Rating: 
Summary: Western with heart (and punch)
Review: Attention, readers who admire Cormac McCarthy and Larry McMurtry take heart. Another young literary mind has entered the fray with a suspenseful and intelligent take on the long-ago American West. In his debut novel Durham has managed to create a nearly flawless work, not bad for a young fella. Has he roamed the llano and arroyo on horseback himself? If not, then my hat is off to his realistic portrayal of the trials of life in the saddle. I could have done without the moralistic Christian trappings, but so were the times resigned to life's cruelties.Blood Meridian take heed, another compadre in innocence has hit the trail with gruesome desperados.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: Gabriel's Story is a very readable novel - and yet with complex characters and plot twists. The author's love of the landscape shines through and the historical setting seems just right for the story. The uncertainty of the time period and location, as well as the age and race of the main character make every scene full of possibility or dread. A very different kind of "western" that is suspenseful and well written.
Rating:
Summary: Great Story
Review: Gabriel's story is about Gabriel, a young guy who have to move to the plans with his mom and her new husband. Gabriel hates his new life, he's used to the city life. So, when a group of horsemen come to town, Gabriel and his friend James, don't hesitate to be workers for the horsemen and leave town with them. But the horsemen turn out to be brutal killers, and want let the boys leave... The story had such wonderful discription, of the plains, and landscapes. This novel is one you don't want to miss.
Rating:
Summary: Good Stuff -That's all I wanted to say.
Review: Good stuff. Don't have anything deep and meaningful to add, but I liked this book and wanted to say so. I thought the twist toward the end was great. Didn't really see it coming, but once sprung it all made sense.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I ever read
Review: Here is my reaction to one of the best books I have ever read. The book is "Gabriel's Story" by David Anthony Durham. The action takes place in the 1870's. The protagonist is Gabriel, an African-American youth who has just turned 16. The other characters are his brother Ben, just turned 14; his step-father, Solomon; his mother, and his uncle. Gabriel's parents were freed slaves. After their freedom, they lived in Baltimore, where Gabriel enjoyed the big city life. Then his father dies, and his mother decides to go west to Kansas to join and marry her first love, Solomon. The two were separated by slavery. Gabriel doesn't realize that they were in love before this time. Gabriel resents his mother's remarriage and the hard life homesteading on the Kansas prairie. He has all of a teenager's resentment of everything with something real to pin them on. He makes a friend, an African-American orphan his age whose name is James. Together the boys decide to join a group of cowboys and help them drive some horses west to Texas. What the boys don't realize is that these are very bad men they have fallen in with -- the very worst men there could be. As the trip begins, Gabriel and James gradually discover what these men really are, and now their greatest desire is to get away from them. The rest of the novel contains their picaresque travels with the men, trying to leave the men, and trying to return to Kansas. The author has done a marvelous job with this book. The plot is exciting and adventurous, with many twists and turns. The characters and their relationships are complex. The description is wonderful. I felt I was with Gabriel every step of the way on his journey. On Sunday I read in a frenzy from 2 to 6 because I couldn't stop until I finished this book. At times my heart was pounding and I almost stopped breathing as I said aloud, "Oh, no!" I was so involved in this. In addition, the author's writing is beautiful and eloquent. I wouldn't have predicted that I would fall in love with a book one might call a "Western," but this novel defies categorization. The aspect of African Americans homesteading is unusual and interesting. I immediately wrote to the author to thank him for this book, and I hope other people will enjoy it as well. It might be a good one to recommend to teens.
Rating:
Summary: Altogether a really good novel.
Review: I picked up this book after reading the USA Today review, which was essentially an unconditional rave. I decided to give it a try, but figured I'd probably be disappointed, as few books live up to the praise heaped on them. But GABRIEL'S STORY was a pleasant surprise. It begins with vivid homesteading scenes - all the toil and the poverty of it. Makes me glad I wasn't a homesteader, and it made it reasonable that Gabriel would want to run away from it. The journey that he sets off on is truly engrossing, well-plotted, with beautiful language and great descriptions of the Western landscape. It looks like the novel is being compared to Cormac McCarthy's work. There are some similarities, but GABRIEL'S STORY is a bit more hopeful than McCarthy's work. The world is still harsh and dangerous, but Durham seems to have more faith in humanity, in family and friends. Also, I thought it was interesting that the reviewer in USA Today said that he was a city-dwelling white guy that still got into this book about a black boy in another century out on the plains. I felt the same way. Yes, the main characters are black, but their racial identity is only part of the whole world of the story. They're black like James Joyce's characters are Irish or Faulkner's are Southern - it matters, but it doesn't change the fact that anybody can connect with them. Altogether a really good novel.
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Summary: Solid, disturbing, engaging writing...
