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Overview
In Ireland during World War II, cattle prices have never been so competitive. Deciding that the local rates are not high enough, Mark Doran leads a daring cattle drive of 200 cattle and thirteen men to the great Trallock Fair, challenging the local business men and their power. They encounter many perils and must rely on all their wits and resources. But Doran's herd and men endure to achieve record prices and the experience of their lives. This fantastic tale is crammed with colorful characters such as Haybags Mullaney, Bessie LieDown, and the impulsive Carabim girls, owners of the Durango Bar. Its warmth and hilarity, countered by moments of lyrical poignancy, will delight the reader. The great cattle drive is as important to this community as World War II is globally. The closeness to nature of the men and their cattle is vividly realized. Durango is an adventure story set in a rural Ireland that is fast dying, but John B. Keane brings it to life with great skill, humor, and compassion.Synopsis
In Ireland during World War II, cattle prices have never been so competitive. Deciding that the local rates are not high enough, Mark Doran leads a daring cattle drive of 200 cattle and thirteen men to the great Trallock Fair, challenging the local business men and their power. They encounter many perils and must rely on all their wits and resources. But Doran's herd and men endure to achieve record prices and the experience of their lives. This fantastic tale is crammed with colorful characters such as Haybags Mullaney, Bessie LieDown, and the impulsive Carabim girls, owners of the Durango Bar. Its warmth and hilarity, countered by moments of lyrical poignancy, will delight the reader. The great cattle drive is as important to this community as World War II is globally. The closeness to nature of the men and their cattle is vividly realized. Durango is an adventure story set in a rural Ireland that is fast dying, but John B. Keane brings it to life with great skill, humor, and compassion.
Publishers Weekly
Germany has just annexed Czechoslovakia, but to a group of Irish small farmers the dawning wartime economy means higher prices for their livestock. They provoke the wrath of the local traders by boycotting the Tubberlick cattle fair and driving their collective herd 35 miles over wild terrain to reap the greater profits at Trallock. Along the route, the cattle are imperiled by the boggy, uncertain conditions and the men by the murderous attacks of the traders. Nevertheless, the novel's tone is rambunctious and high-spirited, and the characters--with names like Bessie Lie-Down--tend toward a cheerful two-dimensionality. The best scenes involve fighting and drinking and manly camaraderie, while the least credible ones involve sex and romance. (At the center of Trallock is the Durango Bar, presided over by an improbably licentious, beauteous pair of septuagenarian sisters with a penchant for teenage boys.) A serious note filters through in the person of Mark Doran, the shrewd leader of the cattle drive and of the political movement that is its outgrowth. He provides a neat case study of one man as inspiration for grass-roots change. Overall, hyper-energized characters and action combine with substance to produce an entertaining kaleidoscope of a book. Keane wrote The Field. (Nov.)