The Son

By: Philipp Meyer

Narrated by: Will Patton, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Shepherd, Clifton Collins Jr.

Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Finalist, Literary Fiction, 2014

Soon to be a TV Series on AMC starring Pierce Brosnan and co-written by Philipp Meyer.

The critically acclaimed, New York Times bestselling epic, a saga of land, blood, and power that follows the rise of one unforgettable Texas family from the Comanche raids of the 1800s to the oil booms of the 20th century.

Part epic of Texas, part classic coming-of-age story, part unflinching examination of the bloody price of power, The Son is a gripping and utterly transporting novel that maps the legacy of violence in the American west with rare emotional acuity, even as it presents an intimate portrait of one family across two centuries.

Eli McCullough is just twelve-years-old when a marauding band of Comanche storm his Texas homestead and brutally murder his mother and sister, taking him as a captive. Despite their torture and cruelty, Eli—against all odds—adapts to life with the Comanche, learning their ways, their language, taking on a new name, finding a place as the adopted son of the chief of the band, and fighting their wars against not only other Indians, but white men, too-complicating his sense of loyalty, his promised vengeance, and his very understanding of self. But when disease, starvation, and westward expansion finally decimate the Comanche, Eli is left alone in a world in which he belongs nowhere, neither white nor Indian, civilized or fully wild.

Deftly interweaving Eli's story with those of his son, Peter, and his great-granddaughter, JA, The Son deftly explores the legacy of Eli's ruthlessness, his drive to power, and his life-long status as an outsider, even as the McCullough family rises to become one of the richest in Texas, a ranching-and-oil dynasty of unsurpassed wealth and privilege.

Harrowing, panoramic, and deeply evocative, The Son is a fully realized masterwork in the greatest tradition of the American canon-an unforgettable novel that combines the narrative prowess of Larry McMurtry with the knife edge sharpness of Cormac McCarthy.

©2013 Philipp Meyer (P)2013 HarperCollinsPublishers

An Excellent Family Saga

This was a great listen. The narrators were excellent and the plot was engaging. The author did a good job of exploring the motivations and challenges facing each generation. A few tips - it is a bit gory so be warned. And if you do listen to the book, go to Amazon and download the geneology chart that is included in the first pages of the printed book. I wish I had done that sooner as it helps to explain the family history.

My Favorite Book

I've listened to this book completely 4 times now, and will probably do so again before long. Every time I pick up on new elements of the story. Beautifully written, beautifully performed. You can feel every aspect of the story so vividly.

epic

great narration, epic passionate historical fiction of Texas old and new. well worth a credit. I loved it. "unputdownable".

overdone whiney voice robbed due respect

Far truer to history story than "the victors" ever wrote.

Unfortunately, the whiney voice actor over played his bit to the point of robbing a flawed but on-the-whole deserving character of earned attributes (bravery in the face of institutional might, and that rarest brand of true honor that history only recognizes looking back on one who's repeatedly stumbled, but in the end, raised selfless truth above his selfish blood).

Good - but long if you're not a Wild West fan

The narrators were great. The story was good. I managed to be interested enough to finish listening to this relatively long book, which earns 3 stars from me. If I could give it 3.5 I would - probably would rate it higher if I was more interested in the Wild West as a setting.

Fantastic Texas saga!

Philipp Meyer’s saga is a thrilling read. The front and back end of the narrative are reminiscent of The Boy Captive and The Big Rich, both very fine historical Texas books. The story has built in cliffhangers with oscillations to different points of the timeline to on a multigenerational basis and in Eli’s case a 100 year journey spanning one of the greatest expansions of native land to modern society as ever seen. This story is unvarnished and not appropriate for naive minds or sheltered children. The narrations by Patton, Mulgrew et al are masterful!

Too Crude, Too bad

Good story line but way too crude for my liking. Too bad because it was an interesting plot- interesting characters.

Great Adventure

Story was a lot to believe but true and disturbing . Very well woven together.

Great historical story

The narrator was great too, but the recording was horrible. It had an echoing reverberating sound for the entire recording. Extremely annoying audible experience.

Good Story..GREAT Will Patton performance!

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The narration of Peter McCullough character and I guess the character himself was a little too depressing for me.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Having read Will Patton in Doctor Sleep and Kate Mulgrew in Nosferatu. It was only logical that I read this book that had two narrators that totally awed me. Unfortunately Kate Mulgrew really could do nothing to make her characters story interesting. Scott Shepherd did capture the pathetic feel of the Peter McCullough's character. As for Will Patton , his characters story and his narration of it carries the entire performance to a four star. Absolutely thrilling like he literally takes you to that Indian camp site and you feel like you can relate with everything the character is going through and experiencing.

Any additional comments?

Philip Meyer did good job of creating this view of the history of Texas. Its a history that really has not being explored much in fiction. I really like the way that he points out some how that though the land was some what stolen from the Mexicans by the Whites, the Mexicans too had stolen the land from the Indians. He points it out without justifying the actions of any peoples. Leaving us with no good or bad guys. I LOVED that!