being fed up being a doctor. They head west, joining a small group of other people, guided by Coulter. Their adventures include experiencing Native Indian savagery, attack, and some companionship with some Native Indians. They spend a winter with Mormons in Salt Lake City, finally arriving in California and taking up and working their gold mining land claims.
An enjoyable read with good plot momentum and interesting characters.
Winner of the 1959 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
An enjoyable read with good plot momentum and interesting characters.
Winner of the 1959 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
March 13, 2012
Within a few pages of starting The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters I thought I was in for a treat. It immediately reminded me of a more humorous version of Lonesome Dove, which also won the Pulitzer and was also on a topic I didn’t think I cared about.
The story was that of a father and son who left their comfortable lives in Louisville to strike it rich in the gold rush of 1849. I think we all know how the gold rush worked out for most folks, and the folks in this book were no exception. They did get lucky in various ways several times, but of course there was always a setback lying in wait behind the next corner.
Overall this was an enjoyable read, but I could have done without all the weird racist shit. It’s written from the 1st person perspective, and I kept thinking that the protagonist was going to eventually realize that his opinions of “Indians,” and other nationalities were ridiculous, but that time did not come. There was one kind-of exception where he eventually grudgingly admitted that this one particular girl wasn’t as bad as “those Indians,” but that hardly felt like a learning moment.
The book won the Pulitzer in 1958, which many will accept as an excuse for the racism. If you’re willing to accept that, or you simply don’t care about those types of over/undertones, then you may very well enjoy this book. The pacing is good, the plot is interesting, there’s plenty of character development, and the descriptions are excellent – when they’re not racist.
The story was that of a father and son who left their comfortable lives in Louisville to strike it rich in the gold rush of 1849. I think we all know how the gold rush worked out for most folks, and the folks in this book were no exception. They did get lucky in various ways several times, but of course there was always a setback lying in wait behind the next corner.
Overall this was an enjoyable read, but I could have done without all the weird racist shit. It’s written from the 1st person perspective, and I kept thinking that the protagonist was going to eventually realize that his opinions of “Indians,” and other nationalities were ridiculous, but that time did not come. There was one kind-of exception where he eventually grudgingly admitted that this one particular girl wasn’t as bad as “those Indians,” but that hardly felt like a learning moment.
The book won the Pulitzer in 1958, which many will accept as an excuse for the racism. If you’re willing to accept that, or you simply don’t care about those types of over/undertones, then you may very well enjoy this book. The pacing is good, the plot is interesting, there’s plenty of character development, and the descriptions are excellent – when they’re not racist.
May 31, 2010
Great book! I stumbled upon this book. A little bit of Lonesome Dove and Huck Finn. A great book for a young boy around 11 and up. There were some complaints about the Indians in other reviews but it really is the PC police bitching and moaning. The book is from the ignorant point of view of a 13 -14 year old boy. Hello! This might be a ignorant view point! What did the PC police expect?
It was a book I couldn't put down. It dragged a little bit when they spent the winter with the Mormons in Salt Lake City. And it dragged a little bit when the father and son spent time in San Francisco. Those were the only times I skipped pages. Just a great adventure book with some sentimental parts. I would love to see this developed into a film. I know it was a developed into a TV movie but I have a feeling (I never saw the TV production) that it was probably poorly written, cast, and produced. Hopefully, someone will give it another shot.
It was a book I couldn't put down. It dragged a little bit when they spent the winter with the Mormons in Salt Lake City. And it dragged a little bit when the father and son spent time in San Francisco. Those were the only times I skipped pages. Just a great adventure book with some sentimental parts. I would love to see this developed into a film. I know it was a developed into a TV movie but I have a feeling (I never saw the TV production) that it was probably poorly written, cast, and produced. Hopefully, someone will give it another shot.
November 2, 2018
This book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1959. It is about a young boy and his father traveling West to California from Louisville in the mid 1800's to search for gold. It reminds me of a Huck Finn adventure. The many struggles chronicled along the way by the boy and his father are entertaining. The book was a bit long, but had a happy ending. I give this book 4 stars.
April 12, 2019
I shall say, in a way I imagine Dr. McPheeters might have put it, a splendid book, although he would have expounded extensively on the subject!
May 8, 2023
Brutal.
