The Son by Philipp Meyer
When a friend asked me about The Son, I told her that I probably would not finish it– seeing as it is about a few of my least favorite things –Indians, cowboys, and Texas! But nonetheless I proceeded to give her a ten-minute synopsis of the fifty pages I had read thus far. At that point, I knew that despite the scalping scenes, I was hooked.
The Son is a saga about the fictional McCulloughs, a wealthy ranching-and-oil family who trace their roots to the founding of Texas.
Patriarch Eli, captured by Comanches as a child, is a ruthless, shrewd, amoral, and ultimately a very wealthy man.
Eli’s dramatic story is interwoven with that of two of his descendants, his son Peter and great-granddaughter Jeannie, who inhabit their burdensome family legacy in different ways.
The book however belongs to Eli. The stories of Peter and Jeannie pale in comparison, and I found myself rushing through their chapters to get back to the horrid but compelling Eli.