Review: I really enjoyed this book. If enjoyed is the right word... Some of the scenes are a bit harrowing. I had to put the book down a few times at some of the more gruesome scenes. But I just put it down to get a breather. It was never long before I was into it again. The author deals with some material that we've seen before, but having an African-American boy as the focus puts a new spin on it. And he strikes a balance with his characters. He has some vile ones but also a lot of noble ones. He let's the vile ones speak. Sometimes the things they say aren't pleasant, but that just serves to put the noble characters in bolder display. And as far as I can tell, the book is getting plenty of accolades. The New York Times Review was incredible. As was the USA Today review. And he was part of a Time magazine feature story. So I think he's well on his way.
Rating: 
Summary: One Reason
Review: Mr. Jeffrey Lent the Author of, "In The Fall" was the only person who supplied a comment on this book's jacket. And that was enough reason for me to get the book, as, "Into The Fall", was one of the best books I had read last year, and I hoped, "Gabriel's Story", would approach that work in quality. The book does not, the story does not, and the writing does not. I liked the premise of an emancipated family settling and beginning a new life in Kansas, and I looked forward to the Author providing a fresh perspective on the theme. None of this happened as the portion of the book dedicated to the Family's experience is minimal prior to Gabriel leaving his Family for, "higher adventure". The majority of the book is Gabriel playing witness to, and hearing stories that are cliché, brutally violent, random, and basically pointless. A sampling of events includes multiple murders for which there is no motivation other than a thirst for blood. Rape is second on the list but only because there is less opportunity for it to be committed. Victims are not simply killed, they are disemboweled with great descriptive detail, and castration while the victim is alive is another light touch. Staking a person on an anthill is also another form of amusement. Every nauseating historical prejudice is discussed at length, with extended drunken and sober monologue dedicated to racism, and the explanation of why the extermination of the Native Americans is not only correct but also necessary. The very brief description of the book on the jacket should have been a sign of how little was contained within. Gabriel is described as a youth, which is appropriate for a 15 year old, but then becomes a man a paragraph later. You can attempt to place all manner of meaning on this bloody trip across a portion of America, or you can take the book for what it is. This is about a kid who runs away from home, is taken in by and follows a group of serial killers, rapists and racists, and then loops back around and comes home once again. If the runaway theme seems familiar it is, for it has been written dozens of times and almost all better than this example. Trying to raise this to the level of a, "Prodigal Son" story, or a coming of age story just does not work. The time that passes from beginning to end is not long enough for any accumulation of knowledge. Merely witnessing mindless violence does not qualify as a profound trip through life, lasting just over one year's time. The most interesting character does not speak until three quarters of the book has passed. And when she does the talent the Author may have in later works is shown albeit briefly. When a book lacks an endorsement from even one reliable press or literary source, and relies on an Author with one book to his credit, the blame should fall on the buyer if he or she is disappointed. I made this mistake once before when I accepted a well-liked Author's opinion only to be subjected to mediocre work, I will not do so again. And that's unfortunate, as many new Authors don't always come with endorsements. They were no accolades for this work. They were appropriately absent.
Rating:
Summary: All glowing book review cliches apply
Review: Page-turner, can't put it down, tour de force, and all those other cliches apply to Gabriel's Story. Actually, I could put it down, but only because I had to. Couldn't wait to pick it up again. Gabriel's Story is an amazing adventure -- perfectly plausible -- of a teen aged African American in the 1870's who leaves his family's Kansas farm unannounced. He and a friend join a crew of cowboys headed for Texas.... How to tell more of the book without giving away bits and pieces of the story that is best discovered by the reader? Can't be done. Suffice it to say that Gabriel sees and experiences more than he could ever had imaganed. He is handicapped by racism, his youth and inexperience, but boasts the distinct advantages of intelligence and a good heart. If you're overly sensitive to violence, beware; but it all rings true to the times and is never gratuitous. Now stop reading reviews of the book and buy it, you'll be glad you did.
Rating:
Summary: All glowing book review cliches apply
Review: Page-turner, can't put it down, tour de force, and all those other cliches apply to Gabriel's Story. Actually, I could put it down, but only because I had to. Couldn't wait to pick it up again. Gabriel's Story is an amazing adventure -- perfectly plausible -- of a teen aged African American in the 1870's who leaves his family's Kansas farm unannounced. He and a friend join a crew of cowboys headed for Texas.... How to tell more of the book without giving away bits and pieces of the story that is best discovered by the reader? Can't be done. Suffice it to say that Gabriel sees and experiences more than he could ever had imaganed. He is handicapped by racism, his youth and inexperience, but boasts the distinct advantages of intelligence and a good heart. If you're overly sensitive to violence, beware; but it all rings true to the times and is never gratuitous. Now stop reading reviews of the book and buy it, you'll be glad you did.
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