September 12, 2023
The Travels of Jamie McPheeters, the winner of the 1959 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, is sort of “Huckleberry Finn lights out for the territories—specifically, to join the California goldrush”—accompanied by Mr. Micawber of Dickens’s David Copperfield. In other words, it has moments of humor, but it doesn’t ultimately feel all that original or insightful. I was entertained at times but frustrated and a bit bored at others. The book kept me reading but left me unsatisfied.
At the beginning of the book, Jamie is a thirteen-year-old boy in Louisville, Kentucky, whose father, a doctor, has accumulated gambling debts and a bad case of gold fever. Like Mr. Micawber, who was always trusting that something would "turn up,” Dr. Sardius McPheeters endlessly trusts in “opportunity” just around the bend and, also like Micawber, tends to talk about it in inflated ways. As one character observes, “Doctor, I reckon you’re about the finest man we’ve ever knowed, and the smartest. But there’s times when your tongue kind of runs away from your brains and gets out ahead of itself.” Mr. Micawber’s overblown rhetoric is more entertaining, though the Doctor’s does occasionally have its moments. Sardius and Jamie’s adventures on the way to California in a wagon train are extremely episodic, beginning with Jamie’s Huck-Finn-esque adventures when he falls off a steam ship into the Mississippi River and encounters various rapscallions who are re-encountered periodically as the book progresses.
The core problem for me with this book is that Jamie is neither as well drawn nor as insightful a character as Huck. Taylor attempts similar humor based on Jamie’s naivete about literature, history, or sexuality. Here’s one of my favorites: “Not wishing to overhear what was none of my business, because there are few things lower down than an eavesdropper [nevertheless, Jamie’s eavesdropping constitutes a repeated narrative strategy in the book], I had stretched out on the floor behind the sofa with a book, only a few minutes before. I was reading in it here and here so as to shut out the sound of the voices, but it was an uphill job being a sort of championship long-winded poem by a man named Milton, though if any of the lines ended in rhymes I failed to locate them, about a group of angels that talked all the time and couldn’t make up their minds whether to settle down in heaven or in the other place.” Shades of Huck’s commentary on Pilgrim’s Progress. The ironies simply don’t rise to Twain’s level; Jamie’s ignorance is less persuasive: as a doctor’s kid, he doesn’t have Huck’s excuses. He also lacks Huck’s fundamental wisdom, capacity for ethical quandary, or lyrical appreciation of the natural world, though there are a few nice bits: “It was a fresh, clear morning with the stars out in smears and clusters.” Part of what’s lost is Twain’s sharp social satire, which is, of course, more difficult in historical fiction, though Twain’s was also historical fiction, just not at as great a remove in time.
More crucially, Sardius’s dreamy interest in California gold cannot possibly match Jim’s quest for freedom as a novel’s motivating factor, making the whole adventure entertaining but comparatively superficial. Yes, serious things do happen, and there are interesting historical tidbits, but the book’s bibliography, filling five single-spaced pages at the end, feels inadequately digested in several places. Also, my recent reading of Louise Erdrich and other Native American writers has rather spoiled me for depictions of indigenous people that trade on stereotypes. In fairness, they’re not all one note, but I kept feeling like the “good Indians” were almost as troubling as the “dirty Indians.” Yes, the book was written in the 1950s, based on a lot of primary sources from the mid-1800s, so my objections are anachronistic, but there they are. My enjoyment was still dampened.
One bright spot that rather surprised me for a 1950s book is that the women characters, though comparatively minor, had refreshing spunk, most notably that a girl who for some time seems like a stereotypical damsel in distress turns out to be a crack shot and smarter and feistier than most of the men. Jamie doesn’t always appreciate it: “I can’t stand women; they’ve got an answer for everything.”
The picaresque adventure can certainly be an entertaining genre, and this one kept me reading despite its episodic quality. Ironically, I was least interested towards the end, as the plot was supposed to be resolved. Without offering a specific spoiler, let’s just say there’s a bit too much deus ex machina for my tastes.
One more line I enjoyed, as a retired person: Jamie decides he’d rather accompany his father than stay behind with his mother, who expects him to attend both high school and university because, he opines, “By the time I got out, I’d be too old to do anything except retire, and you didn’t need an education for that.”
