Eva Jelinek
The Old West comes alive in this tale of the adventures of Nat Hopper and his companion in buffalo-skinning, Kenneth Murchison, known as ‘Murch’. Nat, our narrator, recounts the events of their journey from Wyoming, through Utah and Nevada, to the Gold Rush town of Placerville in California, a few years after the Civil War. They encounter a group of polygamous Mormons, a lovely female con artist travelling with the Mormons, and angry townspeople ready to tar and feather the Mormon men. Murch has the difficult fate of falling in love with one of the Mormon wives and trying to extricate her from her brutal husband. Nat finds himself attracted to Eva Jelinek, the con artist, who spurns him.
This tale is interspersed with rousing stories telling of Nat’s experiences before and during the war – working on riverboats, a brief stint as a Confederate soldier, and helping a farmwoman. The entire cast of characters ranges from pimps to preachers, to a wealthy English lord determined to kill as many buffalo as he can – each one drawn as if taken from a nineteenth century sepia photo.
The story is told as if it is the typewritten transcription of Nat’s handwritten pages done in his old age – with the formatting and minor typographical errors a secretary might have made ninety years ago. ‘Notes’ at the end of the book mention there were many more pages of Nat Hopper’s lively memoirs found in an old Allegheny County, Virginia house – giving promise of further stories of our heroes.
Eva Jelinek is one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read in a long time – well drawn characters, lively dialogue, colorful descriptions of events, and a compelling story you don’t want to put down. We can only hope that those old boxes of Nat’s papers hold stories as much fun as this one was.
E-edition reviewed
