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The Thicket
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Published:
Little, Brown and Company 2013
Status:
Available from OverDrive
Description
In The Thicket, award-winning novelist Joe R. Lansdale lets loose like never before, in a rip-roaring adventure set at the dark dawn of the East Texas oil boom, the perfect introduction to an acclaimed writer whose work has been called "as funny and frightening as anything that could have been dreamed up by the Brothers Grimm — or Mark Twain" (New York Times Book Review)
Jack Parker thought he'd already seen his fair share of tragedy. His grandmother was killed in a farm accident when he was barely five years old. His parents have just succumbed to the smallpox epidemic sweeping turn-of-the-century East Texas — orphaning him and his younger sister, Lula.
Then catastrophe strikes on the way to their uncle's farm, when a traveling group of bank-robbing bandits murder Jack's grandfather and kidnap his sister. With no elders left for miles, Jack must grow up fast and enlist a band of heroes the likes of which has never been seen if his sister stands any chance at survival. But the best he can come up with is a charismatic, bounty-hunting dwarf named Shorty, a grave-digging son of an ex-slave named Eustace, and a street-smart woman-for-hire named Jimmie Sue who's come into some very intimate knowledge about the bandits (and a few members of Jack's extended family to boot).
In the throes of being civilized, East Texas is still a wild, feral place. Oil wells spurt liquid money from the ground. But as Jack's about to find out, blood and redemption rule supreme.
In The Thicket, award-winning novelist Joe R. Lansdale lets loose like never before, in a rip-roaring adventure equal parts True Grit and Stand by Me - - the perfect introduction to an acclaimed writer whose work has been called "as funny and frightening as anything that could have been dreamed up by the Brothers Grimm — or Mark Twain" (New York Times Book Review).
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Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
09/10/2013
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780316248754, 9780316242196
ASIN:
B00BAXFEDY
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Joe R. Lansdale. (2013). The Thicket. Little, Brown and Company.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Joe R. Lansdale. 2013. The Thicket. Little, Brown and Company.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Joe R. Lansdale, The Thicket. Little, Brown and Company, 2013.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Joe R. Lansdale. The Thicket. Little, Brown and Company, 2013.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
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Grouped Work ID:
23163036-eea3-45a7-7aeb-6947d7473c06
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Needs Update?:
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Date Added:
Jun 12, 2018 19:42:21
Date Updated:
Jun 12, 2018 19:42:21
Last Metadata Check:
Apr 14, 2024 11:31:46
Last Metadata Change:
Apr 14, 2024 11:31:46
Last Availability Check:
Apr 14, 2024 11:31:49
Last Availability Change:
Nov 25, 2023 07:20:02
Last Grouped Work Modification Time:
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OverDrive Product Record

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      • bioText: Joe R. Lansdale is the author of nearly four dozen novels, including Rusty Puppy, the Edgar-award winning The BottomsSunset and Sawdust, and Leather Maiden. He has received nine Bram Stoker Awards, the American Mystery Award, the British Fantasy Award, and the Grinzane Cavour Prize for Literature. He lives with his family in Nacogdoches, Texas.
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title
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fullDescription
In The Thicket, award-winning novelist Joe R. Lansdale lets loose like never before, in a rip-roaring adventure set at the dark dawn of the East Texas oil boom, the perfect introduction to an acclaimed writer whose work has been called "as funny and frightening as anything that could have been dreamed up by the Brothers Grimm — or Mark Twain" (New York Times Book Review)
Jack Parker thought he'd already seen his fair share of tragedy. His grandmother was killed in a farm accident when he was barely five years old. His parents have just succumbed to the smallpox epidemic sweeping turn-of-the-century East Texas — orphaning him and his younger sister, Lula.
Then catastrophe strikes on the way to their uncle's farm, when a traveling group of bank-robbing bandits murder Jack's grandfather and kidnap his sister. With no elders left for miles, Jack must grow up fast and enlist a band of heroes the likes of which has never been seen if his sister stands any chance at survival. But the best he can come up with is a charismatic, bounty-hunting dwarf named Shorty, a grave-digging son of an ex-slave named Eustace, and a street-smart woman-for-hire named Jimmie Sue who's come into some very intimate knowledge about the bandits (and a few members of Jack's extended family to boot).
In the throes of being civilized, East Texas is still a wild, feral place. Oil wells spurt liquid money from the ground. But as Jack's about to find out, blood and redemption rule supreme.
In The Thicket, award-winning novelist Joe R. Lansdale lets loose like never before, in a rip-roaring adventure equal parts True Grit and Stand by Me - - the perfect introduction to an acclaimed writer whose work has been called "as funny and frightening as anything that could have been dreamed up by the Brothers Grimm — or Mark Twain" (New York Times Book Review).
reviews
      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        July 1, 2013
        Set in early 20th-century East Texas, this satisfying novel from Edgar-winner Lansdale (Edge of Dark Water) takes 16-year-old Jack Parker to darker places than he ever imagined. After Jack’s parents die of smallpox, his preacher grandfather determines to deliver Jack and his 14-year-old sister, Lula, to an aunt who lives across the Sabine River. While waiting for a ferry, they’re attacked by a band of men, who kill the grandfather, nearly kill Jack, and kidnap Lula. Having lost most of his family, Jack doesn’t intend to lose her and sets out after them. Soon he encounters an undersized bounty hunter, Shorty, and Eustace Cox, the grave-digging son of an ex-slave, who agree to help him rescue his sister for a price. As the body count rises, the narrative grows steadily more grim (if, at times, hilarious). Lansdale’s humor and skill at characterization come across well, though at moments the reader wishes for just a little more background detail. Agent: Danny Baror, Baror International.