3 stars means “I liked it” but not “I really liked it.”
At the beginning of the book, Jamie is a thirteen-year-old boy in Louisville, Kentucky, whose father, a doctor, has accumulated gambling debts and a bad case of gold fever. Like Mr. Micawber, who was always trusting that something would "turn up,” Dr. Sardius McPheeters endlessly trusts in “opportunity” just around the bend and, also like Micawber, tends to talk about it in inflated ways. As one character observes, “Doctor, I reckon you’re about the finest man we’ve ever knowed, and the smartest. But there’s times when your tongue kind of runs away from your brains and gets out ahead of itself.” Mr. Micawber’s overblown rhetoric is more entertaining, though the Doctor’s does occasionally have its moments. Sardius and Jamie’s adventures on the way to California in a wagon train are extremely episodic, beginning with Jamie’s Huck-Finn-esque adventures when he falls off a steam ship into the Mississippi River and encounters various rapscallions who are re-encountered periodically as the book progresses.
The core problem for me with this book is that Jamie is neither as well drawn nor as insightful a character as Huck. Taylor attempts similar humor based on Jamie’s naivete about literature, history, or sexuality. Here’s one of my favorites: “Not wishing to overhear what was none of my business, because there are few things lower down than an eavesdropper [nevertheless, Jamie’s eavesdropping constitutes a repeated narrative strategy in the book], I had stretched out on the floor behind the sofa with a book, only a few minutes before. I was reading in it here and here so as to shut out the sound of the voices, but it was an uphill job being a sort of championship long-winded poem by a man named Milton, though if any of the lines ended in rhymes I failed to locate them, about a group of angels that talked all the time and couldn’t make up their minds whether to settle down in heaven or in the other place.” Shades of Huck’s commentary on Pilgrim’s Progress. The ironies simply don’t rise to Twain’s level; Jamie’s ignorance is less persuasive: as a doctor’s kid, he doesn’t have Huck’s excuses. He also lacks Huck’s fundamental wisdom, capacity for ethical quandary, or lyrical appreciation of the natural world, though there are a few nice bits: “It was a fresh, clear morning with the stars out in smears and clusters.” Part of what’s lost is Twain’s sharp social satire, which is, of course, more difficult in historical fiction, though Twain’s was also historical fiction, just not at as great a remove in time.
More crucially, Sardius’s dreamy interest in California gold cannot possibly match Jim’s quest for freedom as a novel’s motivating factor, making the whole adventure entertaining but comparatively superficial. Yes, serious things do happen, and there are interesting historical tidbits, but the book’s bibliography, filling five single-spaced pages at the end, feels inadequately digested in several places. Also, my recent reading of Louise Erdrich and other Native American writers has rather spoiled me for depictions of indigenous people that trade on stereotypes. In fairness, they’re not all one note, but I kept feeling like the “good Indians” were almost as troubling as the “dirty Indians.” Yes, the book was written in the 1950s, based on a lot of primary sources from the mid-1800s, so my objections are anachronistic, but there they are. My enjoyment was still dampened.
One bright spot that rather surprised me for a 1950s book is that the women characters, though comparatively minor, had refreshing spunk, most notably that a girl who for some time seems like a stereotypical damsel in distress turns out to be a crack shot and smarter and feistier than most of the men. Jamie doesn’t always appreciate it: “I can’t stand women; they’ve got an answer for everything.”
The picaresque adventure can certainly be an entertaining genre, and this one kept me reading despite its episodic quality. Ironically, I was least interested towards the end, as the plot was supposed to be resolved. Without offering a specific spoiler, let’s just say there’s a bit too much deus ex machina for my tastes.
One more line I enjoyed, as a retired person: Jamie decides he’d rather accompany his father than stay behind with his mother, who expects him to attend both high school and university because, he opines, “By the time I got out, I’d be too old to do anything except retire, and you didn’t need an education for that.”
3 stars means “I liked it” but not “I really liked it.”
September 23, 2017
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters is a novel written by Robert Lewis Taylor that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1959 for fiction.
The book is primarily about 13 year old Jaimie and his father as they journey from Louisville to the gold fields near Sacramento. The narrative is periodically broken up with letters written by the father to Jaimie's mother and the relatives who stayed behind in Kentucky.
