Shadow Country

A New Rendering of the Watson Legend

By: Peter Matthiessen

Narrated by: Anthony Heald

Length: 40 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

National Book Award, Fiction, 2008

Inspired by a near-mythic event on the wild Florida frontier at the turn of the 20th century, Shadow Country re-imagines the legend of the inspired Everglades sugar planter and notorious outlaw E. J. Watson, who drives himself relentlessly toward his own violent end at the hands of neighbors who mostly admired him, in a killing that obsessed his favorite son.

Shadow Country transverses strange landscapes inhabited by Americans of every provenance and color, including the black and Indian inheritors of archaic racism that "still casts its shadow over the nation."

©2008 Peter Matthiessen (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"[G]ripping, shocking, and brilliantly told....as powerful a reading experience as nearly any in our literature." ( New York Review of Books)
"Magnificent and capacious....the book took my sleeve and like the ancient mariner would not let go....a breathtaking saga." ( Los Angeles Times)
"[Watson] comes across as nothing short of iconic....it's difficult to find another figure in American literature so thoroughly and convincingly portrayed." ( Publishers Weekly)

Sloooooow Moving

As a Historical Fiction lover living in Miami, I was thrilled by the idea of learning about the history of the Everglades through this book. But, after trying desperately to stay engaged, I had to abandon the book after the first few hours into it. I just could not stay interested.

For excellent historical fiction reads, I suggest Shantaram and The Help. These books will compel you to sit in your car listening long after you've parked.

If you haven't read the book, forget it

If you haven't read the book(s) already, there are just too many characters to follow the story. There's a big difference between seeing (in print) who's talking in a book and just hearing the characters in an audio. In the first section, they seem to change very often. It would have been more helpful had there been a list of characters and who they are in relation to Mr. Watson. The narrator is good and I think I may have enjoyed this audio had I read the 900 page book. This audio exposes the weaknesses of audio books. A waste of money in my opinion. Buyers beware!

Shadow Country

This book is so slow and so boring, I don't know if I will be able to finish. I only hope it picks up later.

Sinking under a cloud of mosquitoes

My rating is incomplete as I said 'uncle' part way through book two. Maybe something would have changed to compel me to get through book five, but I doubt it. By this point I knew very well what had happened to Mr. Watson and was deeply versed and immersed in the inhospitable climes of the ten thousand islands. I think I would go a little nutty if I had to suffer through another 20 hours of this tale.
Matthiessen is a good writer but not good enough to command this much of my time when better listens beckon.

BORING IN EXTREME

I optimistically used a large slab of my downloading capacity to hear this lengthy book (I usually love lengthy books). A complete waste of computer space and my time. My worst ever purchase on audible. Needless to say I only listened to the first section till I could stand no more. A long, drawn out period of nothingness.

Maybe it is me but I heard rambling

The story seemed to just ramble along.. no true story .. nothing connected to keep me interested.. Could not finish..

Confusing

I had a hard time with this story. At one point, I had several pages of notes trying to keep all the characters and their relationships to each other straight. I finally gave up. Then I thought I must have listened to it out of order, since it skips around. I wanted to get the story, but this would be better if you also had the hard copy to refer back to.

Meh

After all the rave reviews I read, I found the audiobook to meandering, slow and dull. I did not connect with any of the characters and found the jumping around between accounts to be jarring and made it tough to follow.

Don't waste your credits, unless you have some real investment in this story.

Narrator sounds the same with each character

I had trouble following along with the narrator voice sounding the same for all of the book’s characters. Also the book was pretty meh.

Will this ever end?

Way too long a story.