Appaloosa

De: Robert B. Parker

Narrado por: Titus Welliver

When it comes to writing, Robert B. Parker knows no boundaries. From the iconic Spenser detective series and the novels featuring Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone, to the groundbreaking historical novel Double Play, Parker's imagination has taken readers from Boston to Brooklyn and back again. In Appaloosa, fans are taken on another trip, to the untamed territories of the West during the 1800s.

When Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch arrive in Appaloosa, they find a small, dusty town suffering at the hands of renegade rancher Randall Bragg, a man who has so little regard for the law that he has taken supplies, horses, and women for his own and left the city marshal and one of his deputies for dead. Cole and Hitch, itinerant lawmen, are used to cleaning up after opportunistic thieves, but in Bragg they find an unusually wily adversary, one who raises the stakes by playing not with the rules, but with emotions.

This is Robert B. Parker at his storytelling best.

©2005 Robert B. Parker (P)2005 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Like the Spenser books, it’s a study of Parker’s enduring themes: buddy relationships, the weight that honor and responsibility put on a man, the consequences of violence, the way good can shade into bad and vice versa…a melancholy and sometimes moving tale of a lost but fascinating era.” (The Seattle Times)

“Dryly amusing…a conclusion that had to make Parker smile as much as his readers will.” (Los Angles Times)

“[Parker] takes total command of the genre, telling a galloping tale…[a] classic western… magnificent. As always, the writing is bone clean. One of Parker’s finest.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

Western with a realistic feel

Short Review:
Good, realistic western with believable characters and effective narration. Kind of on the short side, but definitely worth the read.

Longer Review:

Story:
One of the better westerns I've read. Parker does a great job constructing a realistic story (at least I think so - it's hard to verify that without being 150 years old or a well-studied historian). There's no ridiculous gunfights or chases. No superhuman feats of combat or marksmanship with period weapons. It has some wonderful complexities without being at all hard to follow. In short, I can see this happening.

Characters:
He fills his story with believable characters that are exceptionally well-tuned for and by the story. Hitch's narration is down-to-earth and has a kind of clipped efficiency that is consistent with his character. Cole's actions and decisions give him depth that many gunfighters in western lore tend to lack. Most men (and women) probably know someone in real life like Allie. The list goes on.

Narration:
Titus Welliver does a good job on the narration. His voice feels true to the Hitch's character. I was glad to see that he has done the narration for all the Cole and Hitch stories that are actually written by Parker. This will give the series (which I have yet to finish) a sense of consistency.

Other:
Appaloosa is relatively short by my standards (usually books I listen to average to 9 or 11 hours and change). I'm torn because on one hand the books lacks useless filler, which makes it efficient and therefore more effective. On the other, I want the story to go on longer.

Overall, if you like westerns, I definitely say to give this one a read. Because of the shorter length, if you're weighing the best use of your credits, you might purchase this one at the audible discounted rate so you can use your credit on something longer/more expensive.

good read or listen

The mythical western hero is totally encapsulated in this novel. Virgil and Hitch present the noble and savage melded yet separate.

Excellent!

The movie was great. The book is outstanding. The dialogue is simple but deep. It went by quickly.

A Good Western

I never read or listened to any Robert Parker books that didn't have Spencer in them. He can sure write a good western. It was one of his best books that I had experienced so far. If you like a good western, you will love this book.

Tough characters, tough talk, tough country

An engrossing (if rather short) story, with gritty non-nonsense characters and some clever dialogue. Mercifully free of the usual Western cliches and central-casting characters, the two lead figures are interesting and well described. A longer book would have allowed more development of their characters and the supporting cast, but its still satisfying. I'll definitely look for more like this.

classic western

First time author, one of the ways I find books is when I see a movie I like, theater or TV, I look to see who wrote the novel then i check audible to see what they have written, how they are rated, and if I feel I would like to listen to a book by the author. This is one of those. Robert B Parker is best known for the detective series Spenser, which was made into a TV series called Spenser for Hire, which I don't believe I ever saw. Further Parker wrote the Jesse Stone detective novels which were made into TV movies, which I did see and like and made me check out his books. He wrote a third series which was a classic western series called Hitch and Cole. This book was nothing but a classic western tale. It had everything, good guys, bad guys, a woman, some Kiowa's and set in a town called Appaloosa, which lies somewhere in the plains between the Mississippi River and Denver. This was a fairly short book and an easy read. If you like classic westerns that are entertaining, then you'll like this one.

Men with rules

This story was constantly moving & engaging the listener/reader. The characters were real, all with their own set of moral standards which were often in opposition with each other. Do not miss this book.

I am over 60 but ...

Maybe because most of my Saturday afternoons were spent at the local theater where the tickets were $.25 cents and popcorn was $.10 and every third movie was a western, but I loved this audible book. I liked the characters, I liked the plot, I really liked the reading. It was one of those books that stayed with me for days after and made picking up the next listen difficult. You do not have to be a guy with a Zane Gray collection to appreciate this novel.

Robert B Parker... he said she said

Holy mackeral... if you counted the word "Said" in a Robert B Parker novel it would easily rank more counts that "the" or "a"!!!

This guy cannot write dialogue .. period!!

While this is a good story, if you can get past Parker's fatal flaw it is entertaining.

The movie is much better...

I also listed to Resolution, the sequel and it's a little better, but still has the "Virgil Said", "I said" virus.

Very enjoyable and satisfying

As a huge Longmire Series fan and having read them all, I’ve been looking for good alternatives for a long time. I’ve been through many titles and authors that left me unsatisfied. I’ve read other Robert Parker books but was unaware of the Cole & Hitch Series until I found it on yet another Audible search. I’m a huge fan of Justice served, law enforcement drama books and as a horse owner especially those with a western or cowboy bend to them. The characters in this novel are rich and will only grow through the series I am sure. The story itself gets you pretty quickly involved in both the story and the characters drawing you in with finesse. The writer has a great command of language and richly describes scenes that often touch all your senses. The ending is a bit open ended, of course this is expected in a series and certainly does not take away from the story being told. It in fact serves its purpose of making you want to read more but not just to see what happens. You’ll also be wanting to learn more of Cole & Hitch.
A great listen and I am hooked. Finally glad to have a great western lawman/men series to enjoy and look forward to that comes quite close to the perfection that Longmire is and takes place just a bit earlier in history.