The writing is quite fluid and written in a style that is somewhat reminiscent of Life on the Mississippi albeit with more of an edge. The adventures, some graphic, include scenes with several ne'er do wells, with Pawnees, with Brigham Young in Utah and then many adventures again in California.
The author is said to have spent many years researching the Oregon trail and the period during the California Gold Rush. This level of research is pretty obvious in contrast to a Zane Grey novel where the detail of the stories are often lacking.
This book was written during the height of America's obsession with the Wild West. I suspect that this fact had a lot to do with Taylor winning the Pulitzer Prize. I enjoyed the book mostly because of the research the author put into the book and the relationship of the two main characters. The recurring scenes between the father, struggling with alcoholism while tending to his duties as a doctor, and Jaimie are very well drawn, convincing and heartwarming.
So in summary, you can envision this book as an equal mix of Mark Twain, Zane Grey, and James Michener. I like Twain, am ok with Michener and not too fond of Zane Grey. The novel definitely has a dated feel to it which is probably not one of its strengths.
I read this book as part of an ongoing journey to consume all of the Pulitzer Prize winning novels for Fiction. Some day I will get around to actually writing reviews for the other 100 or so books.
The book is primarily about 13 year old Jaimie and his father as they journey from Louisville to the gold fields near Sacramento. The narrative is periodically broken up with letters written by the father to Jaimie's mother and the relatives who stayed behind in Kentucky.
The writing is quite fluid and written in a style that is somewhat reminiscent of Life on the Mississippi albeit with more of an edge. The adventures, some graphic, include scenes with several ne'er do wells, with Pawnees, with Brigham Young in Utah and then many adventures again in California.
The author is said to have spent many years researching the Oregon trail and the period during the California Gold Rush. This level of research is pretty obvious in contrast to a Zane Grey novel where the detail of the stories are often lacking.
This book was written during the height of America's obsession with the Wild West. I suspect that this fact had a lot to do with Taylor winning the Pulitzer Prize. I enjoyed the book mostly because of the research the author put into the book and the relationship of the two main characters. The recurring scenes between the father, struggling with alcoholism while tending to his duties as a doctor, and Jaimie are very well drawn, convincing and heartwarming.
So in summary, you can envision this book as an equal mix of Mark Twain, Zane Grey, and James Michener. I like Twain, am ok with Michener and not too fond of Zane Grey. The novel definitely has a dated feel to it which is probably not one of its strengths.
I read this book as part of an ongoing journey to consume all of the Pulitzer Prize winning novels for Fiction. Some day I will get around to actually writing reviews for the other 100 or so books.
December 18, 2023
Another book in my personal goal to read all the fiction Pulitzer winners. I wasn't very excited to read this one. The Pulitzer winners up to this point have been pretty heavy on early America pioneer tales and I wasn't too motivated to tackle another one. Very glad I did though.
This book is filled with so much humor. The writing reminded me of other western books with colorful characters and language such as True Grit or The Sisters Brothers. The two main characters, Jaimie and Sardius McPheeters, were so fun to spend time with. Loved many of their traveling companions as well. Coulter, Po Povi, Mr. and Mrs. Kissel and their bible-book named children were great. I understand giving biblical names to children. But naming them Deuteronomy and Lamentations went a bit further than I'd heard of before.
The first third of the book was a bit too episodic for me. Just a series of fantastic adventures and situations fairly unconnected with each other. But that settles down and the story feels more connected after a few hundred pages.
I'm very glad this book won the prize because otherwise I doubt I ever would have bothered to pick it up. I heartily enjoyed it.
This book is filled with so much humor. The writing reminded me of other western books with colorful characters and language such as True Grit or The Sisters Brothers. The two main characters, Jaimie and Sardius McPheeters, were so fun to spend time with. Loved many of their traveling companions as well. Coulter, Po Povi, Mr. and Mrs. Kissel and their bible-book named children were great. I understand giving biblical names to children. But naming them Deuteronomy and Lamentations went a bit further than I'd heard of before.
The first third of the book was a bit too episodic for me. Just a series of fantastic adventures and situations fairly unconnected with each other. But that settles down and the story feels more connected after a few hundred pages.
