The Trackers

A Novel

De: Charles Frazier

Narrado por: Will Patton

From the New York Times bestselling author of Cold Mountain and Varina, a stunning new novel that paints a vivid portrait of life in the Great Depression

Hurtling past the downtrodden communities of Depression-era America, painter Val Welch travels westward to the rural town of Dawes, Wyoming. Through a stroke of luck, he’s landed a New Deal assignment to create a mural representing the region for their new Post Office.

A wealthy art lover named John Long and his wife Eve have agreed to host Val at their sprawling ranch. Rumors and intrigue surround the couple: Eve left behind an itinerant life riding the rails and singing in a western swing band. Long holds shady political aspirations, but was once a WWI sniper—and his right hand is a mysterious elder cowboy, a vestige of the violent old west. Val quickly finds himself entranced by their lives.

One day, Eve flees home with a valuable painting in tow, and Long recruits Val to hit the road with a mission of tracking her down. Journeying from ramshackle Hoovervilles to San Francisco nightclubs to the swamps of Florida, Val's search for Eve narrows, and he soon turns up secrets that could spark formidable changes for all of them.

In The Trackers, singular American writer Charles Frazier conjures up the lives of everyday people during an extraordinary period of history that bears uncanny resemblance to our own. With the keen perceptions of humanity and transcendent storytelling that have made him beloved for decades, Frazier has created a powerful and timeless new classic.

©2023 Charles Frazier (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

Beautifully written

The story is beautifully written and has an abrupt and vague ending Narration is superb

Great characters who confronted who struggled with ethical choices

The story for me that right and wrong doesn’t account for shades of gray. Placed during the depression made this more apparent. I thought the ending was just right.

Nice Depression Era Story

I'm a big fan of Charles Frazier and Will Patton. In the world of audio books, they are giants. This novel is set in the West rather than the old South or Appalachia. Frazier captures the voices of desperate poverty and rich landowners as they inevitably clash. The Works Project Administration's art initiative in public buildings is also critically important to the story. I learned a lot that seemed to resonate with the stories my own grandfather told me about wondering the country in search of work during the Depression. I give Will Patton the usual five stars for capturing Frazier's intent. I give the story itself four stars because it was very good, but just short of outstanding. For me, the ending was slightly off and lacked full resolution. I'm sure Frazier would say that the ending requires the reader to think and read between the lines. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose, but, for me, it makes the novel four, instead of five stars.

DISAPPOINTED

Story was dull along with being same old song and dance. Young male employee gets too close to boss’ younger, hot wife who is having problems with scumbag ex. Will Patton saved it. Somewhat interesting characters but not like the ones in cold Mountain or Thirteen Moons. It’s a quick read so not a waste of time.

Will Patton’s narration was faultless…

…but I did not care for the story. I never became invested (or very interested) in the characters. So as I listened my thoughts kept wandering to Will Patton’s voice. Did he school himself to use his voice so evocatively or is it a natural talent? I would have quit listening about half way through but kept at it just for the pleasure of that voice.

enjoyable, fun listen

First time author for me. An initial aspect of the story that attracted my attention was the painting of a mural in a small-town post office during the 1930s Depression era, a program by the Federal Government trying to create jobs. My small hometown of Mt Ayr, Iowa has one of those murals. A teenage artist from the small town of Redding, just outside of Mt Ayr, the county seat, was chosen to point the mural. He went on to make his living as a painter of some note although I don't remember his name, so not all that famous. But every so often they do have an article about him the local paper.

Having Will Patton as the narrator was a plus. Listening to him wax poetic about life made it seem at time like I was listening to James Lee Burke.

The story itself was a fun one. The painter, who was just supposed to be there for a few months, gets caught up in the local lives and the story emanates from that. Before it's all said and done the painter travels from Wyoming to Seattle to Florida to the San Francisco Bay Area and other places all around. You get a good description of what depression era life was like in each of those areas.

The genre is historical fiction, and the author does a good job of weaving a tale that keeps your interest.

Great. Characters with dramatic plot

Frazier is a wonderful writer that keeps your attention all the time. Very timely look into the Depression with many similarities to our world today.

Great story, great narrator!

John Steinbeck is one of my favorite authors and multiple times while listening to this audiobook I thought to myself that if somebody had told me that this was an unpublished Steinbeck novel I totally would have believed it, it just really has that same cadence and storytelling vibe. I really liked this book!

I wanted to love it

The story felt like it was eventually going to take off, but it never really left the ground.

Meh

The premise of the story was good. It’s written very beautifully since the main character is an artist in the way he sees landscape is written well. But the story itself in a whole is just OK and it’s very drawn out for a unfortunately unsatisfying ending.