The Legend of Colton H. Bryant | Alexandra Fuller | A masterpiece that tells two stories

The Legend of Colton H. Bryant | Alexandra Fuller | A Beautiful Tale about a Beautiful Soul

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The Legend of Colt...

	The Legend of Colton H. Bryant Alexandra Fuller Penguin Press HC, The, 2008 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 13 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

From the bestselling author of Don?t Let?s Go to the Dogs Tonight and Scribbling the Cat, the unforgettable true story of a boy who comes of age in the oil-fields and open plains of Wyoming; a heartrending story of the human spirit that lays bare where it is that wisdom truly resides

Colton H. Bryant was one of Wyoming?s native sons and grown by that high, dry place, he never once wanted to leave it. ?Wyoming loves me,? he said, and it was true. Wyoming?roughneck, wild, open, and searingly beautiful? loved him, and Colton loved it back. As a child in school, Colton never could force himself to focus on his lessons. Instead, he?d plan where he?d go fishing later, or he?d wonder how many jackrabbits he might find on his favorite hunting patch, or he?d dream about the rides he would take on the wild mare he was breaking. ?At my funeral, you?ll all feel sorry for making me waste so much time in school,? he said to his best friend Jake?and it was true.

Two things got Colton through the boredom of school and the neighborhood ?K-mart cowboys? who bullied him: His best friend Jake and his favorite mantra, a snatch of a saying he heard on TV: Mind over matter?which meant to him: If you don?t mind, it don?t matter. Colton and Jake grew up wanting nothing more than the freedom to sleep out under the great Wyoming night sky, to hunt and fish and chase the horizon and to be just like Colton?s dad, a strong and gentle man of few words. When it was time for Colton to marry and make money on his own, he took up as a hand on an oil rig. It was dangerous work, but Colton was the third generation in his family to work on the oil patch and he claimed it was in his blood. And anyway, he joked, he always knew he?d die young.

Colton did die young, and he died on the rig?falling to his death because the drilling company had neglected to spend two thousand dollars on the mandated safety rails that would have saved his life. His family received no compensation. But they didn?t expect to?they knew the company?s ways, and after all as Colton would have said: Mind over matter.

In Scribbling the Cat, Alexandra Fuller brought us the examined life of a Rhodesian soldier; now?in her inimitable poetic voice and with her pitch-perfect ear for dialogue? she brings before us the life of someone much closer to home, as unexpected as he is iconic. The moving, tough, and in many ways quintessentially American story of Colton H. Bryant?s life could not be told without also telling the story of the land that grew him?the beautiful and somehow tragic Wyoming; the land where there are still such things as cowboys roaming the plains, where it?s relationships that get you through, and where a just, soulful, passionate man named Colton H. Bryant lived and died.

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A masterpiece that tells two stories

Alexandra Fuller is an extraordinary author who's done it once again. This book tells a story that affects every single energy consumer in America from a painfully human perspective - and does it with grace and amazing talent. Colton H. Bryant walks off the page from the first chapter of this book into the life of the reader; by the end, it's nearly impossible to not want to do something about the state of the oil and gas industry in the American West. Beautiful, touching, moving and inspiring - an absolute read.

A Beautiful Tale about a Beautiful Soul

I devoured this book. It is an amazing read. Of course, I knew how it ended (by the introduction and also the review in the newspaper) ...still, the end of the story broke my heart into a million pieces.
The reader gets to know Colton and to embrace his sweet and enthusiastic life of dreams and unfufilled hopes. He never gave up and never grumbled about his lot in life.
What really made my heart break though, was the small portrait of Colton at the very end. A sweet faced boy, his face haunted me as I read the book and long afterwards, too.
I can't be sure that Colton wasn't an angel on earth when he lived, but he is certainly an angel now. I heartily recommend this book.

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Thhis author never disappoints

This is easily one of the best books I have read in a long time. Fuller's descriptive prose drew me instantly into the lives of the Bryant family and made me long to see this region of the US. As in her other books, her ability to bring to life the commonalities that exist in places and situations uncommon, is engaging and thought provoking long after the book's end.

I particularly appreciate the way she describes people and situations in ways that do not marginalize or villainize despite pain and culpability.

Excellent read!

Not so Legendary

Where's the legend in this book? By standard definition a legend is a story of the past, a myth, a thing that inspires. This book did not qualify on any account. This story of "oil field trash" addresses a young person you don't want to be in a place you don't want to go. It speaks of a class of people that think lightly and feel deeply. The characters have extreme loyalty but not much sense. The protagonist did not reach notable proportions although his demise was touching in an overly sentimental way. His issue of personal success in the light of special needs in school was perhaps the message that stayed with me most. All in all, an average read.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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