I'm very glad this book won the prize because otherwise I doubt I ever would have bothered to pick it up. I heartily enjoyed it.
September 13, 2025
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters by Robert Lewis Taylor
This Pulitzer Prize winner is perfect - when thinking about flaws, one may think of some details that at times may seem more than sufficient, regarding some diseases for instance, but even there, the masterful, genius author is as humorous as Mark Twain - the hero, Jaimie McPheeters resembles Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.
The Travels is the quintessential chef d'oeuvre, seeing as it exemplifies the vital role of the glorious novel, taking the reader across America, to meet fabulous characters and some abhorrent ones, imagining himself or herself in the middle of the prairies, fast rivers, the desert and experiencing with the protagonists adventures he or she would not encounter in real life.
Nonetheless, the splendid novel is based on the real journals of the Doctor who has inspired the honorable Doc Sardius McPheeters, as well as the final letter from Mexico and the author has done extensive research when he described the events of the book, the life of the Mormons and the escapades that are so numerous in this unbelievable book.
Doc Sardius decides to travel to California to find gold, after he has accumulated many debts in Louisville, his medical practice cannot cover them, especially given his addiction to drink and gambling and furthermore he represents the modern Don Quixote.
A complex character, with ideals and grand designs that are reflected in his exaggerated manner of talking, given to hyperbole and impossible scenarios, nevertheless appreciated by those who would become his friends and his son, Jaimie.
The first leg of the trip involves a boat trip on the Mississippi, where a tragic accident takes place, a man falls into the propulsion system and dies consequently, his clothes are torn apart and hanging on the panels.
Jaimie decides to recuperate the golden coins he knew the deceased has had in his pockets, but as he hangs over the remains of the coat, he falls into the river and is taken to the shore many miles from the vessel.
Alas, he falls into the hands of a couple that intend to take him into slavery, he finds a narrow escape, only to meet another party of crooks lead by one criminal called John, who has kidnapped one girl of about nineteen after killing her parents in a fire.
As their prisoner, the hero witnesses another double murder, as they encounter a man and his wife, traveling with their children, the killers shoot them dead without any mercy, fortunately missing the children who are driven away by the older brother that even manages to wound John with his rifle.
They arrive in the next town, where the scoundrels expect to get a $ 200 reward, since Jaimie had tricked them, saying he is a runaway help hand, but when they meet the supposed employer, they find it is a trap and one of them is sentenced to hang.
Reunited with his father at this stage, the McPheeters start the journey in a train with wagons, together with Jenny, a family that would become friends, Matt Kissel, his wife and four children, all lead by the guide, guard, information officer, protector called Buck Coulter.
Jennie makes the mistake of selecting the wrong partner, in the first phase of the trip, although it could be argued that she needed some to care for, after the trauma of seeing her family killed.
The restless Jaimie is again in trouble, as he walks off from the camp and finds himself in the middle of a Native American camp and he becomes a prisoner that is destined to be exchanged, but however suffers abuse in the meantime.
As one learns from another wonderful novel, which insists mainly on the habits of the Native Americans - with more reverence in The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters - Little Big Man, the First Nations eat dogs and other unusual animals, there are a few terrifying scenes, one of which has one of the children of the tribe play with a puppy, caressing and apparently caring for it, only to set him over a fire, minutes later, to roast him, while the poor animal shots, screams and whines.
Jaimie makes a friend - or at least he thinks so for a while - and given the chance, he takes the teenage girl with him, when he makes an escape, only to find on the morning of his run from the camp that the girl has betrayed him and he is a prisoner yet again.
This ordeal is over when Coulter finds the hero, cuts the throat of the guard and liberates young McPheeters who can join the train and continue on to California, with a stop in Mormon territory.
Some of the travelers decide to rest for the winter, especially given that Mrs. Kissel is sick and the rest are tired, but the rest of the party push through, lead by Coulter, who would be waited to return by Jenny, who is now a widow.
Staying with the Mormons proves a very difficult, dangerous experience, especially after one of the radical, murderous members of a fundamentalist branch decides he has to have Jenny no matter what.
This ruthless man and his cronies make threats, throw arrows, break windows and history shows that they would kill rather than abandon their absurd claim, forcing Mr. Kissel to become a Mormon and take the young woman as his second wife, in theory only and as a last resort, to save the lives of the rest of the party of friends.
