God's Country by Percival Everett

 

When Curt Marder rides up to his homestead he is just too late to save everything.  A gang of desperados has burned his cabin, shot his dog and taken his wife.  Curt vows to track them down and get his wife back but he knows he'll need help.

He goes to the nearest town where he's told the best tracker around is a black man named Bubba.  Everyone in town knows Curt has no money or prospects of getting any so won't loan him money.  He promises Bubba half his farm if he will help him.

But this is no cowboy buddy story.  Everett writes the truth about how African Americans were treated in the Old West.  There is lots of prejudice and name calling.  Whenever there's a crime, that population is always the first to be suspected and often lynched.  But Bubba agrees and off the two go.

Along the way, the two will encounter lots of other individuals of the West, an Indian tribe, General Custer, saloon singers/prostitutes and various ruffians.  They also take a child under their wing as its parents have also been killed by the same gang.  

I read this novel after Everett's Trees was longlisted for the Booker Prize.  My library didn't have that title yet so I wanted to read Everett as he is a new author for me.  I enjoyed this novel.  It is told in the first person by Curt, who is a despicable person out for himself and no one else.  It portrays the Old West in a more realistic manner than the typical Westerns many grew up on do; it was a place of violence and prejudice and often every man for himself.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.