      • premium: True
      • source: Kirkus
      • content:

        August 15, 2013
        If the Coen brothers' film version of True Grit gave readers an appetite for more underage period Western bounty hunting, Lansdale (Edge of Dark Water, 2012, etc.) is eager to oblige. "[O]ne thing for sure, this ain't your day," the retiring deputy of Sylvester, Texas, tells Jack Parker. He doesn't know the half of it. After Jack's parents are carried off by smallpox, his grandfather packs Jack, 16, and his sister, Lula, 14, onto a wagon and heads for their Aunt Tessle's in Kansas. The wagon makes it only halfway across the Sabine River on a suspiciously expensive new ferry when three men spoiling for a fight shoot Caleb Parker and the ferryman, leave Jack in the river and ride off with Lula. Jack's obligation to rescue his sister is clear, but the means aren't, until he runs into tracker Eustace Cox--part black, part Comanche, and maybe a hint of Parker mixed up in him--and his buddy Reginald Jones, a philosophical dwarf everyone calls Shorty. Offering to swap the deeds for his family's land for some timely assistance in dealing with "Cut Throat Bill," "Nigger Pete" and "Fatty Worth," Jack interests the unlikely pair in his quest. Soon enough, they're joined by Jimmie Sue, a whore with a heart of flesh; Winton, ex-rancher, ex-bounty hunter and ex-sheriff; Spot, his assistant back in the Sylvester jail; and Hog, Eustace's hog. The many shaggy conversations, anecdotes and back stories that emerge among the group gradually reveal to Jack what he's going to have to do to rescue Lula, what sort of allies he's enlisted for the job and what sort of person he is himself. Alternately violent and tender, with a gently legendary quality that makes this tall tale just about perfect.

        COPYRIGHT(2013) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

      • premium: True
      • source: Library Journal
      • content:

        Starred review from September 1, 2013

        The Parkers are a moderately successful family of East Texas dirt farmers in the early 1900s, until the parents are struck down by smallpox and the children, Jack and Lula, start on a cross-country trek to Kansas with their grandpa. At the Sabine River ferry, a second tragedy strikes when a band of outlaws kill Grandpa and kidnap 14-year-old Lula. Jack follows their trail, determined to rescue his sister. As he makes his way deeper into outlaw territory, Jack puts together as unlikely a band of anti-outlaw ruffians as ever graced the pages of a novel. A midget sharpshooter, a half-breed tracker and his pet hog, an escapee from a house of prostitution, a renegade sheriff and part-time bounty hunter--each joins the quest, puts his/her life on the line, and shares a personal story in the bargain. VERDICT Lansdale (Edge of Deep Water) offers up a coming-of-age Western adventure as captivating as the best of Larry McMurtry and written in a style reminiscent of Mark Twain. With intriguing, sometimes bumbling characters and storytelling laced with bravado, good humor, action, and heart, all set in the wilds of Texas during the early days of the oil boom, this title cannot help but captivate readers.--Thomas Kilpatrick, Martin, TN

        Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

      • premium: True
      • source: Booklist
      • content:

        Starred review from August 1, 2013
        The Bard of East Texas is back, this time with the turn-of-the-twentieth-century coming-of-age tale of 16-year-old Jack Parker and his 14-year-old sister, Lula. Still shocked by the sudden deaths of their parents from smallpox, they see their grandfather murdered by outlaws, who then abduct Lula. The same outlaws have killed the sheriff Jack hopes will rescue Lula, and Jack must turn to bounty hunters Eustace Cox and Shorty. Eustace is a black man who carries a giant shotgun; his constant companion is a 600-pound feral hog. Shorty is a dwarf with an attitude who was taught to shoot by Annie Oakley. Their bond is the discrimination they face, and they are willing to chase the outlaws into the primordial and lawless deep woods of East Texas' Big Thicket. Lansdale's premise seems borrowed in part from Charles Portis' True Grit. But anyone who knows Lansdale knows he will put his own spin on the material. He has been writing brilliantly about East Texas for three decades (in both historical fiction and his contemporary series starring Hap Collins and Leonard Pine), but never has the region appeared stranger or more violent than it does here. The oil boom has begun, and Jack, a naive and pious farm boy, is introduced to boomtowns, brothels, lynchings, and all manner of new things. Memorable characters, a vivid sense of place, and an impressive body count make The Thicket another Lansdale treasure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

popularity
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shortDescription
In The Thicket, award-winning novelist Joe R. Lansdale lets loose like never before, in a rip-roaring adventure set at the dark dawn of the East Texas oil boom, the perfect introduction to an acclaimed writer whose work has been called "as funny and frightening as anything that could have been dreamed up by the Brothers Grimm — or Mark Twain" (New York Times Book Review)
Jack Parker thought he'd already seen his fair share of tragedy. His grandmother was killed in a farm accident when he was barely five years old. His parents have just succumbed to the smallpox epidemic sweeping turn-of-the-century East Texas — orphaning him and his younger sister, Lula.
Then catastrophe strikes on the way to their uncle's farm, when a traveling group of bank-robbing bandits murder Jack's grandfather and kidnap his sister. With no elders left for miles, Jack must grow up fast and enlist a band of heroes the likes of which has never been seen...
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