The Congress of Rough Riders

by John Boyne

The novel is narrated by William Cody, born in London in 1970 and brought up alone by his father, Issac. To bridge the generation gap between them, his father tells William stories of their shared ancestry and in particular of Issac’s grandfather, the famous cowboy Buffalo Bill. In his twenties, William leaves home for Japan, escaping his father and his increasingly dominant tales of Buffalo Bill. Whilst abroad, he falls in love with Hitomi, a woman who represents the opposite of the world he has left behind, rooted in history, ancestry and story telling. When his father proposes that together they should recreate Buffalo Bill’s stage show, ‘The Congress of Rough Riders of the World’ for a contemporary audience, William refuses to have any part in it. Tragedy strikes however and William must eventually return with his own son to his dying father.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical

328 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2001

About the author

I was born in Dublin, Ireland, and studied English Literature at Trinity College, Dublin, and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. In 2015, I was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by UEA.

I’ve published 14 novels for adults, 6 novels for younger readers, and a short story collection. The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas was a New York Times no.1 Bestseller and was adapted for a feature film, a play, a ballet and an opera, selling around 11 million copies worldwide.

Among my most popular books are The Heart’s Invisible Furies, A Ladder to the Sky and My Brother’s Name is Jessica.

I’m also a regular book reviewer for The Irish Times.

In 2012, I was awarded the Hennessy Literary ‘Hall of Fame’ Award for my body of work. I’ve also won 4 Irish Book Awards, and many international literary awards, including the Que Leer Award for Novel of the Year in Spain and the Gustav Heinemann Peace Prize in Germany. In 2015, I was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of East Anglia.

My novels are published in 58 languages.

My 14th adult novel, ALL THE BROKEN PLACES, a sequel and companion novel to THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS, will be published in the UK on September 15th 2022, in the US and Canada on November 29th, and in many foreign language editions in late 2022 and 2023.

Reviews

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Boyne is one of my favourite authors and although this book is well written it failed to capture my imagination. The subject matter was not really my thing and lasting over 450 pages put my staying power to the maximum. There were large parts I did enjoy but it didn’t have the same magic as other books by this author.

The story is told by William Cody, raised by his father Issac in 1970’s London. Issac is obsessed with his grandfather the famous cowboy Buffalo Bill and is always trying to entice William with stories of his exploits. When William is a young man, still in his twenties he moves to Japan where he falls in love with Hitomi and life couldn’t be better. William receives a letter from his father summoning him back to England urgently and he fears the worst. But instead of finding his father dying, Issac wants William to go into business with him and recreate the stage shows promoting the life of Buffalo Bill ‘The Congress of Rough Riders of the World’. William wants no part of his father business venture and returns to Japan only for tragedy to strike forcing him to return once more.

An ok read but much prefer the authors other books. If you want to read this author I would highly recommend ‘A Ladder to the sky’ and ‘Hearts invisible furies’ which are both outstanding.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love reading john Boyne but struggled on with this.

[Clare Hudson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wonder what made JB pick this as a topic as I didn't find BB at all interesting. Just went round shooting cattle, scouting for the army, having parleys with the natives, then making a wild west show out of it! Luckily JB had woven other family members, further down the generations, into the story line which was good for me, otherwise I might well have put it down. As always, wonderfully written - just the subject matter wasn't particularly up my street!!!

[Janice · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this one and gave up early on. This is the first time I have given up on a book by John Boyne. In this book, Boyne begins telling the story from the point of view of William Cody, great-grandson of Buffalo Bill Cody. For me it was a huge problem that Buffalo Bill is an historical figure, who didn't have a great-grandson named William. Or a grandson named Isaac. Or a son named Sam. I read a lot of historical fiction. Sometimes the story is centered on a real historical person. Sometimes the central character is a fictitious person in an historical setting populated by real people. It bothered me that this "real" person telling the story wasn't real! I'm sure it's just me and maybe I'll give the book another try sometime. John Boyne really is a talented writer and I have read nearly all of his books now.

