The Son is a fictional multi-generational saga set in Texas, the second novel by the author of American Rust. Readers who have read American Rust will be used to Meyer’s ability to capture atmosphere, the ripples that violence can have over a community, and the effects on a town mired in the wake of a waning industrial boom where jobs have disappeared and young folks are eager to seek opportunity outside their somewhat protective cocoon. Fans of American Rust may want to compare and contrast if the effects of the experiences one has are able to be held within or passed along somehow, almost genetically to each generation. That is because in The Son, Meyer sheds the horizontal story telling of American Rust for a widely entertaining vertical tale of the McCullough family as told through three main characters — Eli, his son Phillip and Phillip’s Granddaughter Jeanne Anne.
At first reading The Son may prove a little confusing as the story starts with one chapter in Eli’s time and traverses back and forth between generations. I found myself checking the family tree at the beginning of the book early on to make sure I knew where I was, but once I got used to the way Meyer wove the story back and forth like it become to me like almost pulling disparate puzzle pieces from the inside out, and once used to his style, I saddled up and rode through the pages of this American story.
Eli was born in 1836 and experiences brutal violence upon his family while being captured by Comanches at the age of 13. Eli is held captive for over 3 years evolving from a slave into a member of the tribe and eventually becomes adept enough that he scalps and kills several captives in raids. His name as a tribe member becomes Tiehteti and learns the ways of the Comanche. Eli watches as Indians all around him start to die due to contracting illnesses from white men and eventually due to the unsustainable style of living due to the death of so many tribe members, he reluctantly reenters life among whites. What Eli learned as a Comanche certainly carries on through his life as we learn from reading Peter’s (born 1870) journal entries.
Peter details brutal violent acts that his father and neighbors conduct against their neighbors who were Mexican. That was the way of the time, but it doesn’t make Peter’s attitude toward his father any less disdainful. Peter was friendly with the neighbors and despite his part in the act, or lack thereof, writes emotional and at times melancholy entries into his journal that help readers see that behind the taming of the frontier there was a conscience.
Jeanne Anne (born 1926) picks up the story a generation later as the effects of WWI and the oil boom are touching the McCullough family. Jeanne is somewhat like her grandfather in her detached emotions and eventually tries to excerpt herself by leading the ranch into a more prosperous age. Jeanne starts to tell her life story while lying on the floor in the ranch house all alone at the age of 76 (in 2012) unable to get up after a fall. Readers may wonder if the isolation, lack of companionship and fretting about the legacy of the family that Jeanne Anne feels are her responsibility or perhaps something that was coursing through her veins. That is the strength of The Son — at the completion you really wonder if the story really ended.
