The Last Buffalo Hunter

By Jake Mosher

Book Overview

Set in Montana the story revolves around a reticent but articulate teenager who spends his fourteenth summer, remanded to the not so gentle care of his profane and outrageous grandfather, Cole, who... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1567921469
• ISBN13: 9781567921465
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher
• Length: 308 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

The Mosher Genes Have Flowered

I absolutely loved this book.The son of the renowned raconteur of the Northeast Kingdom, Howard Mosher and his wife Phyllis, first time novelist Jake Mosher has planted his boot heels high in the wilds of Mantana and stomped himself a foothold. The Last Buffalo Hunter tells the sory of 14 year-old Kyle Richards and his wild and wooly coming of age during a summer spent with his proud and profane grandfather, Cole, in the Big Sky country of Montana. Cole is a rugged logger and former broncobuster, as quick to throw a punch, as he is to pull a gun. Womanizing, whiskey drinking, Kyle's grandpa is a profane throwback to an era that has all but faded away, but ruggedly holds on like the last traces of ice along a high mountain trail in summer.A wonderful cast of characters ramble through the book, including a cute young Indian girl who has cast her eye on a bewildered Kyle. Hucksters, dudes, unreformed Indians, and a barroom of hard drinking, hard loving men and women, hoisting shots together in drunken, fight filled nights. In the background lurks the long running fued with millionaire developer Bruce Tipton and his herd of buffalo that surround Cole Richards home. Encroaching daily, smothering him, and his stubborn view of what's really right and wrong, building to a showdown that seems as inevitable as so-called progress and development.A journal Kyle finds of his great-grandfather's arduous journey from Kansas City to Montana in 1862 flows like a winding mountain stream through this book occasionally. The dusty journal brings to life the terrible ordeal of moving west, and gives this marvelous book a mystical quality at times. A mystical quality as ominous as the howling of the ghostly black wolf that seems to know every step Kyle takes high in the mountains at night, and the yellow hate-filled stare of the fenced-in buffallo bull, Splinter Horn. Jake Mosher wites about the West, it's history, it's people, and it's scenery with a skill well beyond his young years. The Mosher genes are truly flowering.As I reluctantly turned the last page of this book, I sighed contentedly, but sad that it was over. I had been in the hands of a master stryteller, a craftsman of words. I knew that Kyle's summer in Montan would remain fondly in my memory as much as it would by the young grandson of Cole Richards.

Wonderful first novel, wonderful novel period!

The Last Buffalo Hunter is the first book I've read in many, many years that is set in a "real" Montana. There isn't any of the glossed-over Hollywood imagery that so often accompanies anything to do with Montana these days. This novel is about the raw, hard sides of life not just in the west but everywhere else. It's sharp, compelling, and through a set of well-developed, unique characters tells a gripping story of love, loss, adventure and understanding. It weaves legend into contemporary life, using touches of magic realism without becoming a fantasy. It left me feeling haunted and at the same time satisfied. There is no doubt that The Last Buffalo Hunter is a remarkable accomplishment, more so because it is the writer's first novel. I am anxiously awaiting a second book from Jake Mosher and a third, fourth, fifth, ect. This is one read you won't regret!

Jake Mosher is a 5 star writer!

Jake Mosher is the best young fiction writer in the country. He will go far with his writing.

Montana comes alive

I found this book to be very visual and exciting! The first time meeting Cole, the grandfather is a funny and exciting scene; you are almost in the truck riding the bumpy ride with them. The scene seems disturbing, yet intriguing at the same time; then you find out the truth-which I cannot give away here- and you have to laugh out loud with relief and amusement at yourself for being disturbed! I have been to Montana just once, and every scenic word takes me back again. I have been some of the places Kyle is going-the continental divide- and I wish to go where I have not been such as the wonderful rivers described. I wonder if I may have even seen the house the Grandfather lives in. I must caution readers though: If you do not have a wonderful sense of humor which will allow you to laugh out loud, do not wish to meet a man alive with a love for the wild outdoors, do not wish to learn in a most enjoyable manner you won't even realize how much knowledge you gained until you find yourself describing elk to others, do not wish to be young again, then this is not the book for you. If you wish to see Montana without the ride on the Greyhound, to learn things you didn't know or might not have noticed, then this book will suit you well. I wonder if maybe this book isn't about the author, Jake Mosher? The only thing I know is that I look forward to his next book and as far as this one, I know I am reading it very slowly-and perhaps many times- for I want to savor every bit, and stay in Montana as long as I can!