About Appaloosa

RIP Robert B. Parker.


I just finished listening to Robert Parker's Appaloosa. There's construction on my commute from now until, well whenever they're done I guess, so I'm laying in a good supply of audio books to get me through.

In Appaloosa Parker tells the story of Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch, itinerant lawmen who are hired by by the alderman of Appaloosa to protect the town from Randall Bragg, a local rancher who has taken over. It's postmodern in that the men say "fuck" and that much of the action and momentum is emotional instead of plot driven but traditional in its themes of the murkiness of law and order and of the honor in the code of friendship between men. In fact, I would say it's as good a story about friendship as Lonesome Dove or Monte Walsh which is high praise indeed. My dad compared it to Tale of Two Cities, which he is prone to do any time there is even a whiff of self sacrifice. Parker's characterizations are so strong there is never any question of what will happen, only of how it's all gonna go down-the sense of inevitability made me drive around the block or take the long way more than once.

Appaloosa is flawlessly performed by Titus Welliver of "Deadwood" fame and really you couldn't have asked for a better narrator. Not only does he already have a "western" name, Welliver has a great low voice that is well suited to the story. Like many actors who also perform audio books he does do voices but he doesn't go crazy with it. Since "Deadwood" is essentially over except for the closing movie perhaps HBO could produce this. I'd sure watch it.