An Interview With Philipp Meyer, Author of The Son

The Son is June’s #1 Indie Next List Pick

By Sydney Jarrard, ABA,  on Thursday, June 13, 2013

Photo courtesy of the author

Philipp Meyer has earned the number one spot on the June 2013 Indie Next List with his bold and compelling novel The Son (Ecco), which was praised by booksellers across the country.

The Son follows three characters, each a McCullough from the same Texas bloodline but of very different generations, as the landscape of America changes and develops over two centuries. Eli recounts his tale of being captured by Comanche Indians in the mid-1800s; Peter, his son, chronicles his time managing a wildly growing oil company while watching native Mexicans be forced off the land; and J.A., Eli’s great-granddaughter, reflects on her struggles to maintain the family’s power as its members die off.

More than just a McCullough family saga, The Son is about the American Dream as it is pursued by everyone setting foot on Texas soil.
BTW spoke with Meyer about his research process and the experiences he lived in order to write what Scott Kinberger of Books Inc. called “the best kind of historical fiction.”

BTW: The Son looks at a dark time in America’s history, when Indian and Mexican natives battled with white settlers to keep their lands. Peter is haunted by the massacre of the entire Garcia family, while Jeannie realizes that when JFK was assassinated, her Texas neighbors were still living with the memories of their parents being scalped by Indians. What prompted you to write about this period in history? How did you research the times and places portrayed?

Philipp Meyer: The book came together pretty gradually. It originally took place over maybe 75 or 100 years and focused much more on the present day, on about eight characters, including Jeannie’s grandsons, who did a lot of philosophizing about their legendary ancestors. Peter’s sections are set during the so called “bandit wars” of 1915-1918 in South Texas; the massacre of the Garcia family is based on a number of similar incidents. In fact, killings of Mexican Americans in this time period was so common that the major newspaper of the area — the San Antonio Express — stopped reporting them. While there were definitely casualties on both sides, it’s not a proud moment in Texas history.

- See more at: http://www.bookweb.org/node/26721#sthash.6VzbkgMj.dpuf

Footnote:
The Son is published by Vintage in ANZ