Looking For a Good Book

He was an army scout, and outlaw, a hero, and a legend. Has-kay-bay-nay-ntayl – aka Ohyessonna, aka Apache Kid – grew up the product of two very different cultures. He worked, through his own great efforts, to be a respected leader in both his Apaches and his white, military communities.

As an Apache he has to compete with a brother to be the best among his community, and even though the odds are against him, he keeps calm and proves the victor. His skills are unparalleled for a boy his age and the legendary Al Sieber of the white military takes him under his wing and trains him so that the boy is even stronger and better than his natural skills. The Apache Kid has great respect for what Sieber does for him and he becomes a scout – one of the greatest scouts of all time – for the U.S. Army.

The Apache Kid becomes a leader of Army scouts and it is through his work that the Army maintains peace between the Apache and the San Carlos Reservation. But blood is thicker than uniforms, and when his work is put in conflict with his own people, Has-kay-bay-nay-ntayl chooses the Apaches. He is, of course, honorable, and turns himself in to the Army and subsequently imprisoned at Alcatraz. He’s released early but the Army tries to imprison him again and the Apache Kid escapes and becomes a ghost in Mexico and a feared outlaw for the white man.

I enjoy reading western fiction and there are fewer and fewer new books in this genre, and I’m always on the lookout for authors who aren’t one of the big three names in the field (Gray, L’Amour, Johnstone).

Based on history (there are lots of citations provided), author W. Michael Farmer provides an intriguing look at life in the Old West for both the pushed-to-the-brink Apache, and the white, U.S. Army. Interestingly, there really aren’t any villains in this piece of historical fiction. It would be easy to paint the Army, or its leaders, as villains against the Apache, or, of course, as Hollywood has done for decades, paint the Apaches as vengeful savages, but Farmer understands that we can’t (or shouldn’t) look back on history and make judgments based on today’s morals.

But, speaking of today’s morals…

I 1) recognize that readership of western fiction is largely males, probably over the age of 50, and 2) while I recognize that times are different and this story takes place in a very different time, era, and with a different culture from what I experience daily, I still think there’s something just a little bit creepy about how many different men comment on the young girl that the Kid has intentions of wedding (and bedding) … once she’s actually old enough.

From Kid’s first encounter:

She had claimed the beauty she was promised not so long ago as a young girl, and the curves of her body would have interested any man despite her youth.

To his mentor (Al Sieber)’s comments:

“Oh yes. I remember now. Beautiful girl. I hear soldiers have named her ‘Beauty.’ You want her for your woman? Kinda young, ain’t she? If she ain’t, with her looks, why ain’t she already taken?”

I grinned and nodded. “Hmmph. Someday, in a harvest or two, her womanhood come. I take her. (Her father) wants me in family, runs other men off that ask for her. She very young. No womanhood ceremony yet. (God) makes her a woman, I take her.”

But even later in the book, we’re still talking about the fact that she’s too young… “Now all our plans depend on when her womanhood came.” and

Chita seemed even more beautiful than she was the last time I saw her, but she was still not ready for her womanhood ceremony. I wanted her more than ever, and she me, but I would not dishonor the lodge of (her father) or risk having him come after me because I had crawled in the brush with his favorite daughter, shamed her, and made her less valuable to her family.

Fortunately, young girls aren’t his only passion:

I kept a close eye on Geronimo’s Mescalero woman. She looked good, even if pregnant as I suspected. Too bad she took an old man like Geronimo. I decided that if they ever divorced, I might take her and their child to make my family larger. She was a brave woman, and I liked to look at her.

The book is only 320 pages, but often felt like 500. I find this isn’t uncommon in books based on historical figures – lots of research happens and it’s often hard to not include every fascinating facet.  Either Chita was really underage when we first encounter her, or the bulk of the book takes place in a short span of time – which would indicate that we get an awful lot of unnecessary detail about that time frame.

Farmer’s prose is often colorful and reflective – maybe pushing, or maybe straddling, the line of being overwritten. As much as I enjoy western fiction of this time period, I really didn’t get into this story until at least halfway through. Prior to that, I was fairly bored. I was hoping earlier actions, such as the race against other Apaches would lead to something more significant other than establishing him as a leader among the tribe.

Looking for a good book? The Apache Kid: Army Apache Scout by W. Michael Farmer is a fictional account of an historical figure. Intriguing and mildly fun, the book does drag a bit and the primary figure, through the writing, gets a bit infatuated with a young girl.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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The Apache Kid: Army Apache Scout

author: W. Michael Farmer

publisher: Hat Creek

ISBN: 9798892990264

hardcover, 320 pages