El Paso

Immediately upon starting this book I kept asking myself one question.I loathed the book of Forrest Gump calm down the movie was awesome so I think I fell to that old trap of just loving a cover and not putting any other thoughts into why I m reading a book.d ended up with this stinker.I ll learn one day not to do that Because this was a long hard boring ass book It s the story of mainly Arthur He grew up in an orphanage until he somehow lucks up at the age of eight and is adopted by a rich coup [...]

Muchas gracias to NetGalley and Liveright for the opportunity to read this ARC.4.5 A rootin tootin sprawling Southwestern yarn with all the excess, overindulgence, and satisfaction of a Thanksgiving dinner There are guns, yachts, planes, trains, cowboys and Indians, hangings, kidnappings, bull fights, lost gold mines, gila monsters, rattlesnakes, jaguars, and bears, Oh My It s a story set against the backdrop of rich American imperialism south of the border, the Mexican Revolution, and the explo [...]

I have to say I love the cover for this book It really draws you in, I could hardly wait to listen to this book Expecting the second coming of Edna Ferber s Giant I settled in for a good listen.Take a fading railroad tycoon from Boston, an adopted son trying to hold together his fathers railroad,two small children and Mexican Revolutionary and you have the makings for EL Paso I have to say it is a great story line, rich gringos with their multi million acre ranches with hundreds of thousands hea [...]

Let me start by saying this is not a book I would normally pick up Wow, what a crazy wild ride Groom crafts an amazing story with bits of history that he twists to fit his vision it works which is epic in its scope I was impressed with the magnitude of characters and their believability I was able to read this one thanks to Penguin Random House.

A railroad baron along with his adopted son and their families travel to Mexico to save their cattle herd worth millions of dollars from being a causality in the Revolution being led by Pancho Villa Great historical fiction read that encompasses the early railroad industry, cattle industry and even aeroplanes Lots of colorful characters which are easy to follow as the character development isn t overdone Written by the author of Forrest Gump this story takes place on the border of US and Mexico [...]

I won this book in a giveaway and I want to thank , the sponsor and the author I often think that there is a hole in our American history, or at least in my knowledge of it It seems that history books, literature, movies and other media skip over the twenty or thirty years spanning the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first fifteen years of the twentieth It s like everything slowed down after that gunfight in Tombstone and didn t pick up again until World War I Yet this was a time w [...]

Winston Groom s latest novel, El Paso, has all the action and imagery that you expect from a good western a cattle drive, a road trip race via airplane and train, cold blooded murders, tense battlefield exploits, multiple kidnappings, complete with villains and heroes Set against the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution, Groom s handful of historical figures populate El Paso Pancho Villa, President Wilson, Tom Mix, Ambrose Bierce, and Generals Pershing and Patton Recommended for those who enjoy ri [...]

Always glad to find a Western, and this sprawling, expansive tale fits the bill for the early 20th century template RR tycoon John Shaughnessy, in severe financial straits, heads for Mexico with his family and entourage, to sell cattle from his northern Mexico ranch rather than mortgaging his yacht for ready cash, as his adopted son Arthur proposed However, Pancho Villa has other plans for the cattle and indeed the tycoon s spread He arrives while the men are out, kills and wounds staff, and kid [...]

On the front of this book, which I borrowed from my local library, there is a sticker that says, If you liked Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry you ll like this one The cover is terrific, by the way the best I ve seen in a while This is no Pulitzer Prize winner This is a fun, rambling, adventurous, colorful portrait of a piece of history I need to know about the Mexican Revolution and Pancho Villa The story is set up well a wealthy railroad owner the Colonel seeks to reclaim his livestock from Me [...]

Picked this one up from the book swap shelves at my Subaru service place The dealership Vice President semi retired is a reader The book actually belongs to the Bath library so it ll be going back there when I m done Seems fine so far an epic but will have to be put to the back of the line for now as higher priority reads have moved ahead of it Haven t read Forrest Gump yet.Moving along I have to say that the author s prose is uninspiring, merely workmanlike The story is a big adventure, so that [...]

WESTERN HISTORICAL FICTIONWinston GroomEl Paso A NovelLiveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W Norton CompanyHardcover, 978 1 6314 9224 2 also available as an ebook and on Audible , 496 pgs 27.95October 4, 2016In 1916, Arthur Shaughnessy is a vice president and general manager of New England Pacific Railroad Company, which was won by his father, Colonel Shaughnessy, in a card game The railroad is in financial trouble due to the Colonel s profligate ways The Colonel appreciates the fin [...]

Epic that follows such a diverse group of characters into the hot dry Southwest where the great General Pancho Villa is dragging his ragtag army waging war against everyone the Mexican Army and the Americans who get in his way He was personified by journalists and early movie reels as being a brave General passionately leading his army against huge odds but what we learn here is his other darker side the rage and uncontrollable violence sometimes without reason During the late 1800 s many East c [...]

A decent yarn, but my expectations were higher Mr Groom claims the book is not a historical novel and I suppose it does fall short of actually being one Given the classic saga of Forrest Gump and his previous background in non fiction history, it would have served us better if it was one Michneresque with a little graphic though not gratuitous violence tossed in A simple plot Arthur, the protagonist, is an orphan who is adopted into the family of a wealthy railroad magnate around the turn of the [...]