[Lee Miley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a fan of John Boyle but have had this book for a few years now and it took three attempts to read it. Although I enjoy historical fiction the subject matter just didn't interest me and I felt the stories didn't flow well due to the layout of the chapters-jumping back and forth from different time periods within each chapter rather than each story being clearly defined. I also found the 'present day' William Cody to be a really unlikable man. The only gripping part of his story, the murder of his wife, is mentioned at the start of the book, had it not been expected by the reader then perhaps his story would have had more of a dramatic climax.
Generally disappointed but glad I've read it. I've definitely enjoyed John Boyne's later novels a lot more.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to say upfront I’m a big John Boyne fan and love his style of writing and the way he writes balanced realistic dialogue. I’ve also enjoy he’s incorporation of historical events into fictional tales, but this was a real slog. The plot didn’t kick in for at least 200 pages, after a lot of confusing, seemingly random fact delivery contextualising the basis for what turned out to be a pretty uninspiring story about a father and son struggling to find a common connection. This was disappointing.

[lyn farrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite being an avid reader of John Boyne novels the title of this book put me off . However I got a sample on my kindle so of course was hooked by the masterful storytelling of the author . John Boyne weaves a contemporary story with a historical tale and links the two with themes of home, cultural identity and ancestry.

As an Australian of European ancestry I understood the premise that despite where you live and the culture you experience, the link to some other motherland and culture, despite it being on the other side of the globe, can be inculcated and ingrained in you. And this can set up a tension and a level of dissatisfaction that send you searching for home and identity as it does for William.

But this novel is also about the mythology of cowboys and Indians and white male heroes. Sadly growing up in the 60’s in Australia I knew the names of the heroic warriors of Native American Indians like Sitting Bull but had no knowledge as a child, of equally heroic Fist Nations people here in Australia who also fought to maintain their connection to their land and their culture.

I found Buffalo Bill as a man, as a legend, in this telling of his story, to be more Buffon and Braggart than hero.

[Adam Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first few pages of this book almost put me off continuing. I DNF'd in the end but i read more than half of this. It has problems. I found some of the characters irritating, especially the protagonists. But the story IS interesting to a degree. Switching back and fore between time periods (and countries) is good and prevents boredom....for a while. Unfortunately, i didn't have the desire to finish this but this is one of those occasions where it's not because the book is bad. It's just that it's not good enough to take up more of my time. I think some people will adore this book. I merely liked it.

[dave mccarthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

To much of a story

Am really enjoy books by John Boyne and I was looking forward to reading this book. But to be honest, the way the author has written it. So you are reading all about Buffalo Bill and then you are reading about his fictional great grandson. I find to much, I love reading all about Buffalo Bill. Such an amazing character, with so many adventures. That make the story of his great grandson so normal. I understand that the author has written a fantastic book about William Cody. One I would definitely have enjoyed. But when you are going between two narritives. I feel the story of Buffalo Bill wins out. I'm sure plenty of readers will disagree with me.

[Gavin Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been a long time admirer of JB and really enjoy how he develops his characters and drops the reader right into the tale he wants to tell. I wasn’t overly enthused by the ‘Buffalo Bill’ link and struggled with this book at times but persevered and will give JB the benefit of the doubt because of the strength of all his other works I have read.

[Iva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was a bit weary at first because of the subject matter but you soon realize that it’s just another tool of his to portray different relationships. This time a strained father-son relationship and in true John Boyne style ❤️

[Chris Waterford · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Boyne has written a lot of good books but this is not one of them. the characters in this, some of them (like B.B.)based on real characters, were just not that interesting---and the magic was missing from his writing.
6/10

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just barely a 3. Readable, barely interesting, marginally competent writing. Not his best by FAR.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

First attracted to it by its cover, I later found out it wasn't bad at all.

[Carly Vevers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably 3.5*

[Key · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable story , John B such a great story teller…

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wish I could give it more but it was very slow and most of its markers missed. There was some interesting character development, but it did feel like an early and minor work.

[Peter Boyles · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Phil Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mainly enjoyable read but not amongst his best work. I enjoyed the story relating to the modern William Cody but related less to the Buffalo Bill segments.

