About book The Travels Of Jaimie McPheeters (1992)
I’m still not quite sure what to make of Robert Lewis Taylor’s “The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters”. I found the first half of the book exasperating due to the seemingly overblown exploits of the title character. Too, I found his father’s pie-in-the-sky outlook equally vexing. However, I came to the book with an awareness of its Pulitzer and, as a result, assumed a certain degree of artifice on the author’s part. So, I was patient, and figured I just hadn't yet divined the author’s tricks. That patience paid off. I found myself on the brink of giving up on the story, despite its wondrously compelling nature, because my disbelief suspension mechanism was simply worn out. And then… somewhere around the halfway point, the story began to get tighter and tighter, ultimately achieving an almost painful authenticity, and I began to fully appreciate Taylor’s intent (and the Pulitzer committee’s judgment). His characters are simply the embodiment of his allegory, and the tale, as told through Jaimie's eyes, demonstrates that the boy's worldview, for a time, at least, is just as fanciful as his eccentric father's. The arc through which Jaimie's worldview transits during the course of the story represents well the one we all travel, one way or another, during our evolution from innocence to... well, that's Taylor's point. Not everyone loses their innocence.His story is about dreamers - specifically, those dreamers who followed their inchoate, heroic hopes into the West during the first half of the nineteenth century. It’s about desire and faith, and the point he makes, with surprising subtlety, is that this country was founded and expanded on the visions of such dreamers. Without them, all the pragmatists in the world would never have ventured west of Boston or New York or Philadelphia. And despite the often maddening nature of the fantastical thinker, no story at all would be possible without him. Perhaps, one of Taylor's charming, down-home characters explains it best; "He says your pa's one of them with dreams always in their heads. He says your pa's got to chase his dreams all his life. But he says it makes things kind of beautiful for backwoods folks like us. Says we must pick him up if he stumbles."Though Jaimie may have lost his innocence along the way, “The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters” is just as much about those who haven't. It's about all the dreamers who possess the courage to nourish our hopes. And, by the time I reached the end of Taylor's epic tale, I'd begun to grasp just what a barren existence this would be without them.
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters - Pulitzer 1959. This is the story told primarily from the point of view of the main characters - a 12 year old boy who accompanies his father to California to find their fortune in the gold rush in the 1850's. Jaimie's father is a doctor from Louisville who drinks to much and doesn't collect on his debts so he goes west not only to find his fortune but to outrun his debtors. Along the way they meet a cast of characters both good and bad. In addition to Jaimie's first person account, periodically the author uses letters home that the father has written as a way to fill in gaps. This book is surprising in that it is lighter than most of the Pulitzer winners and particularly so when you factor in that just preceding it was a Death in the Family and following it was Advise and consent. The book is an adventure tale and at times it was a book that a teenager could read but filled with a few graphic details. Jaimie's character is amusing to a degree and part of the novel is his coming to understand his father. The father, Sardius McPheeters, has dreams of building a fortune but his habits get in the way. The bad of characters that form the wagon train are great - the rough boss, the ultra-Christrian family (they've even named their kids Deuteronomy and Leviticus) and an English lord. As is usual in these novels the Native American's are treated largely as pests although Taylor does seem to try to give them some respect. Similarly there is a section of the novel that takes place in Salt Lake City as they interact with Brigham Young and the Mormons. Taylor's treatment of them is particularly negative. My biggest criticism of this novel is that Jaimie's seems really bright but then take a very childlike view of the world that doesn't seem to fit his character. His father is a man of letters and it seems incredulous that he wouldn't know Julius Caesar for instance.All in all a delightful novel that provides some interesting history of the gold rush.
Do You like book The Travels Of Jaimie McPheeters (1992)?
Within a few pages of starting The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters I thought I was in for a treat. It immediately reminded me of a more humorous version of Lonesome Dove, which also won the Pulitzer and was also on a topic I didn’t think I cared about.The story was that of a father and son who left their comfortable lives in Louisville to strike it rich in the gold rush of 1849. I think we all know how the gold rush worked out for most folks, and the folks in this book were no exception. They did get lucky in various ways several times, but of course there was always a setback lying in wait behind the next corner.Overall this was an enjoyable read, but I could have done without all the weird racist shit. It’s written from the 1st person perspective, and I kept thinking that the protagonist was going to eventually realize that his opinions of “Indians,” and other nationalities were ridiculous, but that time did not come. There was one kind-of exception where he eventually grudgingly admitted that this one particular girl wasn’t as bad as “those Indians,” but that hardly felt like a learning moment.The book won the Pulitzer in 1958, which many will accept as an excuse for the racism. If you’re willing to accept that, or you simply don’t care about those types of over/undertones, then you may very well enjoy this book. The pacing is good, the plot is interesting, there’s plenty of character development, and the descriptions are excellent – when they’re not racist.
—Agnes Mack
I really liked this book, I love that the story is told from the boys point of view. I enjoyed seeing the events through Jaimie's eyes, from his insight to his ignorance. Times were tough and the pioneer era was not always as idyllic as we would like to think. Some of the violence took me by surprise, but I found that it seemed true to the time and the lawless people that headed west to escape the law and civilization. The part of the story where they stayed in Salt Lake does not reflect well on the Mormons, I am not sure how well his sources were on that subject. A lot of the information on the Danites seemed apocryphal, but it makes for a good story.
—Erin
I read this book as part of my Pulitzer Project. It is the story of a father and son traveling west during the Gold Rush.Well written page turner in the vein of Lonesome Dove or The Way West. At turns humorous and folksy, even juvenile, and then violent and disturbing. Not my favorite genre, but hard to put down just the same.I was quite impressed by the extensive bibliography. This book was very throughly researched and much of it is based on testimonials. That aspect, I think, makes it particularly worthwhile.
—KW in CT
