Catching the Westbound edition by DC Hicks Literature Fiction eBooks
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He came into this world with two distinctive qualities—an extraordinary vision and an indomitable spirit, but at the age of ten years old, R.J. Watkins was banished from his small Appalachian community after being unjustly accused of igniting a mining accident. With a little help from fellow riders of the rails, R.J. learned how to survive on his own, but eventually his train came to rest with the Benton and Walters Best Show in America, where R.J. cultivated his unusual talents.
At seventeen, R.J. answered another whistle call of destiny, and he met the powerful McClennan family. Like a dazzling display of fireworks to their fourth of July picnic, R.J. provided the perfect blend of flavor for their family that had long since grew stale. But when he had hard time adjusting to the lavish extremes of the East Coast high society, R.J. learned to navigate their foreign world by completely transforming himself. A metamorphosis so complete that within a few short years he was the talk of the town, a man he barely recognized. Still all the talk was for naught because with the closing bell on a single autumn day in 1929, the McClennan fortune, which took generations to amass, was gone.
To stop the head-on collision with destitution, McClennan’s eldest son, Cosmo, made a deal with a devil, but it fell upon R.J. to pay the dues. No longer able to afford the luxury of other’s opinions, R.J. shed his finer sensibilities and used every trick he learned along the way to save his new family. Will his efforts be enough or ultimately destroy them?
From majestic corners hidden deep within the mountains to New York City’s finest ballrooms, Catching the Westbound chronicles the triumphs and tragedies of R.J. Watkins, a boy who came from nothing but with unparalleled determination, will, and resilience became the last great pioneer of industry.
After a lifetime of traveling paths of decadence and despair, by grace alone, he discovered the road that would lead him home.
Catching the Westbound edition by DC Hicks Literature Fiction eBooks
Every once in a while You stumble across a book that is so delightfully different from most of the tripe being published these days that you need to tell others about it. Such was my experience with "Catching the Westbound."R.J. Watkins grew up in a coal mining town in Kentucky. Born with "the sight," he was normal in every way except one: when he met someone, he could see their "death." A vision of how they'd die came into his head. This was not the main focus of the story at all, but it surfaced from time to time as a perfect accompaniment to certain things which occurred in R.J.'s life.
When he was 10 years old, R.J. "sees" a coal mine accident and the death of many people. He runs out to warn them, and when he is proven correct, he is labeled a witch of sorts. R.J.'s father tells him he must run away from home and never come back, as he fears for his life, so the 10 year old boy leaves home, accompanied by a friend, and they end up living with some hobos. After this experience, they join a circus, and stay with it for many years, until R.J. meets up with the owner of the mine which had the accident back in Kentucky.
R.J. ends up being taken under the wing of the mine owner, the wealthy Mr. Calloway, and at the age of 17 he marries Emmaline, Calloway's daughter. The rest of the story tells of R.J.'s meteoric rise in Mr. Calloway's business, and then his sudden downfall and a jail term, and then another meteoric rise due to his own productivity, until, at his death, he is a billionaire known the world over.
First, the problems with the book. The editing was absolutely appalling. Some other reviewers mentioned "minor typos." There were MAJOR typos. Several on every single page, with the most egregious errors being the incorrect use of and also the total absence of, commas. I am not sure if this is the fault of the author or of the person who transcribed the book into e-format. Given the magical, lyrical, well-constructed story line and the knack for turning a great literary phrase, however, I can't believe an author this gifted would be so unable to properly punctuate, so I attribute it to the transcriber.
Another problem was the occasional use of the wrong verb or verb tense. I don't see how something like this could have been done by a transcriber, as it would have required typing in a completely different word; much harder to do than omitting commas.
One example of the verb error (and also the lack of a comma after the first word): "Now when Mr. McClennan was making the introductions, there were at least a good twenty different ways he could have went about explaining R.J.'s presence."
Good grief! Could have "WENT?"
Then there were times when words were misspelled: "Coming to such a fancy high-fluting hospital....." FLUTING should have been FALUTIN' or FALUTING. The same misspelling of this word also occurred a second time, later in the book.
The other problem I had with the story was that R.J.'s wife, Emmaline, never seemed to take on any substance for me. She did not come off as very appealing, and because of this R.J.'s obsessive devotion to her, for over fifty years, was a bit perplexing. She always seemed a bit remote, and not very well fleshed out. If she had been handled a bit differently in this book, I would have given it 5 stars.
Then there was the problem with the possibility that R.J. and his partner were going to develop a way for atomic power to supply energy for heating and light. This was introduced, but never developed or wrapped up in any way. It was simply never mentioned again.