[Edgar · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Boyne was a name I hadn’t come across until I was fortunate enough to find this novel amongst a collection of books in one of the beach resorts nearby where I live (in Philippines) – my usual source of reading matter, considering Amazon hardly ever have the books I want for my Kindle e-reader. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Boyne is a successful writer, still quite young, from Dublin. He is very readable and I breezed through this book, in contrast to my last book (by John Carey) which I quit mid-way through. His experiment of relating simultaneously the life stories of three connected people worked, certainly for me. Buffulo Bill and the Wild West have been alien territory to me which I’ve always steered clear of. I’d rather have the TV off when young than watch a wild west movie (something missing in my masculine make up?) Yet I found the tale of Buffulo Bill Cody and his times fascinating. Equally interesting were his descendents, the narrator William and his father, Isaac. Considering the tenuous link between them and Buffulo Bill (i.e.the result of a one night stand), William may have had things in better perspective regarding his father’s obsession. But William’s offhand relationship with his father seems a bit heartless overall. I was waiting for a rapprochement which never occurred despite their coming together at the end. Perhaps this may have been the author himself speaking personally. I got the impression, rightly or wrongly, that Boyne may be revealing himself, to a certain extent, through William.

[Richbern · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I've said before in reviews of John Boyne's books, I'm amazed at his ability to bring depth and remarkable storytelling to every genre he's tackled--thrillers, historical fiction, YA novels, family dramas. This, his first novel, infuses all of the hallmarks of his craft into a western, although it's not as polished as his later books. This is the parallel stories of Buffalo Bill Cody making a name for himself in the old west and his great-grandson in London trying to figure out where he fits in life. As is often the case, the older story is the more interesting one. But the author is still able to work in themes of identity, belonging, and what families hand down from generation to generation.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

The thing I love about John Boyne is his ability to write across a broad range of genre's with a variety of plots and settings and still ensure that the historical facts are correct and that the reader is completely submerged in the story. I never thought I would be reading a novel of Buffalo Bill's antics in the Wild West and yet because it was a Boyne novel I picked it up and whats more enjoyed it immensly. His effortless way of drawing one in and holding on to them whilst developing a character with depth and feeling is genius and I have found the same in each of his novels I have read so far. Fantastic!

[Michael Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable romp through the life and legend of Buffalo Bill as told by his great grandson, who has heard such tales all his life from his own father, with whom he has a difficult and somewhat strained relationship, but who seems to live through the life of his own grandfather. The story covers the life, love and travels of the great grandson and intermingles with that of Buffalo Bill himself. Both have good stories to tell, albeit with Buffalo Bill's it may be difficult to tell where myth begins and truth ends. Generally a feel-good book, though an awful lot of buffalo were harmed during it's duration!

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure if I'd like this one...not too into western type stories. It goes between a modern day story of a boy trying to find himself and the days of Buffalo Bill (the boy's great grandfather). John Boyne does an awesome job painting pictures in your head and gets you really into the characters.

[Sandra Grauschopf · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't expect to like this book much, because I'm not a huge fan of Westerns. But as it turned out, I absolutely loved it. The book weaves stories of Buffalo Bill Cody together with stories of the life of his fictional great-grandson to create a moving family drama. I had a great time learning about all of the characters, and was so sorry when it came to an end.

[Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive) · Rating 3 out of 5]

READ IN ENGLISH

I'm a big fan of John Boyne, and this was one of the last books I hadn't read yet. So, I didn't mind the fact I really don't like cowboys and just started reading.

Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed cause it turned out that I minded the cowboys after all. It was not bad, but it just couldn't keep me interested. Personaly, not my best John Boyne book.

[Gretchen Downey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I guess I'm on a quest to read all of John Boyne's books. I do like his historical fiction novels and this one was hard to find. Now I know all about Buffalo Bill Cody and what life was like for a cowboy in the 1800s. The author is very clever in adding a present day story and tying that into the Buffalo Bill story.

[Teresa Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good read, weaving the past with the present. John Boyne also developed the Father/son relationship which was damaged by too much insistence on the past.
An excellent novel.Finished early April 2013

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone who loved the wild west movies and books growing up will love this fiction based on fact yarn - lots of historical back-up about the life of Buffalo Bill Cody

[Haylee · Rating 4 out of 5]

thought it would be a really good read,but i did not 100 % enjoy it.to me it was more of a mans book.not my cup of tea.it was a sad ending.