I really enjoyed this book, having never read anything by this author The writing felt very episodic and similar to Cervantes Don Quixote It s curious to note that I felt some of the violent scenes were written somewhat softly which almost made the idea of the brutality worse The pace picked up toward the end and I m glad he includes an epilogue to neatly tie things up.

What a wild ride The old west meets the 20th century in Mexico El Paso is a thrilling novel with outstanding storytelling by Winston Groom and I couldn t put it down It does not release until October 2016 but I was able to read an advance copy I received at BEA Pick up a copy this fall.

Audio bookis is not history, this is not historical fiction I believe that this novel uses a time, setting, and historical figures to produce an allegorical tale to debate capitalism vs socialism, protestantism vs Roman Catholicism, which are some of the problems that currently exist between the USA and Mexico.

Excellent mix of history and fiction The author is a first rate storyteller.

Winston Groom is the author of Forrest Gump No doubt he wrote the book El Paso with a movie in mind The story revolves around two protagonists John Shaughnessy called the Colonel , a railroad tycoon and his adopted son, Arthur, who manages the railroad while the Colonel plays with his cronies and depletes the family fortune The year is 1916 and the Colonel has a huge ranch in northern Mexico with cattle than he can count The Colonel takes Arthur, their wives and Arthur s two children to Mexico [...]

I enjoyed the adventure

This fictional account covers a period of history of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico just prior to the US entrance into WWI Like many Americans, my recollections of these events was hazy and my reading about it incomplete to start with Groom, an historian, has created a book that often reads like nonfiction, but has filled his account with wonderful characters, both real and fictional For those who like history sugar coated, as my high school social studies teacher described such nove [...]

Winston Groom, author of Forrest Gump, returns to fiction with a fast paced epic novel that will make one hell of a movie.Arthur Shaughnessy is adopted by a railroad baron at the age of nine He grows to manage his father s business but faces a major crisis when the railroad comes short of cash, his father leaves the country and tells him to see if you can handle it His father, the Colonel, also owns a sprawling ranch in northern Mexico It s 1916 and World War One is getting started in Europe But [...]

This latest book by Winston Groom is a point in time novel than an historical novel This novel, like Forrest Gump , is filled with real people and real events into which Groom has immersed a fictional family The year is 1915 and the bulk of the action takes place in northern Mexico with Pancho Villa fighting the Federalists in the Mexican Revolution Americans who hold title to land there include all the great financiers and industrialists of the turn of the century Carnegie, Rockefeller, Vander [...]

This story about a very eclectic set of people connected by dangerous and tenuous threads was too cool to put aside Groom can bring it.

Though a story about banditos, cowboys, and robber barons at the crossroads of the Mexican Revolution appeared promising, El Paso proved to be a major disappointment The story primarily follows Arthur Shaughnessey, the son of a near bankrupt, railroad tycoon, who embarks on an epic journey to rescue his children who have been kidnapped by General Pancho Villa on during a fateful excursion to Mexico Sprinkled throughout the journey are a cavalcade of minor characters and historical figures includ [...]

El Paso is the newest book by the author of Forrest Gump, Winston Groom, and it tells the story of The Colonel and his adopted son chasing after Pancho Villa in the mountains of northern Mexico during the early 1900s when Mexico was in the throes of a revolutionary struggle The Colonel founded a railroad the New England and Pacific that is foundering when they decide to take a trip to their massive holdings in Mexico many rail barons had similar ranches There stuff happens, as happens when you s [...]

For all the haters who tank the rating because the book is improbable, impossible and over the top, I just have one question did you know that Winston Groom wrote Forrest Gump El Paso is like Jane the Virgin meets War and Peace It s a rollicking soap opera of an adventure with cowboys, orphans, barons of industry, beautiful virgins, lascivious villains, lots of politics, violence and disposable characters I can t give it than 3 stars though, not because it isn t historically accurate which the [...]

I had no idea what the book was about when I started reading it I have always been interested in the great financial tycoons from the turn of the 19th century So when the book began with the story of a struggling railroad company, I was immediately hooked When the railroad tycoon traveled to Northern Mexico where he owned a sprawling ranch with the plan to drive his herd of cattle there to El Paso in order to raise capital for the railroad, I was still very interested But surprisingly, when the [...]

Wowt knowing what to expect By the author of Forrest Gump The Gump story was sloooowwww reading sometimes, albeit enjoyable in its entirety This time trepidation was the emotion I overcame And I m glad I did First, I m a huge sucker for historical fiction, probably my favorite genre, and Groom left me satisfied, content and wanting ybe an elegant dessert.A joy, exciting, unpredictable and as aforementioned, satiating In fact it inspired me to get back to my own historical fiction novel writer bl [...]

This is a very choppy review do to terrible notes, but here it goesOur 12 year old book club had never read a book set in this time period and in this part of the world Nor had any well most of us read anything else by Winston Groom The score is a solid 3, so the club s opinion was split The writing style was not lyrical enough for some We enjoyed the evolution of Arthur from butterfly collector to gunslinger, a position he was forced into and excelled in We had Pancho Villa supporters in the gr [...]

Uber rich Americans owned cattle ranches in northern Mexico They built roads and railroads to service these ranches Then Pancho Villa came along and wanted to return these lands to Mexicans This novel fictionalizes that story A rich railroad tycoon goes with his wife, son, daughter in land, 2 grandchildren, and servants by private rail car and air plane to his hacienda in Mexico While there they lead a cattle drive to El Paso the grandchildren get kidnapped by Pancho Villa and his army, the tyco [...]