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Wide Open Larry Bjornson Books

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Wide Open Larry Bjornson Books

In 1871, Abilene, Kansas, is a raucous cow town on the cusp of a historic shift that will define the future of an entire region. Residents are well aware that without the massive cattle drives from Texas, Abilene wouldn't exist, yet they grow increasingly alarmed by the violence and sin thousands of wild Texas cowboys bring with them. Some Abilene citizens are convinced the farmers flooding in to homestead free federal land represent the town's salvation, if the dirt-poor sodbusters can overcome Kansas' relentless summer heat and drought.

Young Will Merritt firmly supports the pro-cowboy faction, publicly shaming the stubble-jumpers at every opportunity. Abilene is the first real home fifteen-year-old Will and his family have known after following his vagabond father's reckless dreams. Gregarious J.T. Merritt finally has found success as a land speculator. He's an important man in town ... until he gambles on a solution that will save the farmers and point Abilene in a new, more respectable, direction. Overnight, Will's life -- and his perspective -- undergo a monumental change. Growing up can be bittersweet.

Winner of multiple awards, Larry Bjornson's WIDE OPEN engrosses from the very first page. The nearly flawless writing is breathtaking, presenting cinematic panoramas, riveting action, and heartfelt emotion without ever compromising the first-person point of view, slowing the pace, or dipping into maudlin.

Bjornson's voice is fresh and evocative; his effortless prose breathes astounding beauty, chuckle-worthy cleverness, and heart-rending pathos in equal measure. This is literature in the Steinbeck tradition.

Although "wild and woolly" certainly describes Bjornson's Abilene and the surrounding Kansas prairie, WIDE OPEN runs far deeper than a young man's adventure. Will's journey is universal and profoundly moving. Regardless readers' personal histories, they'll recognize themselves in Will.

I cannot recommend WIDE OPEN highly enough, as both an excellent story for readers of all ages and an education in elevating fiction, regardless of genre, to art.


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Wide Open Larry Bjornson Books Reviews

"Wide Open" delivers every element I want in a book good writing, realistic characters, and a great story. And as a bonus, the book also supplies a good dose of page-turning suspense, historical information about a pivotal time in the settlement of the American West, and most importantly, it left me feeling richer as a person, richer to have known Will Merritt, his family, and all the other folks who live on the pages of Bjornson's novel. "Wide Open" takes an honored place in my bookshelf as one of those treasures I will return to over and over, for the sheer pleasure of experiencing that richness again.

Author Larry Bjornson draws the reader in right away, with wonderful, well-crafted prose, and keeps us riveted until the last page, painting one cinematic scene after another, in luscious detail, transporting us to the time and place of the American frontier just after the Civil War, during one summer which historically couldn't possibly pack more punch, action-wise this was the summer feared gunman Wild Bill Hickok was called into Abilene, Kansas to keep order, just as the interests and tempers of two clashing populations - the carousing, cattle-driving cowboys and the dirt-poor, hard-working settlers - were flaring into an unstoppable showdown.

Bjornson puts the reader right in the middle of the action with an extremely likeable fifteen-year-old narrator named Will Merritt, whose father becomes the agent of the turmoil that erupts in Abilene that summer. Will's life is turned upside-down as he finds himself torn between loyalties, facing not only danger and loss but also his own conscience.

Will gives us a wide-eyed, youthful window on all the action, and there is more action packed into this 380-page novel than I would have believed possible. There are cattle drives, barroom brawls, accidents, emergencies, stunts, and adventures, too many to count. Each one is drawn in sprawling cinematic detail, full of sights and sounds and smells of Old West life that put the reader right in the middle of things. There's the time the longhorn steer falls through the....well, I don't want to give anything away, let's just say there is one surprise after another, all woven into a meaningful whole by the thoughtful narration of young Will.

Possibly the most compelling reason for me to recommend the book is the quality of Bjornson's writing. His prose is so well-crafted that it bears reading slowly, so that one can savor the language. Bjornson's ability to evoke the sensory experience of being present at a scene is remarkable. His ability to make the reader feel like his characters are absolutely real people, through wonderfully observant external and internal dialogue, brings not only a caring for these characters, but also a recognition of the ways we share the same foibles, and we feel what they feel. The poignancy of situations encountered by Will are handled with such sensitivity by Bjornson that I was moved to tears many times.

Bjornson treats us to unexpected little moments of self-honesty and insight from his narrator that are rare in a novel. Will screws up sometimes, and he knows it, but we are happy to forgive him, because his humanity always shines through. Will's initial attraction to his first love, Anna, is fraught with conflicting emotions that Bjornson delights in sharing with us, and not without a considerable amount of humor. All the characters in "Wide Open" - whether cowboy, settler, or townie, whether young'n or adult - are complex and deeply human. Bjornson says in an interview, "Everyone in the book, even the best of them, at some point behaves badly. And even the worst are capable of honorable actions."

"Wide Open" is traditional in style - unapologetically old-fashioned, and I want to call it "reader-friendly." There is no graphic violence, no cynicism, and not even any bad language that I can recall. In summary, it's a very satisfying read - wonderfully written, fun, emotionally satisfying, with sympathetic characters, a palpable sense of time and place, and cinematic action and lots of it. I can't wait for Bjornson's next offering.
In 1871, Abilene, Kansas, is a raucous cow town on the cusp of a historic shift that will define the future of an entire region. Residents are well aware that without the massive cattle drives from Texas, Abilene wouldn't exist, yet they grow increasingly alarmed by the violence and sin thousands of wild Texas cowboys bring with them. Some Abilene citizens are convinced the farmers flooding in to homestead free federal land represent the town's salvation, if the dirt-poor sodbusters can overcome Kansas' relentless summer heat and drought.

Young Will Merritt firmly supports the pro-cowboy faction, publicly shaming the stubble-jumpers at every opportunity. Abilene is the first real home fifteen-year-old Will and his family have known after following his vagabond father's reckless dreams. Gregarious J.T. Merritt finally has found success as a land speculator. He's an important man in town ... until he gambles on a solution that will save the farmers and point Abilene in a new, more respectable, direction. Overnight, Will's life -- and his perspective -- undergo a monumental change. Growing up can be bittersweet.

Winner of multiple awards, Larry Bjornson's WIDE OPEN engrosses from the very first page. The nearly flawless writing is breathtaking, presenting cinematic panoramas, riveting action, and heartfelt emotion without ever compromising the first-person point of view, slowing the pace, or dipping into maudlin.

Bjornson's voice is fresh and evocative; his effortless prose breathes astounding beauty, chuckle-worthy cleverness, and heart-rending pathos in equal measure. This is literature in the Steinbeck tradition.

Although "wild and woolly" certainly describes Bjornson's Abilene and the surrounding Kansas prairie, WIDE OPEN runs far deeper than a young man's adventure. Will's journey is universal and profoundly moving. Regardless readers' personal histories, they'll recognize themselves in Will.

I cannot recommend WIDE OPEN highly enough, as both an excellent story for readers of all ages and an education in elevating fiction, regardless of genre, to art.