Now for the good points of this book, and there were many! I am so utterly sick of books which in which women are stalked and become the victims of serial killers. I'm sick of utterly vapid romances and books in which the main story line is sex. If the cover of a book has a beefy, bare-chested man, with his arms around a busty woman with long, flowing hair, and her head thrown back in ecstasy, I'll pass. I'm sick of books which pontificate on moral or social issues, and I'm sick of books in which authors seem unable to develop any conversations without them being peppered with filth. It's difficult finding a simply good story! But "Catching the Westbound" is exactly that! Not just a good story, but an interesting and refreshingly different read.
You can't help but love the main character, R.J. A man with a complex life but a simple outlook.
The author has a charming and refreshing use of descriptive phrases. In describing a particularly bland and uninspiring funeral service, R.J., the protaganist of the book, felt it was "kind of like dry toast bouncing around between his gums without the benefit (of) warm butter and jelly." (I have the word "of" in parentheses because it was omitted in the book... another error).
In describing a very large mansion that R.J. bought in 1937, after he recovered his fortune, the author writes, "....Mayflower Place, with its twenty acres of land that overlooked the Atlantic Ocean, had passed through more hands than a dancing woman in a saloon. Still a beauty to behold, by the time R.J. took possession, she looked a bit rough around the edges like she'd been rode hard and stabled wet." I love the author's ability to conjure up so many delightful metaphors and similies throughout the story without them becoming stale and over-used.
R.J.'s life story is full of twists and turns, and while some of it may seem a bit unbelievable, it never-the-less CAN be believed as the author has written it. By the time you get to the end of the book, you feel that R.J. is an old friend. I enjoyed this book and appreciated that the author never stooped to gratuitous sex, violence, or foul language to fill pages. I would definitely recommend this book and will be looking for more by this author! Kudos!
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Catching the Westbound edition by DC Hicks Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews
Bravo, DC Hicks! I was thoroughly entertained. I was drawn in by RJ's character within the first few pages of the book, and shared his life's journey with him--sometimes crying, sometimes laughing, and always rooting for him. What a bittersweet rags to riches tale, and a fantastic time capsule. I'd place CATCHING THE WESTBOUND on my book shelf between FORREST GUMP and WATER FOR ELEPHANTS.
Here, I feel compelled to mention that I did read on other reviews that there were editing issues with the book. I was unaware since I used text-to-speech to read the story to me, thus, with the MC's dialect, it would have been difficult to know if the author had made an error. I gave it five stars in spite of editing issues--based on story alone.
If there are editing issues, I hope the author reissues the book with corrections made. It'd be a shame to have technical issues dog such stellar storytelling.
This was a long book and I read it to the end, but I have mixed feelings on it. It was a life story of a self-made man, R.J. and his trials and tribulations. It spanned over his 80+ years but I'm not sure of the point the story was trying to make.
Many of the chapters were extremely long and occasionally words were missing or the vernacular got mixed up. That not withstanding, I still don't understand the point of the story. His "gift" seemed to be an afterthought as this story could have been done without it; even so, it was just a life story. The characters were interesting enough but so what? The ending left me wanting, nothing more to say about it.
I don't know, I just have mixed emotions and struggled to rate this book. I will give it more thought and possibly re-rate at a later date, but for now a "2" is the best I can do.
There are a few typos, and the author could use a better editor, but don't let that stop you from picking this one up. RJ, whose psychic gift is knowing how people will die, goes from child coal miner to train-hopping hobo, joins a circus and...well, the rest is just as interesting but I won't spoil it for you. It's worth the trip out of the coal mines to the streets of NYC, through the Great Depression. The protagonist, RJ, makes his choices and makes no excuses. RJ's talent isn't the focus of this book. The author uses it to give RJ more dimension, keeping this from being just another Horatio Alger tale as we watch RJ fall and rise and fall and rise again. Totally worth my time.
Similar to what other reviewers have said, overall it's a pretty good book, but it could have ended earlier. At least the author should have avoided R.J.'s venture into nuclear energy, which requires some serious suspension of disbelief. The first part of the book, where R.J. leaves home, lives as a hobo, then joins the circus, is all very compelling and hard to put down, especially considering R.J.'s "gift" of second sight. Think Huck Finn meets John Jakes meets Stephen King, and you'll get an idea of the flavor of the book.
I agree with others that the book needs a good editor. The grammatical and spelling errors are distracting and annoying Then for than shows up a lot. The one that had me scratching my head for awhile was "his absorbent prices." I finally realized that the word was supposed to be "exorbiant."
When R.J. is talking in Kentucky Hillbilly dialect, you almost have to read the book out loud to figure out what he's saying. So again, think "Huck Finn" and you'll get it.
I know you're not supposed to put "his or hers" on books, but about halfway through it dawned on me that this book might be more romance-oriented. So draw your own conclusions on the his or hers thing.
