The Wonderful Country

by Tom Lea

Originally published in 1952, Tom Lea’s The Wonderful Country opens as mejicano pistolero Martín Bredi is returning to El Puerto (El Paso) after a fourteen-year absence. Bredi carries a gun for the Chihuahuan warlord Cipriano Castro and is on Castro’s business in Texas. Fourteen years earlier—shortly after the end of the Civil War—when he was the boy Martin Brady, he killed the man who murdered his father and fled to Mexico where he became Martín Bredi.

Back in Texas Brady breaks a leg; then he falls in love with a married woman while recuperating; and, finally, to right another wrong, he kills a man. When Brady/Bredi returns to Mexico, the Castros distrust him as an American. He becomes a man without a country.

The Wonderful Country clearly depicts life along the Texas-Mexico border of a century-and-a-half ago, when Texas and Mexico were being settled and tamed.

Genres: Westerns, Fiction, Adventure

322 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

Lea was the son and namesake of the city's mayor. In the early days of World War II, he became a war correspondent for Life magazine, executing paintings of action in the North Atlantic, the South Pacific, China, North Africa, and Europe. Lea's career thereafter involved both painting and writing, on a variety of subjects but generally reflective of his roots in the Southwest.

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jun22, 8am ~~ Review asap.

noon plus 20 ~~ Stunning tale of a man torn between two countries, lifestyles, two destinies. Which will he choose.....or does he truly have a choice? How much of a man's life is done by his own choice anyway? Maybe not as much as we might think, at least not in every circumstance.

I want Marco to hear this book, so it will be added to our pile for the Zapata Reading Club and I will expand this review after we spend time with it together.

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book hard to get into until the last quarter or so. There hardly seems to be any plot, only conversations between the protagonist and people in Mexico and people in Texas. The value comes in getting a slice of what life was like in Mexico and Texas post civil war days when both countries were still largely wild and lawless. Merely outposts from civilization.

[William Polson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent: extremely well written. Recommended!

The author is masterful. Amazing detail. Never boring. I read few novels, but I couldn’t put this down. The drawings are impressive also! I read the Kindle version, on my 12” iPad Pro. This is different than the movie version, which I also enjoy.

[Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book in an antique store - published 1952 in the old style, wherein the actual cover, not just the jacket, is illustrated, the drawing wrapping around the front, spine & back. Also there is an illustration at the beginning of each chapter. All were pen-and-ink style drawings that were done by the author.

It is the story of an early Texas Ranger. I found it to be in the style of Zane Grey with lots of action but some beautiful descriptive passages. It is in the era following the Civil War where there were lots of forays back and forth across the border by individuals and groups from Texas and Mexico. On both sides of the border, there is always hostility going on with the Apaches. The author introduces you to a plethora of characters, and it is quite a time before you can determine which are key players and which not, so your mind is full, trying to sort it out. The main character shows to be very human, and his horse Lagrimas shares in the importance of the role.

Some quotes: "The gloaming sound of the work stock enfolded for the night, the footfalls, the dim voices, moving from fields to wisps of smoke from kitchen fires, the murmur of twilight, enlarged the loneliness by the tumbled wall."

Meditating on the acceptance by the inhabitants of death and cruelty Martin compares Mexico to Texas; he muses: "...this is a sad and sorry country. Something holds it. It has got too much patience. It don't expect enough. In my country - say! - there is too much expecting and not enough patience."

Describing a man, "...[he] stood by the branding fire. Martin knew he was patron the instant he saw him: authority stood written in the set of his head on his shoulders. It was a working authority, inherent in the stamp of the man, without pretension or solemnity."

"The voice was loud. It carried some sound of the winds, the herds, the rocky canyons."

"He was not prepared for ... the steep fall of shade on the bluffs that walled it, for the sparkling river that watered it, for the loamy banks that nourished it, for the fields, gardens, orchards, groves, and houses that adorned it. Martin looked across the ravine, at the darkly timbered continuing wilderness of sierra, blue beyond blue, ridge beyond ridge, paling to the lost edge of the world; and he looked down again into the depth before him, upon the miniature, ordered cluster of white walls and bright greens and rich browns, upon Bavinuchi nestled along its clear water, certain of its haven in the shelter of the riven stone."

[Christopher Tyrrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I guess I’m a bit shocked that this book isn’t more widely known or read. It’s a quintessential western novel and includes all of the classic tropes of the genre. The stoic hero with a shady past gains a (several, actually) chance(s) at redemption, etc. I guess it differs from other westerns in that it focuses on the main character’s struggle with self-identity in the face of the world and circumstances changing around him. A worthwhile read imo.

[Matthew Turnbull · Rating 2 out of 5]

didn't get all way through it being honest but will return

[Anthony Starkovich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much better read than the movie!

Well written tale about a cowboy from Missouri serving his time in Mexico. Politics and subterfuge in this tale of an individual 'a life.

[Ken Bickley · Rating 5 out of 5]

What better way to follow Allen's classic non-fiction "Southwest" than this equally classic novel of the border? I've owned this book for several years, and return to it periodically. Tom Lea, perhaps better known for his art (and he illustrated this book) was a wonderful story-teller. He knew the border country intimately, and his characterizations are excellent. Read it.

[Joe Stack · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author takes his time developing this story that takes place in Texas and across the border in Mexico. The reader gets a fairly good perspective of both American and Mexican views of each other. The main character, who is not perfect, straddles both sides of the border with conflicted loyalties. The land is a character in this story. The author's description of the land is so good that when he wrote about the wind and dust I could feel the grit. The author's pen & ink illustrations at the beginning of each chapter are worthy of displaying on a wall. Each picture encapsulates the chapter's contents.

[LA · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because it is set in my beloved city of El Paso, Texas. However, the writing does take a while to build up. I liked the character of Martin Bredi very much. This is a useful book for anyone wishing to understand life on the border during the mid-2oth century, written by one of El Paso's native sons.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goes full goofball by the end.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I would award more stars if I read more westerns. There were moments in this book that I think went over my head. For example, when Martin is fleeing his newly-promoted employers and the state of Chihuahua and leaves 22 gold one as on deposit for his return... But is chased away by gunfire? "Do it right do it right do it right" -- do WHAT right? Why are they shooting at you? I thought the whole point of leaving some of your money behind was that the bosses would think you were coming back to work...??

[Sknight · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a Texas novel that should be read by Texans and those who just love the idea of living in the large open spaces that once were the American West.
This would make the top 25 list of "best books about Texas".

[Chris Gager · Rating 3 out of 5]

To tell the truth I don't know if I read this or not but the name Tom Lea does ring a semi-strong bell. Maybe I read one that's not on G'reads. Seems like I did see the movie on TV as well. Date read is a wild guess of course. I MIGHT be thinking of a book he illustrated...

[Cws]

W Lea

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great story from a view not usually seen.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read my review at my blog.