Overall, what did you think of News of the World?

This book was beautifully written. Jiles has a powerful voice. Her writing is lyrical at times In the darkest, most lawless, and wild of settings, we find grace, gentleness, love, trust, and compassion. I am encouraged to look beneath the surface as a result. Goodness can be found in the darkest places.

Slow start for me and it took awhile to get used to Paulette Jiles writing style. The book is beautifully written with almost poetic descriptions. I enjoyed seeing Johanna and Captain Kidd's relationship develop.
I loved the book.

It is interesting to see others note that the book had a slow start or perhaps took a little time to get into. That can be a particular problem, I think, for historical novels (and novelists) who are introducing an very different world, as well as characters, conflict and plot. There are also so many novels available that there is a lot of emphasis put on the opening of a novel. It needs to have a hook. It needs to capture restive readers who, it is suggested, will flit on, butterfly like, to something else, if they are not 100% sucked in at the outset. But what I'm seeing in the comments here is that sticking with a novel can be really rewarding and that readers really are not as fickle or quick to cast aside a book as people think.
I loved this book. It transported me to a time and place I knew nothing about. It showed me characters I admired, characters I reviled and characters I wanted to journey with to find out what happened to them. It is literary and does take a bit of getting into, but is a richly rewarding read. I'm looking forward to reading more by Paulette Jiles.

Overall I loved this book! These characters will stick with me for a long time, I think.

I strongly agree with jessies, Captain and Johanna will live with me long

News of the World authentically created this era in Texas history. The relationship and dialogue between Captain Kidd and Johanna was believable. The author, Paulette Jiles, did a wonderful job of describing the landscape of the Texas plains and the people who inhabited them. With spare prose, she transported me back to that time and engaged me deeply in the physical and emotional journey of Johanna and Captain Kidd. I will recommend this book to my colleagues at work, my students, and my own children.

It was an enjoyable read.

Other than having one of my pet peeves - no quotation marks - I loved this book. Jiles descriptive writing was fabulous. I could see the colors, I could smell the smells. This book read so visually. Everything from Johanna dress to the landscape was so vividly portrayed. It was like I was sitting there as the story transpired watching it in person.