Every once in a while You stumble across a book that is so delightfully different from most of the tripe being published these days that you need to tell others about it. Such was my experience with "Catching the Westbound."
R.J. Watkins grew up in a coal mining town in Kentucky. Born with "the sight," he was normal in every way except one when he met someone, he could see their "death." A vision of how they'd die came into his head. This was not the main focus of the story at all, but it surfaced from time to time as a perfect accompaniment to certain things which occurred in R.J.'s life.
When he was 10 years old, R.J. "sees" a coal mine accident and the death of many people. He runs out to warn them, and when he is proven correct, he is labeled a witch of sorts. R.J.'s father tells him he must run away from home and never come back, as he fears for his life, so the 10 year old boy leaves home, accompanied by a friend, and they end up living with some hobos. After this experience, they join a circus, and stay with it for many years, until R.J. meets up with the owner of the mine which had the accident back in Kentucky.
R.J. ends up being taken under the wing of the mine owner, the wealthy Mr. Calloway, and at the age of 17 he marries Emmaline, Calloway's daughter. The rest of the story tells of R.J.'s meteoric rise in Mr. Calloway's business, and then his sudden downfall and a jail term, and then another meteoric rise due to his own productivity, until, at his death, he is a billionaire known the world over.
First, the problems with the book. The editing was absolutely appalling. Some other reviewers mentioned "minor typos." There were MAJOR typos. Several on every single page, with the most egregious errors being the incorrect use of and also the total absence of, commas. I am not sure if this is the fault of the author or of the person who transcribed the book into e-format. Given the magical, lyrical, well-constructed story line and the knack for turning a great literary phrase, however, I can't believe an author this gifted would be so unable to properly punctuate, so I attribute it to the transcriber.
Another problem was the occasional use of the wrong verb or verb tense. I don't see how something like this could have been done by a transcriber, as it would have required typing in a completely different word; much harder to do than omitting commas.
One example of the verb error (and also the lack of a comma after the first word) "Now when Mr. McClennan was making the introductions, there were at least a good twenty different ways he could have went about explaining R.J.'s presence."
Good grief! Could have "WENT?"
Then there were times when words were misspelled "Coming to such a fancy high-fluting hospital....." FLUTING should have been FALUTIN' or FALUTING. The same misspelling of this word also occurred a second time, later in the book.
The other problem I had with the story was that R.J.'s wife, Emmaline, never seemed to take on any substance for me. She did not come off as very appealing, and because of this R.J.'s obsessive devotion to her, for over fifty years, was a bit perplexing. She always seemed a bit remote, and not very well fleshed out. If she had been handled a bit differently in this book, I would have given it 5 stars.
Then there was the problem with the possibility that R.J. and his partner were going to develop a way for atomic power to supply energy for heating and light. This was introduced, but never developed or wrapped up in any way. It was simply never mentioned again.
Now for the good points of this book, and there were many! I am so utterly sick of books which in which women are stalked and become the victims of serial killers. I'm sick of utterly vapid romances and books in which the main story line is sex. If the cover of a book has a beefy, bare-chested man, with his arms around a busty woman with long, flowing hair, and her head thrown back in ecstasy, I'll pass. I'm sick of books which pontificate on moral or social issues, and I'm sick of books in which authors seem unable to develop any conversations without them being peppered with filth. It's difficult finding a simply good story! But "Catching the Westbound" is exactly that! Not just a good story, but an interesting and refreshingly different read.
You can't help but love the main character, R.J. A man with a complex life but a simple outlook.
The author has a charming and refreshing use of descriptive phrases. In describing a particularly bland and uninspiring funeral service, R.J., the protaganist of the book, felt it was "kind of like dry toast bouncing around between his gums without the benefit (of) warm butter and jelly." (I have the word "of" in parentheses because it was omitted in the book... another error).
In describing a very large mansion that R.J. bought in 1937, after he recovered his fortune, the author writes, "....Mayflower Place, with its twenty acres of land that overlooked the Atlantic Ocean, had passed through more hands than a dancing woman in a saloon. Still a beauty to behold, by the time R.J. took possession, she looked a bit rough around the edges like she'd been rode hard and stabled wet." I love the author's ability to conjure up so many delightful metaphors and similies throughout the story without them becoming stale and over-used.
R.J.'s life story is full of twists and turns, and while some of it may seem a bit unbelievable, it never-the-less CAN be believed as the author has written it. By the time you get to the end of the book, you feel that R.J. is an old friend. I enjoyed this book and appreciated that the author never stooped to gratuitous sex, violence, or foul language to fill pages. I would definitely recommend this book and will be looking for more by this author! Kudos!
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