The Wandering Hill: The Berrybender Narratives, Book 2

The Wandering Hill: The Berrybender Narratives, Book 2 by Larry McMurtry

First of all, don’t read this book until you‘ve read book 1.  I’m guessing in many cases it’s possible to enjoy reading a “sequel” without reading the prior book(s), but this is not the case here.  It’s hard enough to read the first book in this series (Sin Killer) without getting lost.  That’s not to say that either one of these books are poor. In fact, quite the opposite. There’s a just an awful lot of people and action within the pages.

These books are essentially comedy. A wealthy English aristocrat living in the 1830s decides that he wants to go on a hunting expedition in the wild, untamed western United States.  Since money is no object, he’s able to take with him an entourage of about 30 people. Some hired help, some servants from home, and some family.  The word “family” should be used very loosely. He’s so spoiled, selfish, and uncouth that he really doesn’t care a lick for anyone in his family, and such feelings are easily reciprocated.

After their rented steamer gets stuck in the ice at the conclusion of book 1, the entourage find themselves now relocated at a trading post somewhere near the Yellowstone. Being that this is the wild west, there are many casualties and fatalities along the way.  I would guess about 25% of the cast met an untimely death in book one, so the author quickly feels their shoes with many new locals only to see the injuries and fatalities continue to mount.  Some things I remember are an eye being gouged with a fork, an Indian who survives with a lance through him, and an unfortunate victim being sewed up in a corpse of a buffalo.  And on and on and on.

The wealthy eldest daughter of Lord Berrybender, Tasmin, is the center of the story.  We saw her impulsively marry the prairie man Jim (the ‘Sin Killer’) in the first narrative, and we continue to watch their odd relationship…..er….uh……”grow” in this story. So the book is filled with conflicting feelings, romantic doubts and three infants being born right around the same time.   Just what this wandering party needs.

The book is a rather quick read, although I found it a bit longer than necessary. Most chapters are about four or five pages, and the narrative jumps around quite a bit with so many thespians on the particular stage. The reader, therefore, never really gets bored. As I mentioned, it’s mostly a comedy, so despite all of the travails the encompass the players, you can’t help but laugh out loud many times.

I imagine that this series (there are four books altogether) is quite the diversion for author Larry McMurtry, so one should expect that many diehard fans might not welcome such a digression from what they might be used to, but I thought he did a superb job here.  These books have all the elements of great comedy, which is quite the feat considering the time and setting where the story takes place.