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Sandra P. Victor |
5.0 / 5
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The story of Etta Place is a creative mix of history and fiction that is so entertaining, you will miss the characters when the reading is over! Mr Kolpan picks you up and places you gently right in the saddle next to Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, her partners in love and crime. Not your typical Western novel, but a taste of the Wild West just the same, combined subtly with New York City and the Philadelphia mainline.
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Michael Fitzsimmons |
5.0 / 5
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A great story about a real person of which very little is really known. I read this on vacation and shared it with three other "beach" readers. We all enjoyed it very much and had a quite a good discussion around it. It was also the selection for my book club. All there also found it to be a terrific story, well written. We are waiting to see what the author comes up with next.
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Dulcibelle |
4.0 / 5
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I really enjoyed this book. Etta of the title is Etta Place, the reputed girlfriend/wife of the Sundance Kid. Very little is known of this young woman's life before or after her association with the outlaws of the Hole in the Wall Gang. Koplan has written an entertaining tale of who Etta may have been - based on speculation and news stories of the time. He tells the story with alternating chapters of narrative, diary entries, letters, and news stories. All these help ground the novel in the time depicted. Koplan stays true to history where possible, but does have his Etta rub elbows with some of the mighty of the time. Recommended to anyone who enjoys a good Western.
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Mary W. Black |
5.0 / 5
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This novel is a masterpiece in the artful blending of known historical figures and those entirely fictional. Carefully researched and faithful to the florid language of the early 20th century, this first time author flawlessly blends the two into a captivating read so vibrant the reader is transported to a time in history where much was left unrecorded. Few facts are recorded about the woman who accompanied the Sundance Kid and Kolpan takes the scarce documented history and makes a believable, incredible life for a young woman who befriends known public figures of that era, such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Annie Oakley and the group that were the Harvey Girls. All the fact and fiction fades as this tale blends in to one believable journey of hardship, triumph, adventure, love, redemption and the resilience of the human spirit. I think Etta Place channeled her mysterious self onto the pages of this book through the genius of the author. I believe every word of it.
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Scarlett |
5.0 / 5
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What a great book! Not being a fan of the Wild West, I was leary of this book chosen by my book club. I was pleasantly surprised to find a wonderfully written and very descriptive book. It moves quickly and is filled with lots of action - so much that I could see this being made into a movie. Made me definitely want to read more about Etta and awaiting for more books by Kolpan.
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Rebecca Ann Rogers |
5.0 / 5
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Etta was one of the best books I have ever read! It was fast paced and exciting. When I read the back I was skeptical.. but once I started it I couldn't put it down. Etta Place (as created by Gerald Kolpan) is a brave young woman who is left with nothing after her father commits suicide and leaves her with his unpaid debt. She travels across the country determined to make something of herself. Along the way she meets up with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and befriends Eleanor Roosevelt. This is a compelling adventure combined with a sweet love story. I would reccomend this book to everyone!
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Tara |
5.0 / 5
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What an excellent story! I absolutely loved it. Half of it is true, half is made up, but it is historical fiction at its finest. Very little is known about the real life Etta Place, the lover of the Sundance Kid, but Kolpan takes what he does know and elaborates and adds to it and comes up with the most entertaining and spunky heroine. Beginning in 1898, we meet Lorinda Jameson, a wealthy debunte whose father kills himself, leaving her destitute, motherless, and owing money to the "mob" of that day. To save her life, she remakes herself into a Harvey girl (an early waitress basically) named Etta Place and escapes to Colorado where a run in with an unwanted suitor leads her to a life of crime and adventure with the Wild Bunch. And here it got fun with train robberies and a brief spot as a sharp shooter with Wild Bill's and a marvelous friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt. The only thing wrong with this novel is it is a bit choppy. By choppy, I mean the way it switches style chapter to chapter. It goes from being Etta's diary narrative to a Pinkerton memo to a letter from Sundance addressed to his father to third person narrative and back again.
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Keri Mccormick |
4.0 / 5
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I really enjoyed Etta--it is rare to find a book that is so well written and historical that also provides excitement and suspense throughout. Kolpan does a terrific job providing period details and context as well as creating tension. His characters are real and multi dimensional.
I was so fond of this book that my book club will be reading it for our May selection. Stand by for 9 more glowing reviews!
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Sam Sattler |
5.0 / 5
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I have to admit that I knew almost nothing about Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid or Etta Place before watching the classic Paul Newman/Robert Redford movie about the three of them. It has been a few years since I've last experienced that movie but I remember coming away from it with a decent understanding of Butch and Sundance but a relatively poor feel for Etta Place and how she came to be the woman she was.
As it turns out, very little is known about the real Etta Place, neither her name, where she came from, nor what happened to her after Butch and Sundance were shot dead in South America. That she was said to be a beautiful woman with refined habits, an expert horsewoman, and an outlaw with a good heart add to the picture, but the details seem destined to remain forever out-of-reach. First-time novelist Gerald Kolpan now offers "Etta," the perfect companion piece to the movie that reintroduced Etta to the world some forty years ago.
Free spirited Lorinda Jameson, daughter of a wealthy Philadelphia banker, becomes well acquainted with horses and rifles as a girl but it is only when her disgraced father leaves her penniless and on the run from his creditors that she abandons the city and her old name for a new life in the West where she will be known as Etta Place. Penniless, though she is known to be, her father's creditors will not be satisfied until she is dead or, at the least, scarred for life. But Grand Junction, Colorado, does not turn out to be the safe haven she hopes for and, in the course of defending her honor, she makes a decision that earns her a date with the Grand Junction hangman.
On the run again, Etta throws in with Butch and Sundance's Wild Bunch, becomes the Kid's lover, and participates in many of the train and bank robberies that make them infamous. Kolpan's account of Etta's story includes newspaper clippings, entries from her personal diary and even an excerpt from a dime novel written about the New Jersey train robbery that she and the gang pulled off. Along the way, Etta has occasion to work for the colorful Buffalo Bill Cody as part of his Wild West Show cast and even becomes young Eleanor Roosevelt's closest friend.
Gerald Kolpan is a good storyteller and this fast paced western adventure story is fun from start to finish, even for those who already know the end of the Butch and Sundance story. We will likely never know the real Etta Place but Kolpan has done her proud with this version of what might have been.
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T. R. Gray |
5.0 / 5
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I received this book from Library Thing's Early Reviewers program. It is due to be released in March. I was dubious - to say the least - not being a fan of historical fiction or the Wild West. But I feel an obligation to read these early releases quickly and get a review out. And so I began.
Boy, was I surprised! Apparently Gerald Kolpan became fascinated with Etta Place some years ago when he realized that the notorious companion of The Sundance Kid was a vast mystery. Almost nothing is known about her. So Kolpan has proceeded, in this book, to craft a fictional account of what her life might have been like - where she came from, how she happened to mix up with Butch Cassidy's gang, and her romance and life with the Sundance Kid. The result is a book you can't put down. This story is imagined so well that it could actually be her life - in fact, I wish it was a true story. This book is about as close to perfection as it gets for me. A little bit of suspense and intrigue, a good solid love story (without too much sappy-ness), and a deep character study.
In the past, books where the author tries to intersperse news articles or journal entries has seemed jarring to me. In this book, Mr. Kolpan does a great job of weaving them into the story. In fact, I have no criticisms of this book at all. Read it. You'll love it, even if you think the Wild West holds no interest for you. This is a story about a woman's life, and an fascinating one at that. But plan wisely, you'll be reading late into the night!
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