The Missing By Thomas Eidson

Thomas Eidson Ö 9 Read

A novel of the American West narrates the story of a dying man's attempts to make peace with his daughter, their struggle to rescue his granddaughter from renegades and slave traders, and his lifelong search for inner peace. The Missing

I saw the movie titled The Missing years ago and LOVED IT! The movie was based off of this book. While a lot is the same (names, character personalities), the story is very different in much of the plot (with added characters that were left out of the movie). Most of the book was kind of slow going for me, but I think this is more due to the fact that I like short chapters that make me feel like I'm making tons of progress and can stop easily at many points without losing the pace of the chapter. Some chapters were 30-40 pages. I also felt that a lot of the story developed very slowly, but I am judging it based off of knowing the movie first. I really loved the end to this story and how Maggie and Jones found their peace. And I was surprised and pleased with his reasons he had to leave her as a child (I don't remember this being in the movie). Having a father who left me as a child, I've yearned for a moment like this, a validation or something. This book gave me that feeling. I love the movie and the book in different ways, if you haven't seen it yet I suggest you watch it (The Missing with Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones on Netflix). I love the ending in the book most though. I'm going to re watch it now before I return the book to the library tomorrow. Definitely recommended. English A great read that was made into a movie with Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones.

What makes it great?

In the American West of the late 1800s, a young mother’s daughter has been abducted. Estranged from her father, she nevertheless grudgingly accepts his help in trying to rescue the girl.

Father and daughter clash constantly as they track the missing girl, one of the issues being their divergent concepts of God or a Supreme Being and what spirituality should look like. She prays like a Christian for guidance and help in saving her daughter, he embraces Native American ways and practices them as they travel, practices she scorns.

She needs his help, but wishes fervently that she didn’t. Pent up anger, built up over the years, causes her to lash out at her father mile after mile. He accepts her attacks humbly and meekly. But he won’t turn aside. And she knows without his assistance she cannot rescue her daughter from her abductors.

All too soon, yet not soon enough for a grieving mother, the moment of confrontation and conflict with the kidnappers comes, and father and daughter must act together or lose the girl and everything about family they have come to realize matters to them both. English Nuevo México, 1886. En una tormentosa tarde, Jones llega al rancho Baldwin, donde viven Brake, Maggie y sus tres hijos. Es un extraño anciano, blanco, pero con vestimentas indias, acompañado de su vieja montura, una mula y un perro. Desde el primer momento, el misterio acompaña a este hombre, y más cuando Maggie da muestras de haberle conocido anteriormente. A partir de cierto hecho, en el que tienen que ver los apaches, empezará una serie de aventuras, con ciertos tintes sobrenaturales.

‘La última galopada’ (The Last Ride, 1995), del norteamericano Thomas Eidson, es un magnífico western crepuscular, místico, violento en algunos momentos, pero que también hace hincapié en la redención, la fe y la esperanza. El enfrentamiento entre el cristianismo y el paganismo también está presente en la narración. Eidson escribe muy bien, y la traducción, a cargo de Marta Lila Murillo, es estupenda. También tiene adaptación cinematográfica, ‘Desapariciones’ (2003), a cargo de Ron Howard, interpretada por Tommy Lee Jones y Cate Blanchet. Magnífica novela.
English I loved this! So much. Eidson is truly a fantastic writer. His hero characters are strong and brave and deeply flawed; their animals companions add humour and tenderness to an otherwise harsh landscape. The book does a great job of showing the old west from multiple perspectives, bringing together old world and new world values in moments of both conflict and unity. This story left me genuinely touched and emotional and I won't forget it quickly. I would definitely recommend it to both diehard western fans and people who are entirely new to the genre. English LOVED this book. Gorgeous western writing, and the female protagonist simply leap off the page with such depth and strength that it makes you wonder what kind of incredible women Thomas Eidson has in his life to be able to write about them this way.

The Indian Sorcery and religion was fascinating, and made even better by the fact that there's a film version of this novel (The Missing). English

Quería terminar el año (y comenzar el nuevo también) con un western y me decidí por el único número de la colección Frontera que estaba catalogado en La Tercera Fundación. He disfrutado con la pequeña trama sobrenatural aunque he echado de menos un poco más de ritmo y crudeza. English Gripping and moving, although very violent in places. A good recreation of the unforgiving world of the old West where mistrust between groups seems to be the order of the day and killing is the answer to the problem. The women of the novel are well realised - brave, strong and loyal. English
This was a superb western novel that was much more than a western. Along with the horses and guns, there are layers of philosophical underpinnings and emotions brought to life through fantastic character development. We get several points of view of life in the American west of the 1880s, which broadens the book’s appeal.
I can understand how some wouldn’t take to the slow pace of the first half of the book, but I relished in the great writing and the atmosphere that Eidson created. This is not just a great western, but a great book. I tip my hat to Mr. Eidson for creating such a beautiful story.
English Too much Native American witchcraft. Also, differing worldviews will ultimately struggle to coexist. They will not simply just get along. A pagan worldview and a Christian worldview might have a few things in common but they are not two paths leading to the top of the same mountain. English
As a part of a trilogy and themed as 'family,' this wild tale captured my heart when unexpected love develops as a result of a terrifying incident. For me the narrative portrays that when all else seems lost there remains the love of family. And in this book the family comes from unexpected realms. I cried reading this story because of motherhood and fathers and what animals will accomplish for their humans. Then there were the ties between souls and the connection between us and the earth and whatever else is out there in the vastness. The many examples of love overcoming evil.

The interesting and positive spirituality throughout the story evokes the magic and the meaning that we glimpse in the world sometimes when to be alive pushes us to the limit. English