The critically acclaimed, bestselling author of News of the World and Enemy Women returns to Texas in this atmospheric story, set at the end of the Civil War, about an itinerant fiddle player, a ragtag band of musicians with whom he travels trying to make a living, and the charming young Irish lass who steals his heart.
In March 1865, the long and bitter War between the States is winding down. … and bitter War between the States is winding down. Till now, twenty-three-year-old Simon Boudlin has evaded military duty thanks to his slight stature, youthful appearance, and utter lack of compunction about bending the truth. But following a barroom brawl in Victoria, Texas, Simon finds himself conscripted, however belatedly, into the Confederate Army. Luckily his talent with a fiddle gets him a comparatively easy position in a regimental band.
Weeks later, on the eve of the Confederate surrender, Simon and his bandmates are called to play for officers and their families from both sides of the conflict. There the quick-thinking, audacious fiddler can’t help but notice the lovely Doris Mary Dillon, an indentured girl from Ireland, who is governess to a Union colonel’s daughter.
After the surrender, Simon and Doris go their separate ways. He will travel around Texas seeking fame and fortune as a musician. She must accompany the colonel’s family to finish her three years of service. But Simon cannot forget the fair Irish maiden, and vows that someday he will find her again.
Incandescent in its beauty, told in Paulette Jiles’s trademark spare yet lilting style, Simon the Fiddler is a captivating, bittersweet tale of the chances a devoted man will take, and the lengths he will go to fulfill his heart’s yearning.
“Jiles’ sparse but lyrical writing is a joy to read. . . . Lose yourself in this entertaining tale.” — Associated Press
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I know this book won’t be for everyone, since the main character has such a strong and distinctive “voice,” but I really liked the novel. Jiles paints an accurate, and heartbreaking, picture of what it was like to live during and after the Civil War. I would’ve liked to see the ending match the intensity of the beginning/middle of the book, but overall it was a solid read. I’ll remember Simon for a long time to come.
Very different story. I liked it but I would have liked the ending more flushed out.
Fabulous writing. Full of wonderful historical detail.
One of the better ones I’ve read recently.
Enjoyed it.
Read this if you’ve seen News of the World. Excellent book.
very few books are written about the time AFTER the civil war. I find this a very good snapshot of Texas in the very early time period after being taken from Mexico. I must admit that I LOVED News of the World more. It was so well written that I felt that I was there and could smell the horses and feel the sun.
A satisfying story.
Beautifully written story that takes place in a complicated time in US history. The details of daily life at the very end of the civil war and observations of nature in the postwar south add immediacy to a timeless tale.
I really like historical novels and I enjoyed this one. It seems as though the dialogue was close to what I imagine the speech patterns to be post Civil War. the story was also fascinating. The author is celebrated for her novel News of The World and this book has the characters mention their connection through their Civil War experiences which are briefly mentioned.
Not as good as News of the World
After loving News of the World, I decided to read another book by the author. I wish I could say I loved it just as much, but for me it was just okay.
Set in the time period just following the Civil War in Texas, the confusion and roughness of the time played a big role in this story. The story is about a young man who ends up in the Confederate army as a fiddler in the regiment band. After the war, Simon spends his time playing his fiddle to earn money and dreaming of a better life as a land owner and husband to a young Irish immigrant girl he saw one time. Unfortunately, she was under contract as help to a crazy and dangerous colonel. From here, the story spends its time following the efforts of Simon to earn the money for land and the hand of the girl.
I thought there were moments of great storytelling and then stretches of story that didn’t shine as bright. I was ready for the story to come to an end. There was one little Easter egg – Simon gets to meet the Captain from News of the World in one scene.
The story isn’t bad, it just didn’t really draw me in.
Enjoyed the descriptive history of the era just after the Civil War.
Wonderful descriptions of the settings and informative about the chaos following the Civil War. The romance was lovely. Too much violence, which may have matched the times, but not what I want to read about.
I so enjoy reading books about the area of the country I grew up in. The author’s descriptive writing paints a colorful picture of life in Texas immediately after the end of the Civil War.
