It took me over a week to get through the first five chapters. The story made no sense and just kind of wandered. I was expecting more, but WOW this was in a word... unreadable. ( )

When I was in college, I knew this guy that belonged to a fraternity. At the frat, it was a tradition on Friday and Saturday nights that if there was nothing else to do (which wasn't unusual for this frat – about as far from Animal House as it's possible to go), you'd wander up to the 3rd floor, sit down with your brothers, and wait for the bong to make its way over. One of the brothers was sort of famous. When he got good and ripped he'd start telling stories. They were terrific stories, all full of crazed and goofy characters doing hilarious, awesome, interesting and inspiring things. Keep the story-telling Greek toked, and he could go on and on for hours on a story, somehow coming back to themes and characters and story-lines that you could mistily remember from hours ago. Some of the frat brothers would bring friends or dates over for the stories and the storyteller became a campus attraction (it was a very small school). One of the best parts was that you could wander off looking for munchies every now and then and when you happened to come back in five minutes or three hours, you'd sit down again to listen and you would be just as into the story as before. It was the experience, not a recital.

I've wondered since what ever happened to the storyteller. I've always assumed he was dead by now, but have a pretty good feeling that he didn't pass on without leaving his mark in the gene pool, as witness William Linehan. Reading “Just Kid Me Old Highway Old Wildway O Pecos Bill” was really evocative of that smoke filled frat room - listening to an underlying story line (sort of), related in a self-indulgent rambling way, and inhabited largely by characters imaginary, mythological, or real. Things happened, and so on, but I felt comfortable enough wandering away from reading to go find some munchies, not worrying about it too much when I couldn't remember where I left the book five minutes or three hours later.

You've got to be the right sort of soul, at the right stage of your personal evolution - and especially with the right sort of momentary mood swing - to appreciate this book. Personally, I've kind of grown away from the experience. Now when I'm in that sort of state, I just turn out the room lights and stare into the aquarium, give names to each of the fish and make up my own cool little adventures. It's much more fulfilling. ( )

This is one of the most horribly written books I have ever read! I agree with a previous review that I read that said the first chapter was fasciniating. I will give it that. Otherwise, I think my kids have better writing skills and I would never have let them turn in homework that was this horribly written!!! ( )

The first chapter is absolutely fascinating. It starts off sounding almost like a children's story and quickly takes a left turn. Unfortunately, I think it would have benefited from more editing. Didn't hold my interest enough to finish. ( )

The title says it all- this book makes absolutely no sense. The majority of the time I found myself staring dumbfounded at the pages, hoping Mr. Linehan had been on some kind of mind-altering drug while writing. Then again, I don’t know what would possess Sagebrush Press to publish this novel either. It was painful to finish and I may have lost a few brain cells along the way.

Words elude me when I try to think of something good to point out about Just Kid Me Old Highway Old Wildway O Pecos Bill. I spent so much time convincing myself to read just one more chapter and maybe the protagonist will wake up and it turns out it was all a really messed up dream. Unfortunately, that never happened. The best I can guess is that the main protagonist, known as the Kid, had a very overactive imagination as a boy and now nearing middle-age, he’s reverting back to the fantasies he had in childhood- playing baseball with Pecos Bill, running around with Johnny Appleseed, a turtle camouflaged as a hubcap, the weirdness goes on and on. But that doesn’t make up for the fact that 80% of the novel is complete nonsense and the other 20% is not a very exciting story line. When Pecos Bill shows up in his yard in the middle of the night, the Kid tries to convince him he's not the Kid anymore and can't just leave to go on a roadtrip, as Bill suggests he needs to do. Alas, he changes his mind and off they go.

One thing that stood out in Linehan's writing is his overly extensive use of color when describing things. At some points, color even comes right out of the characters' mouths. Which is just plain weird and there's really no point for it. But he includes color somewhere on just about every page in the book, something that began to bother me fairly early in as there is more to description than colors...

Overall, I don't recommend anyone waste their time reading this novel and I sincerely hope Linehan looks for another creative outlet because novels just aren't his forte. One out of five stars for Just Kid Me Old Highway Old Wildway O Pecos Bill. ( )