Author Peter Meech didn't just
write this book, he painstakingly crafted every
sentence from first to last. There's a big difference. The average
novel, if it tells a satisfying story, can get by with prose that's
merely adequate. The truly great books are those that excel in both
story and the way that story is told.
Billy
(the Kid) is that rare animal that excels in both.
The
premise is a great one. Billy McCarty, a retired dentist in the quiet
town of Pueblo, Colorado, tells everyone he meets he used to be Billy
the Kid. Was he really? That's the central question of the novel—
but there's a whole lot more going on.
Peter
Meech offers and intimate and thoughtful portrayal of a short period
in McCarty's life. And "Kid" or not, he's a fascinating
character. In his memory—or imagination (or both) he reflects on
the past he may (or may not) have had fighting in the Lincoln County
War, landing with the Rough Riders in Cuba, working for Buffalo
Bill's Wild West, meeting Jesse James, and seeking spiritual
enlightenment with the Mescalero Apache.
In the present, meanwhile,
he's playing mentor to a kid whose father is in trouble, trying to
spark the prettiest widow in town, and walking a thin and deadly line
between rival bootleggers. And all while, he's collecting "Kid"
memorabilia and plugging away on his memoir, to be called My Life
and Times.
Part
of the fun is seeing how an Old Westerner is adapting to the changing
times. It's the early 1930s, a world with Cadillacs, Tommy guns,
Prohibition, Zippo lighters, Standard Oil, Fats Waller, Blondie and
Dagwood, Mars bars, the Reverend Fulton J. Sheen, Piggly Wiggly and
the planet Pluto. We see Billy driving a Model T, going to the
movies, discovering Wonder Bread, drinking Coca-Cola, reading Burma
Shave signs and listening to The Lone Ranger on the radio.
But
it's not all fun and games. Mr. Meech deals in serious themes like
grief and loss, parental and social responsibility, the Seen and the
Unseen, what it feels like to kill, and what it means to be a man.
There's something for everyone here: humor, romance, murder and
gunslinging action. And all elegantly told.
Billy
(the Kid) is a book you don't want to miss.
