Rating: 
Summary: McMurtry and the Berrybenders Still Have It
Review: Larry McMurtry's The Wandering Hill is quite an enjoyable tale, not quite as good as Sin Killer, but still excellent. I wouldn't however recommend Wandering Hill to anyone who didn't enjoy Sin Killer, nor would I recommend it to anyone who only wants to read another Lonesome Dove. The Berrybender Narratives are a group of novels unto themselves, not really like anything else McMurtry has ever done. McMurtry's excellent writing is still there and the novel will certainly make you chuckle. Sin Killer had a more thematically pulled together feel, while The Wandering Hill does wander, as it were, a bit more. We meet up with the Berrybenders and there varied entourage at a trading post in the American west in the 1830s. Tasmin and her husband Jim, have a bit of a spat and he takes off into the wilderness, leaving a pregnant Tasmin to fend for herself. Lord Berrybender is still his same eccentric self and the rest of the characters are equally as nutty. Some bits of the writing isn't quite as strong as it should be, but all in all, this is still a strong novel and worth reading if it is what you are looking for.
Rating: 
Summary: McMurtry's Berrybender novels becoming epic classics
Review: Larry McMurtry's The Wandering Hill is the second installment of his proposed tetralogy following a wealthy English family and their trek to the west in the 1830's. Whereas the first novel, Sin Killer, started slow and revealed a zany, action-packed tone, Hill charges straight out of the gates but mellows eventually to attach the reader closer to the glorious characters. This tetralogy is essentially one giant novel that will equal Lonesome Dove in characters and story. The writing combines subtle humor, fast-paced action, and startling violence that brings the reader directly into the savage world. If you have read Sin Killer, pick up The Wandering Hill immediately. If you haven't read Sin Killer, pick up both books and lose yourself in the exciting yet tragic world McMurtry has created.
Rating:
Summary: A fun read
Review: So what happens when you place an aristocratic British family and their servants, a bunch of mountain men, and various Indian tribes together in the American west? The Berrybender Narratives, of course. A Child of prvilege, Tasmin Berrybender, finds herself married to a dark and sometimes violent mountain man, and traveling across the American west with her family and their entourage in search of game for her often drunk and half mad father, Lord Berrybender, to shoot. Although the purpose of their journey is to hunt game, the real story revolves around all of the conflicts that arise when these wonderfully drawn characters are put together. Can Tasmin tame her dark husband, the Sin Killer, or will the harsh life of the plains tame her? Will Lord Berrybender ever get the servants and women to stop being so american and start following his orders again? Will any of them make it out of the west alive? These questions kept me turning the pages of this book 2 of the Berrybender Narratives even though I never read Book 1. This story is not about cowboys and indians. It is about wildly diffeent people trying to survive in a brutal environment together.
Rating:
Summary: A fun read
Review: So what happens when you place an aristocratic British family and their servants, a bunch of mountain men, and various Indian tribes together in the American west? The Berrybender Narratives, of course. A Child of prvilege, Tasmin Berrybender, finds herself married to a dark and sometimes violent mountain man, and traveling across the American west with her family and their entourage in search of game for her often drunk and half mad father, Lord Berrybender, to shoot. Although the purpose of their journey is to hunt game, the real story revolves around all of the conflicts that arise when these wonderfully drawn characters are put together. Can Tasmin tame her dark husband, the Sin Killer, or will the harsh life of the plains tame her? Will Lord Berrybender ever get the servants and women to stop being so american and start following his orders again? Will any of them make it out of the west alive? These questions kept me turning the pages of this book 2 of the Berrybender Narratives even though I never read Book 1. This story is not about cowboys and indians. It is about wildly diffeent people trying to survive in a brutal environment together.
Rating:
Summary: The Berrybenders, You just have to love them.
