Name: West
ISBN: 9781783784233

Carys Davies

Cy Bellman, American settler and widowed father, hears news which fills him with wonder : in the deep swamps of Kentucky, huge ancient bones have been discovered. Leaving his young daughter Bess to fend for herself, Cy sets off to see if there is truth in the rumours that giant monsters are still living, roaming the uncharted territory beyond the Mississippi River.

West

ella

Esistono tanti di quei modi per decidere come vivere la tua vita. Solo a pensarci gli girava la testa. Gli piangeva il cuore all'idea di aver scelto il modo sbagliato. Una cosa sembra importante finché non ce n'è una più importante.

Named a Best Book of the Year by The Sunday Times (UK) * The Guardian (UK) * The Washington Independent Review of Books * Sydney Morning Herald * The Los Angeles Public Library * The Irish Independent * Real Simple * Finalist for the Rathbones Folio Prize “Carys Davies is a deft, audacious visionary.” —Téa Obreht When widowed mule breeder Cy Bellman reads in the newspaper that colossal ancient bones have been discovered in the salty Kentucky mud, he sets out from his small Pennsylvania farm to see for himself if the rumors are true: that the giant monsters are still alive and roam the uncharted wilderness beyond the Mississippi River. Promising to write and to return in two years, he leaves behind his only daughter, Bess, to the tender mercies of his taciturn sister and heads west. With only a barnyard full of miserable animals and her dead mother’s gold ring to call her own, Bess, unprotected and approaching womanhood, fills lonely days tracing her father’s route on maps at the subscription library and waiting for his letters to arrive. Bellman, meanwhile, wanders farther and farther from home, across harsh and alien landscapes, in reckless pursuit of the unknown. From Frank O’Connor Award winner Carys Davies, West is a spellbinding and timeless epic-in-miniature, an eerie parable of the American frontier and an electric monument to possibility.

A Novel

Ryan LaFerney

Warmly devastating, West by Carys Davies is an engrossing historical tradicomedy, one told like a potent dream or myth. A decade or so after the Lewis and Clark expedition, John Cyrus Bellman, a widower and mule breeder, reads in the newspaper of the discovery of “monstrous bones…sunk in the salty Kentucky mud” and is convinced that “the same gigantic monsters still [walk] the earth in the unexplored territories of the west.” Promising to write frequently, Bellman leaves his preteen daughter, Bess, on his Pennsylvania farm and heads west, embarking on a so-called fool's errand. So he sets out alone bearing gifts and trinkets for any Native Americans he might meet along the way. He connects with a young Swanee boy, an unforgettable character and together they trek across thousands of miles, through brutal winters and harsh conditions. Both Bellman and the boy depend on each other for survival, although they do not speak each other languages.

 And what follows is the story of Bess’ years of waiting and Bellman’s wandering. West is about extinction and collective loss, extinction of the past (the extinction of mammoths) and the genocide of Native Americans. But it also shows how ambition causes the white man to become just as lost as those he may have displaced. Both Bellman and the swanne boy are lost characters. West is also about destroying the myth of fated journeys. It is a book that kills the romance of exploring the West. And it is a coming of age story. West is many things.

To say much about how this novel ends would be to spoil its depth, its pain, its beauty.

This short novel is structured with great artistry. Read it. Now.

Fraser Simons

Hah. This book has a bit of a trick up it’s sleeve and I like tricks. It is not complex but simple and elegant, too. The story seemed very straight forward until the turn. But was still interesting enough, though I had hoped for something more flowery of the many sights he saw, especially when it’s revealed he draws things.

Jade Flynn

Read for my 'Exceeds Expectations' N.E.W.T. in Charms 2019 #magicalreadathon. Prompt - Read a novel under 150 pages. Career choice - Ministry of Magic, Department of Mysteries Worker. Bits were excellent bits were lacklustre but overall it packs a punch for its length. An exploration about mysteries and monsters.

Emily S

I really feel like I must have read a different book than everyone else. What was the point? Also why is there no character development? The godsend to me was that it was short so I didn’t feel like I wasted all that much time.

Yasmin S.

Yasemin

Kyle Curry

Kahli Scott

Named a Best Book of the Year by The Sunday Times (UK) * The Guardian (UK) * The Washington Independent Review of Books * Sydney Morning Herald * The Los Angeles Public Library * The Irish Independent * Real Simple * “Carys Davies is a deft, audacious visionary.” —Téa Obreht When widowed mule breeder Cy Bellman reads in the newspaper that colossal ancient bones have been discovered in the salty Kentucky mud, he sets out from his small Pennsylvania farm to see for himself if the rumors are true: that the giant monsters are still alive and roam the uncharted wilderness beyond the Mississippi River. Promising to write and to return in two years, he leaves behind his only daughter, Bess, to the tender mercies of his taciturn sister and heads west. With only a barnyard full of miserable animals and her dead mother’s gold ring to call her own, Bess, unprotected and approaching womanhood, fills lonely days tracing her father’s route on maps at the subscription library and waiting for his letters to arrive. Bellman, meanwhile, wanders farther and farther from home, across harsh and alien landscapes, in reckless pursuit of the unknown. From Frank O’Connor Award winner Carys Davies, West is a spellbinding and timeless epic-in-miniature, an eerie parable of the American frontier and an electric monument to possibility.

West

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