Title: Compadres: A Cowboy’s Story
Author: Paul Pumpian
Publisher: Go To Publish LLC
ISBN: 978-1647496999
Pages: 232
Genre: Historical Fiction / Western
Reviewed by: Lily Amanda
Hollywood Book Reviews
In this refreshing debut by author Paul Pumpian, two friends sharing an indomitable bond endeavor on forging a new life and cutting out their chunk of the American West, but often, every dream has a price to pay.
In the summer of 1892, Wes Cawdry, a 40-year-old successful rancher and skilled cowboy in South West Texas, takes in Jeff, a 10-year-old orphaned young boy to live on his ranch. While here, Jeff meets Will, 11, the son of Wes’s foreman. An instant bond strikes between them and by the time they reached early manhood, their friendship had blended into a solid bond, despite their different personalities. With years of physical strength and mental toughness, they both long for more than the ordinary cowboy life.
One day on horseback, the two spot a poster in the local town and decide to act on it, a decision that will inevitably determine the trajectory of their lives. They consequently enroll as machine gunners in Pancho Villa’s army and become embroiled in a new world of adventure, action, violence, crisis, conflict, and a Mexican revolution that tests their skill and heroism.
Told by a master storyteller, Compadres: A Cowboy’s Story is classic Western literature at its very best. The characters are well balanced with inner battles as well making them all the more compelling to read about. Pumpian’s infusion of real-life historical personalities and incidents, adds to the veracity of the story, making the staves feel all the more real. For example, Francisco Villa, a character in the story, was a general in the Mexican Revolution. He was a key figure in the revolutionary movement that forced out President Porfirio Díaz and brought Francisco I. Madero to power in 1911.
This text is a true apotheosis of the spirit of the Wild West, the valor, the drama, and the passion of a fanciful time in American history. The flavor of this book is the cowboy lingo that is well evened out across the chapters perfectly capturing the Wild West setting. Overall, Paul Pumpian has carved out a story in all its magnificence and splendor. It’s a story hammered out in crimson, ablaze with passion, and embellished with wild escapades.
Fans of Mexican impasses, cowboy adventures, and romance in a shrewd mixture, will find Compadres: A Cowboy’s Story a literary gem. Saddle up and enjoy the ride!