Review: The continuation of their journey up the Yellowstone River into wild Indian country, with action and tempers flaring, pregnant women, babies, stampedes, fornication and lust. Traveling with some of the best mountain men and hunters of the west, this family leaves a path of surprise and comedy. Do you know what a Wandering Hill is? This is a great book, better than the first installment, Sin Killer. Must Read.
Rating:
Summary: Berrybender saga rip roars with bizarre delight
Review: The Larry McMurtry of "Lonesome Dove" renown delivers on his promise of great storytelling in this second volume of the Berrybender narratives. As master of the bizarre in characterization, McMurtry takes the mountain men tales of real life characters like a young Kit Carson and laces them around the lives of the fictional English noble, Lord Albany Berrybender and his children and servants, and presents a rousingly good story. In fact, picking up where "Sin Killer" left off, this book leads the reader into the next phase of exploration along the Yellowstone River in 1833, with the likes of the son of Sacajawea and his father, a Scots noble, a Dutch botanist, the artist George Catlin, a German prince, and a most unlikely cast of frontiersmen and Indians. The lustful romance between Tasmin Berrybender and her spouse Jim Snow, the Sin Killer, center the story, but they are just a part of the whole. There is not a dull character in the lot. Each Berrybender, and there are still a lot of them remaining, is a unique rounder. The mountain men live up to their legendary mythos. And the Indian nations exhibit the curious position of those being victimized by the ensuing white man invasion. Their reactions represent a spectrum of violence, manipulation, and partial coexistence. But Indians and the beasts of the wild keep the level of suspense ever present. Even the superstitious belief in the impending doom from sighting a wandering hill, foreshadows the possible danger lurking around each part of the journey. This vivid cast of larger-than-life beings, lives life to the fullest in the most earthy manner, exhibiting quirks that parallel the folks appearing on talk shows of today. Despite a severely hampered and diminishing physical being, Lord Berrybender commands his entourage on this great "safari" into the American northwest, as he wastes the virginal plains of its four-legged bounty, and uses up all things of the flesh and of nature to sate his own boundless mania. One can only imagine this story put to film. For it would be unforgettable, indeed. The cast truly rivals those of the earlier "Lonesome Dove" saga. And one can hardly wait for McMurtry to publish the third tome of the set. Excellent adventure, unforgettable characters, fascinating plot.
Rating:
Summary: AND THE PLOT THICKENS
Review: The story continues with the Berrybender clan, one of the most interesting and dysfunctional groups ever tackled by the famed western author, Larry McMurtry. On a par with Book 1: Sin Killer, The Wandering Hill continues the well-written story of the plains of the frontier complete with Kit Carson. I can't wait for book 3.
Rating:
Summary: Part II of the Berrybender's Western Travels
Review: This book picks up right where "Sin Killer" left off. Literally. I read these books consecutively and they could easily had been packaged as one six hundred pager. This is not "Lonesome Dove" in several ways. Where any of the four Lonesome Dove books could be read as a stand-alone, I don't think The "Wandering Hill" would make any sense to someone who had not first read Sin Killer. McMurtry is also writing this series as a sort of Black Comedy. The characters are less well developed, the plot just conveniently happens and there is scant background or development. Just action and happenings. As for the Black Comedy, think of an R-rated version of the old TV show "The Adams Family." Quirky characters abound, led by a loony father, unreal supporting characters and a strong female who by far possesses the most intense drive and assertiveness of any of the lot. In this book, the Berrybenders and hangers-on -- reduced by Indian attacks, self-inflicted wounds, attempted familycide and the elements -- winter on the Yellowstone River before heading South toward Santa Fe. Various Indians come into play and the fearsome "The Partezon" looms on the edge of the story, ready to strike havoc like Blue Duck or Mox Mox in McMurtry's other stories. Historical figures are also woven into the plot from Lewes and Clark's French guide Charbonneau to Kit Carson and other mountain men. The central part of the story remains the wily Tasmine, oldest of the Berrybender children and Jim Snow, aka "The Sin Killer" an American mountain man who alternates between remaining the wild loner of the range and Mr. Tasmine Berrybender now that he has fathered a child by his amazing English bride - a woman he can't begin to fathom and who astounds him at every turn. This series remains quite a ride. The action -- much of involving fornication or rutting (as the characters put it) -- comes quickly and certainly page after page. Although thin with somewhat weakly drawn characters, McMurtry can still tell a good story.