One night, they have to drive out of town, for there is no other alternative, they ar guided by a good, more open minded Mormon, who takes them on the trail to California, but they are followed and the villains finally catch up, a fight ensues, only Coulter and a friend of his are there to defend Jenny and their other comrades.
Most of the travelers reach California, after experiencing many torments, but alas, their suffering is not over, for the gold they find is little to begin with and when they accumulate a remarkable sum, about eight thousand dollars - which would be millions today - they are swindled by the couple who had wanted to take Jaimie into slavery, on the shore of the Mississippi- the hero knows he had seen them before, but only remembers the circumstances after the catastrophic deal which had the crooks take a fortune for a supposedly rich gold mine which had nothing of the kind.
The masterpiece is long, fabulous, gripping, hilarious for the most part, one of the best books you could find.
This Pulitzer Prize winner is perfect - when thinking about flaws, one may think of some details that at times may seem more than sufficient, regarding some diseases for instance, but even there, the masterful, genius author is as humorous as Mark Twain - the hero, Jaimie McPheeters resembles Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.
The Travels is the quintessential chef d'oeuvre, seeing as it exemplifies the vital role of the glorious novel, taking the reader across America, to meet fabulous characters and some abhorrent ones, imagining himself or herself in the middle of the prairies, fast rivers, the desert and experiencing with the protagonists adventures he or she would not encounter in real life.
Nonetheless, the splendid novel is based on the real journals of the Doctor who has inspired the honorable Doc Sardius McPheeters, as well as the final letter from Mexico and the author has done extensive research when he described the events of the book, the life of the Mormons and the escapades that are so numerous in this unbelievable book.
Doc Sardius decides to travel to California to find gold, after he has accumulated many debts in Louisville, his medical practice cannot cover them, especially given his addiction to drink and gambling and furthermore he represents the modern Don Quixote.
A complex character, with ideals and grand designs that are reflected in his exaggerated manner of talking, given to hyperbole and impossible scenarios, nevertheless appreciated by those who would become his friends and his son, Jaimie.
The first leg of the trip involves a boat trip on the Mississippi, where a tragic accident takes place, a man falls into the propulsion system and dies consequently, his clothes are torn apart and hanging on the panels.
Jaimie decides to recuperate the golden coins he knew the deceased has had in his pockets, but as he hangs over the remains of the coat, he falls into the river and is taken to the shore many miles from the vessel.
Alas, he falls into the hands of a couple that intend to take him into slavery, he finds a narrow escape, only to meet another party of crooks lead by one criminal called John, who has kidnapped one girl of about nineteen after killing her parents in a fire.
As their prisoner, the hero witnesses another double murder, as they encounter a man and his wife, traveling with their children, the killers shoot them dead without any mercy, fortunately missing the children who are driven away by the older brother that even manages to wound John with his rifle.
They arrive in the next town, where the scoundrels expect to get a $ 200 reward, since Jaimie had tricked them, saying he is a runaway help hand, but when they meet the supposed employer, they find it is a trap and one of them is sentenced to hang.
Reunited with his father at this stage, the McPheeters start the journey in a train with wagons, together with Jenny, a family that would become friends, Matt Kissel, his wife and four children, all lead by the guide, guard, information officer, protector called Buck Coulter.
Jennie makes the mistake of selecting the wrong partner, in the first phase of the trip, although it could be argued that she needed some to care for, after the trauma of seeing her family killed.
The restless Jaimie is again in trouble, as he walks off from the camp and finds himself in the middle of a Native American camp and he becomes a prisoner that is destined to be exchanged, but however suffers abuse in the meantime.
As one learns from another wonderful novel, which insists mainly on the habits of the Native Americans - with more reverence in The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters - Little Big Man, the First Nations eat dogs and other unusual animals, there are a few terrifying scenes, one of which has one of the children of the tribe play with a puppy, caressing and apparently caring for it, only to set him over a fire, minutes later, to roast him, while the poor animal shots, screams and whines.
Jaimie makes a friend - or at least he thinks so for a while - and given the chance, he takes the teenage girl with him, when he makes an escape, only to find on the morning of his run from the camp that the girl has betrayed him and he is a prisoner yet again.
