News of the World
Ratings34
Average rating4.1
15
Ratings34
Average rating4.1
In the wake of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels through northern Texas, giving live readings from newspapers to paying audiences hungry for news of the world. An elderly widower who has lived through three wars and fought in two of them, the captain enjoys his rootless, solitary existence.
In Wichita Falls, he is offered a $50 gold piece to deliver a young orphan to her relatives in San Antonio. Four years earlier, a band of Kiowa raiders killed Johanna’s parents and sister; sparing the little girl, they raised her as one of their own. Recently rescued by the U.S. army, the ten-year-old has once again been torn away from the only home she knows.
Their 400-mile journey south through unsettled territory and unforgiving terrain proves difficult and at times dangerous. Johanna has forgotten the English language, tries to escape at every opportunity, throws away her shoes, and refuses to act “civilized.” Yet as the miles pass, the two lonely survivors tentatively begin to trust each other, forming a bond that marks the difference between life and death in this treacherous land.
Arriving in San Antonio, the reunion is neither happy nor welcome. The captain must hand Johanna over to an aunt and uncle she does not remember—strangers who regard her as an unwanted burden. A respectable man, Captain Kidd is faced with a terrible choice: abandon the girl to her fate or become—in the eyes of the law—a kidnapper himself.
Reviews with the most likes.
DNF at page 100 bc I am a hater apparently. Sentences were choppy, no punctuation, and I am not super into adventure stories.
Wish I could give this 100 stars. Can't wait to see Tom Hanks play the lead role! Must read!
“Human aggression and depravity still managed to astonish him.”
Captain Kidd, a retired Army soldier, now travels the late-1800s western United States delivering news from handpicked newspapers to small towns and small cities looking for glimpses at a world they'll never see. While on one of these stops, he's tasked with returning “Johanna” to blood relatives living in south Texas. “Johanna” was captured by Kiowa raiders when very young, and then ransomed back to the US Army. She remembers nothing of the world she was captured from, and initially wants only to be returned to the only family she's known. Captain Kidd agrees to take her, and we're brought along on their journey of unlikely friendship and musings about belonging and identity to her Texas family.
This was a super sweet book with a super sweet premise that I thought I'd find boring because I don't normally do super sweet fluffy books. The writing was phenomenal though, and my heart went out to this young girl grappling with large concepts of trying to figure out where she fits into the two worlds that don't seem to want her. I ended up really enjoying the journey this book took me on, and I especially loved the “where we all ended up” style ending that I know isn't everyone's taste.
There's also evidently a movie that was made for this book back in 2020 that I missed (for, I guess, obvious reasons), that I might even check out.
News of the World is a very good book. Paulette Jiles knows how to tell a story. Captain Kidd is now one of my favorite characters ever. I wish I could share some beer and conversation with him. And I just want to give Johanna a hug.
Reconstruction era Texas in 1870 was not a safe place. Outlaws, Kiowa and Comanche raiders, and various bandits make life perilous for travelers. In this place/time Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, an itinerant news reader, takes on the task of returning a ten-year-old girl who has lived with the Kiowa for several years to her nearest relatives. A journey of several hundred miles. Suffice to say the Captain and Johanna have many adventures and they slowly come to know and trust each other as they make the perilous journey.
The only drawback to the book for me is the complete lack of quotes in the text, which made it difficult for me to tell speech from introspection at times.
Great story. 4.5 stars rounded up.