Rating:
Summary: Part II of the Berrybender's Western Travels
Review: This book picks up right where "Sin Killer" left off. Literally. I read these books consecutively and they could easily had been packaged as one six hundred pager. This is not "Lonesome Dove" in several ways. Where any of the four Lonesome Dove books could be read as a stand-alone, I don't think The "Wandering Hill" would make any sense to someone who had not first read Sin Killer. McMurtry is also writing this series as a sort of Black Comedy. The characters are less well developed, the plot just conveniently happens and there is scant background or development. Just action and happenings. As for the Black Comedy, think of an R-rated version of the old TV show "The Adams Family." Quirky characters abound, led by a loony father, unreal supporting characters and a strong female who by far possesses the most intense drive and assertiveness of any of the lot. In this book, the Berrybenders and hangers-on -- reduced by Indian attacks, self-inflicted wounds, attempted familycide and the elements -- winter on the Yellowstone River before heading South toward Santa Fe. Various Indians come into play and the fearsome "The Partezon" looms on the edge of the story, ready to strike havoc like Blue Duck or Mox Mox in McMurtry's other stories. Historical figures are also woven into the plot from Lewes and Clark's French guide Charbonneau to Kit Carson and other mountain men. The central part of the story remains the wily Tasmine, oldest of the Berrybender children and Jim Snow, aka "The Sin Killer" an American mountain man who alternates between remaining the wild loner of the range and Mr. Tasmine Berrybender now that he has fathered a child by his amazing English bride - a woman he can't begin to fathom and who astounds him at every turn. This series remains quite a ride. The action -- much of involving fornication or rutting (as the characters put it) -- comes quickly and certainly page after page. Although thin with somewhat weakly drawn characters, McMurtry can still tell a good story.
Rating:
Summary: Berrybender Saga Continues
Review: This book picks up right where Sin Killer left off. Literally. I read these books consecutively and they could easily had been packaged as one six hundred pager. This is not Lonesome Dove in several ways. Where any of the four Lonesome Dove books could be read as a stand-alone, I don't think The Wandering Hill would make any sense to someone who had not first read Sin Killer. McMurtry is also writing this series as a sort of Black Comedy. The characters are less well developed, the plot just conveniently happens and there is scant background or development. Just action and happenings. As for the Black Comedy, think of an R-rated version of the old TV show "The Adams Family." Quirky characters abound, led by a loony father, unreal supporting characters and a strong female who by far possesses the most intense drive and assertiveness of any of the lot. In this book, the Berrybenders and hangers-on -- reduced by Indian attacks, self-inflicted wounds, attempted familycide and the elements -- winter on the Yellowstone River before heading South toward Santa Fe. Various Indians come into play and the fearsome "The Partezon" looms on the edge of the story, ready to strike havoc like Blue Duck or Mox Mox in McMurtry's other westerns. Historical figures are also woven into the plot, including Lewes and Clark's French guide Charbonneau to Kit Carson and other mountain men. The central part of the story remains the wily Tasmine, oldest of the Berrybender children and Jim Snow, aka "The Sin Killer" an American mountain man who alternates between remaining the wild loner of the range and being Mr. Tasmine Berrybender now that he has fathered a child by his amazing English bride - a woman he can't begin to fathom and who astounds him at every turn. This series remains quite a ride. The action -- much of involving fornication or rutting (as the characters put it) -- comes quickly and certainly page after page. Although thin with somewhat weakly drawn characters, McMurtry can still tell a good story.
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