This ordeal is over when Coulter finds the hero, cuts the throat of the guard and liberates young McPheeters who can join the train and continue on to California, with a stop in Mormon territory.
Some of the travelers decide to rest for the winter, especially given that Mrs. Kissel is sick and the rest are tired, but the rest of the party push through, lead by Coulter, who would be waited to return by Jenny, who is now a widow.
Staying with the Mormons proves a very difficult, dangerous experience, especially after one of the radical, murderous members of a fundamentalist branch decides he has to have Jenny no matter what.
This ruthless man and his cronies make threats, throw arrows, break windows and history shows that they would kill rather than abandon their absurd claim, forcing Mr. Kissel to become a Mormon and take the young woman as his second wife, in theory only and as a last resort, to save the lives of the rest of the party of friends.
One night, they have to drive out of town, for there is no other alternative, they ar guided by a good, more open minded Mormon, who takes them on the trail to California, but they are followed and the villains finally catch up, a fight ensues, only Coulter and a friend of his are there to defend Jenny and their other comrades.
Most of the travelers reach California, after experiencing many torments, but alas, their suffering is not over, for the gold they find is little to begin with and when they accumulate a remarkable sum, about eight thousand dollars - which would be millions today - they are swindled by the couple who had wanted to take Jaimie into slavery, on the shore of the Mississippi- the hero knows he had seen them before, but only remembers the circumstances after the catastrophic deal which had the crooks take a fortune for a supposedly rich gold mine which had nothing of the kind.
The masterpiece is long, fabulous, gripping, hilarious for the most part, one of the best books you could find.
January 3, 2022
Much like the wagons rolling west (ha! such an irresistibly dumb thing to say), this was a long-ass haul. But just when I considered putting it down again for a time, or at least demoting to slow burn, it picked up and was quite enjoyable for a bit. I did not enjoy the brutality of some of the scenes with the Indians, and sometimes he laid it on too thick with sidetracking, bog-downing humor, but it was a better book than I suspected. Do not mistake this for a simple Western, cowboy, because it is about truly seeing your father. And for humor to hang in there since 1958 is no easy task, and it is a funny book. That Mark Twainesque vibe was very successful. Certainly not the worst Pulitzer I've read.
August 16, 2025
What an absolute delight! It's tough to put my finger on what kind of book I'm reading: a picaresque adventure, a historical romp, a character-driven odyssey, a reckoning with sorrow. Jaimie accompanies his head-in-the-clouds father Sardius, a doctor who loathes his practice and longs for the gold fields just discovered in California. Sardius has read a guidebook, so knows the trip from Kentucky to San Francisco will be short and easy, and is already issuing his wife instructions for the charitable foundation he'll found with his untold riches. We travel from Kentucky by wagon train and encounter kidnapping, Native Americans both peaceful and understandably not, river-crossings, slavery, desperados, Mormon settlers, gunfights, panning for gold -- an intoxicating tour through the 1840s. Sardius is irrepressible on the page, charming and maddening. He's exposed 13 year-old Jaimie to excitement, yes, but also to danger, hunger, and loss. Today we would see Sardius as a flawed, addicted man as well as a spectacularly poor judge of reality. Jaimie's voice is one for the ages, perceptive and curious, open-hearted and longing for his father to make better choices. Mark Twain's spirit pervades: "Huckleberry Finn" is here, with a lot of "Roughing It" tossed in, but this book remains its own distinctive self. And there's a lovely thrum of Tom Sawyer's bright-eyed innocence as it trails gamely away from Huck's hard-won depth and complexity. You'll fall for these characters and will hate to say goodbye.
February 15, 2021
For the past few weeks I’ve traveled with Jaime as he traversed the US, faced a multitude of dangers, endured inconceivable hardships, and tolerated the whims of his father as they journeyed to California in search of gold. He made a lasting impression on everyone he met including me. I will miss him and the curious characters created by Robert Lewis Taylor long after this book is filed away on my Pulitzer shelf.
September 27, 2023
This book. A rollicking adventure tale following a boy named Jaimie McPheeters and his father Sardius from Kentucky to California in 1849. An emotional roller coaster that satisfies on so many levels. Moving, hilarious, and simply fantastic.
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