Wish there were a sequel
Became a bit monotonous
It wasn’t as good as News of the World — somewhat syrupy at times — but I enjoyed it. Probably a 3.5
Paulette Jiles has secured her place among my list of favorite authors with her latest novel, Simon the Fiddler. Set in Texas, 1865, the book paints an evocative picture of life in the young, rough-edged state at the conclusion of the Civil War. It tells the tale of 23-year-old Simon Boudlin, an ambitious Kentucky fiddle player, and “the ragtag band of musicians with whom he travels,” as well as the lovely Irish immigrant who captures his heart.
I loved Jiles’ novel News of the World for its economy; it’s similar to John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men (one of my all-time favorites) in the way it delivers richly-drawn multi-dimensional characters and a dramatic story with so few words. Both are slim novels – at roughly 200 pages each in their first edition hardcover formats – that pack a powerful punch.
Simon the Fiddler captivated me for different reasons. It could have been equally potent at 200 pages. Yet, Jiles flexed her descriptive muscles, filling another 150 pages with details of time and place, poverty and longing, music and love. While some readers may be put off by her lyrical and often lengthy description, I was transported. It was an unhurried deeply-satisfying read packed with fully-realized, endearing characters.
In describing Galveston immediately following the Civil War, Jiles wrote, “The lamps in the saloons burned coal oil or whale oil, the beams overhead creaked in the wind of the Gulf, the streets were incandescent under the gas lamps. Sometimes bats streaked through the white light, moths danced in a city of seagulls and scarred buildings.”
Simon loved music and hated cities. He dreamed of owning land near a river.
“There would be a spring of clear water and around it great pecan trees, deer would bed down in the post-oak mottes at night. Wild horses would tread the smoking earth in dimly seen caravans, the breath of the great brown buffalo drifting white in the winter air.”
These are just two examples from a book brimming with evocative description and a strong sense of place, which secured its 5-star rating from me. If you enjoy historical fiction that immerses you in expressive, detail-packed passages that make you slow down and go back to reread them, pick up a copy of Simon the Fiddler. If you prefer a faster-paced read that stirs emotion, News of the World is a fabulous choice.
I adored this book. After reading News of the World, I knew I had to read this one.
I was not disappointed
My Rating:
3.5
Favorite Quotes:
I am faithful to my friends and you can go to hell and shovel ashes.
She must take great care. Trust in God, her mother said, but never dance in a small boat.
Damon watched amazed as the man touched his hat and stood aside, but then this was the way of it when somebody carried a musical instrument, who knows why but they treat you like a woman carrying a baby. That plus a threatening glare would clear the way. Soldiers and others watched them pass with interested looks because they carried instruments and there is not a human being on earth who does not have a favorite song, lacking only somebody to play it.
He knew that he did not play music so much as walk into it, as if into a palace of great riches, with rooms opening into other rooms, which opened into still other rooms, and in these rooms were courtyards and fountains with passageways to yet more mysterious spaces of melody, peculiar intervals, unheard notes.
Pressley was a fat, pale man with slow movements and protruding eyes. He had a very deep voice that seemed to issue from him as if it had first been cast into him from somewhere else.
My Review:
I’m still contemplating and ruminating over the unusual style and approach of this book. It took me twice as long to finish as it normally would for a book of the same length. The writing style was oddly captivating, yet arduous to get through as it was laden with a staggering amount of well-researched language and items of the time, as well as intricate details of the tiniest of minutia, much of which was unfamiliar and surprisingly interesting but at other times quite tedious and laborious to wade through, and significantly slowed the storylines which progressed in accelerated bursts and slow easy starts. Yet I remained oddly intrigued and curious as to their fate throughout this slowly unfolding story.
The emotional tone was taut with tension and fraught with angst, frustration, contained raged, imminent peril, fear, thirst and hunger, yearning, intense poverty, lack of social or legal recourse, and unrelenting exhaustion. Although, slivers of clever humor sparkled among the gloom and doom of the aftermath of war and the mistreatment and abuse of power exercised over the citizens and defeated soldiers by the arrogant victors. I greatly enjoyed the pearls of wisdom and uncanny literary quotes and observations from the secondary character of Damon. What a dreadful period in history to have lived through. I am far too spoiled by my creature comforts. I require indoor plumbing, electrical current, ready transportation, and unrestricted access to the all-important major food groups – like grapes and chocolate.