Rode

Name: Rode
Brand: Recorded Books
Availability: InStock
Author: Thomas Fox Averill
ISBN: 9781490619989

Author: Thomas Fox Averill

Narrator: Scott Sowers

Unabridged: 9 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 05/02/2014

Categories: Fiction, Western

Synopsis

***2012 Spur Award Finalist, Best Western Long Novel When Thomas Fox Averill first heard Jimmy Driftwood's ballad "Tennessee Stud," he found the song hauntingly compelling. As he began to imagine the story behind the lyrics, he set out to research the song's history-a tale from "along about eighteen and twenty-five"" of the legendary exploits of the greatest horse that ever lived, the "Tennessee Stud," and his owner. Traveling the same route the song chronicles, from Tennessee into Arkansas, through Texas and into Mexico, Averill visited racetracks, Spanish missions, historical museums, a living history farm, and national parks, inventing characters of his own along the way. His novel captures the spirit of the ballad while telling the story of Robert Johnson, a man who holds love in his heart though adventure rules his time. Pursued by a bounty hunter, Indians, and his conscience, Johnson and his horse are tested, strengthened, and made resolute.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Barb on June 26, 2019

Writers are often inspired to imagine the stories that may have surrounded tales from the past, from famous paintings, and in this case, a story from the lyrics of Jimmie Driftwood's "Tennessee Stud." It's a coming of age story about young Robert Johnson and his Tennessee stud who, in 1825, flee bou......more

Goodreads review by Tim on August 03, 2011

Tom Averill has added another star to his imaginative constellation with RODE, a lush extrapolation of the lyrics of the classic "Tennessee Stud." Tom's interpretation is part ODYSSEY (in which his protagonist is both Odysseus leaving and returning home AND Telemachus making peace with his father),......more

Goodreads review by Hope on February 07, 2017

A metaphor for us all that running away from our problems does not solve them.......more

Goodreads review by Deb on July 18, 2017

Based on the ballad Tennessee Stud, in which a man is forced to abandon his home by the Pa and brother (or brothers) of his sweetheart. After a long journey to Mexico and back he returns, claims his sweetheart as his own, (after "whupping" her family) and they and the horse are able to settle down t......more

Goodreads review by Peggy on January 31, 2012

I really liked th ewriting style in this book. It was fast paced and always interesting. The book was inspired by Jimmy Driftwood's song "Tennessee Stud" and the author researched the orgins of the "Stud" legend to write the book, although it is fiction. Robert Johnson, a young man in Tennessee is th......more