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Wilde West general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author
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Our Assessment:
B : doesn't take full advantage of the premise and material, but entertaining enough See our review for fuller assessment.
From the Reviews: - Return to top of the page - The complete review's Review:
Oscar Wilde toured the United States in 1882, giving lectures all across the country (an amazing 141, over eleven months; see), and author Walter Satterthwait uses this as the backdrop for his novel, set almost entirely in March, 1882, when Wilde was touring the American West.
Satterthwait has Wilde travel with an entourage: manager Jack Vail; valet Henry Villiers; Countess Mathilde de la Môle and her escort, Colonel Wolfgang von Hesse; newspaperman David O'Conner, who is apparently covering the tour for the New York Sun; and young poet Wilbur Ruddick.
Do you see it, Henry ? Of course you do. Really, it's obvious, isn't it ? Who better than a poet, with his insight into the mind and the heart, who better than he to penetrate the mask behind which this villain has hidden himself ? We will uncover this man, Henry, and we will do it by a systematic application of the poetic imagination.It's a fun idea to play with, but Satterthwait struggles a bit to make Wilde into much of a detective. Instead, Wilde's main contribution and preöccupation comes to be one Elizabeth McCourt Doe, the fiancée of the wealthy Horace Tabor -- "Richest guy in the state". Wilde is completely taken by Elizabeth, finding her: "quite simply the most beautiful and the most utterly sensuous woman he had ever seen". Wilde's modern reputation would, of course, suggest that having him be so strongly attracted to a woman is a not very believable fictional turn, and, indeed, even here the impression he generally gives would seem to support that: a correspondent writing to Grigsby, before he meets Wilde, notes: "he looks like a pansy-boy to me, if you want the truth. He acts like one too, very lah di dah", and Grigsby thinks as much when he meets him as well: He was a nance. Looked like one. Acted like one. All soft and fluttery, talking through his nose with that airy-fairy accent.But the Wilde Satterthwait presents here is decidedly heterosexual -- and very much lusts for Elizabeth. Historically, it's plausible enough: in real life, Wilde would go on to get married two years later, after all, and he did sire two children ..... Satterthwait leaves Wildes's homosexual inclinations at the lowest of simmers -- though they're not entirely avoided in the novel. Among the theories on offer regarding the murders is that of Colonel von Hesse, who suggests that the murderer may not even be aware of the terrible things he is doing, that he's acting out sub- and unconsciously, and even forgets doing the deed when he's done; the Colonel is familiar with such a case from his own experience. (The forgetting might be plausible, but the cleaning-up seems harder to explain; these murders must have caused an ungodly mess, traces of which would surely have remained when the perpetrator came to their senses.) Satterthwait has good fun with the character of Wilde, and manages a decent impression. The entourage has some potential too, but Satterthwait can't find ways to make full use of all of them -- notably Henry, revealed to be reading The Red and the Black and obviously intelligent, though never showing it. They have a variety of secrets, too, and not everyone is who they say they are, and there could certainly be more payoff there. Lurking in the background is also another historic figure, Doc Holliday, popping up conveniently repeatedly along the way -- though at least there's some amusing payoff in the final instances there. Wilde's passion for Elizabeth -- and her willingness to play along -- are amusingly woven into the story, but take some of the focus away from the murder-mystery around them. But Elizabeth does have red hair, so of course eventually things come to quite the head. A bit disappointing as a mystery/thriller, Wilde West is at least an enjoyable trot along the way (though the violence of the crimes is extreme). Satterthwait does the historical setting -- and the dominant character of Wilde -- well, so making for a fine pass-time read -- though not much more. - M.A.Orthofer, 10 June 2025 - Return to top of the page - Reviews: Walter Satterthwait: Other books by Walter Satterthwait under review: Other books of interest under review:
- Return to top of the page - American author Walter Satterthwait lived 1946 to 2020. - Return to top of the page -
© 2025 the complete review
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