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njdarkish's review against another edition
2.0
I was hoping that, in spite of not being a Western sort of guy, I'd enjoy this because it was written by Matheson (who has written some of my very favorite books). Unfortunately the subject matter still failed to grip me, and the journal format (full of stylized errors and conditions of the time, such as censored profanity) ended up making me even less interested than before (odd, considering how many other books I enjoy that type of formatting for). Matheson's deft skill as a writer still shows through, which is the only reason it elicited more than a single star from me.
stephen_arvidson's review against another edition
5.0
Richard Matheson takes a compelling approach to the traditional western tale of a tough-as-nails gunslinger and conveys it from the inside out. Journal of the Gun Years takes the form of an annotated journal written by Clay Hauser, a directionless soldier fresh out of the Civil War who's forced to flee his bucolic hometown after an argument over cards ends in a fatal shooting (his first journal was one he scavenged off a Confederate soldier's corpse). Clay heads westward, endeavoring to keep his pride and short temper in check, but in time his valor and skilled shooting elevates him from desperado to lawman (and sometimes back again). After an unscrupulous sociopath springs him from a jail cell, Clay pursues his destiny throughout the brutal West, taming towns, fighting range wars, and fostering an international reputation that is enhanced to mythic heights (much in the same manner as ‘Wild Bill’ Hickok) by both the tabloid press and the yellow-backs loosely based on his exploits.
Journal of the Gun Years is tightly plotted and suspenseful; the language is so genuine that Clay Halser becomes increasingly real as the story progresses. Matheson deftly depicts Clay’s deterioration from a potentially great man overwhelmed by his own larger-than-life image. By the end of this affecting novel, the iconic gunslinger has been so lionized as to be empty, lonely, and frightened with nary a friend of which to speak. The story grips readers as Clay’s life runs the gamut, every violent incident in his checkered career leading him further along the path toward a sad demise in an anticlimactic showdown with a young roughneck out to make a name for himself (In case you’re worried that I just spoiled the ending for you, don’t be; Clay bites the proverbial bullet in the foreword).
Journal of the Gun Years is a winner, actually a Spur Award winner for Best Western novel published in 1991. There’s enough gritty action and western drama here to satisfy genre fans, and more depth than most other western novels offer.
Journal of the Gun Years is tightly plotted and suspenseful; the language is so genuine that Clay Halser becomes increasingly real as the story progresses. Matheson deftly depicts Clay’s deterioration from a potentially great man overwhelmed by his own larger-than-life image. By the end of this affecting novel, the iconic gunslinger has been so lionized as to be empty, lonely, and frightened with nary a friend of which to speak. The story grips readers as Clay’s life runs the gamut, every violent incident in his checkered career leading him further along the path toward a sad demise in an anticlimactic showdown with a young roughneck out to make a name for himself (In case you’re worried that I just spoiled the ending for you, don’t be; Clay bites the proverbial bullet in the foreword).
Journal of the Gun Years is a winner, actually a Spur Award winner for Best Western novel published in 1991. There’s enough gritty action and western drama here to satisfy genre fans, and more depth than most other western novels offer.
dantastic's review against another edition
5.0
The Gunfight is a meager two-hundred forty seven pages but don't let that dissuade you. Matheson's books are all meat. You won't find any needless descriptions. If Matheson takes the time to describe something, you know it will be important later.
The plot of The Gunfight is fairly simple. A legendary gunfighter, John Benton, and his wife settle in a tiny town called Kellville to enjoy their retirement. Meanwhile, a teenage girl named Louisa Harper tries to make her boyfriend Robby Coles jealous by telling him Benton's expressed some interest in her. Soon the whole town is egging Robby on, saying he has to protect his girl's honor. So guess what Robby does? I'll give you a hint: the title of the book isn't "Knitting Contest."
The characters are fairly realistic. Benton's the guy who feels he has nothing left to prove and just wants to enjoy retirement. Robby's the testosterone-laden kid who just wants Louisa to treat him right. Sometimes you even feel sorry for the poor lug, getting pushed in way over his head. The townsfolk are like a lot of small town folk who get out of control once they smell blood.
One of the hallmarks of a Richard Matheson story is that he's an expert at misdirection, be it I am Legend, the Incredible Shrinking Man, or that Twilight Zone episode where there's a gremlin on the wing of the plane. The Gunfight is no exception.
This book should be a prerequisite for anyone who tries to write a suspense novel, because at its core, The Gunfight is more of a suspense novel than a western. The pacing is perfect and leaves you worn out by the end. Two-hundred forty seven pages is the perfect length. Any more would have thrown off the remarkable pace. I started reading this at lunchtime on a Sunday and finished a little after dark. It's really hard to put down.
The plot of The Gunfight is fairly simple. A legendary gunfighter, John Benton, and his wife settle in a tiny town called Kellville to enjoy their retirement. Meanwhile, a teenage girl named Louisa Harper tries to make her boyfriend Robby Coles jealous by telling him Benton's expressed some interest in her. Soon the whole town is egging Robby on, saying he has to protect his girl's honor. So guess what Robby does? I'll give you a hint: the title of the book isn't "Knitting Contest."
The characters are fairly realistic. Benton's the guy who feels he has nothing left to prove and just wants to enjoy retirement. Robby's the testosterone-laden kid who just wants Louisa to treat him right. Sometimes you even feel sorry for the poor lug, getting pushed in way over his head. The townsfolk are like a lot of small town folk who get out of control once they smell blood.
One of the hallmarks of a Richard Matheson story is that he's an expert at misdirection, be it I am Legend, the Incredible Shrinking Man, or that Twilight Zone episode where there's a gremlin on the wing of the plane. The Gunfight is no exception.
This book should be a prerequisite for anyone who tries to write a suspense novel, because at its core, The Gunfight is more of a suspense novel than a western. The pacing is perfect and leaves you worn out by the end. Two-hundred forty seven pages is the perfect length. Any more would have thrown off the remarkable pace. I started reading this at lunchtime on a Sunday and finished a little after dark. It's really hard to put down.
ericbuscemi's review against another edition
5.0
How could I not add this, after reading this blog by Joe Abercrombie?
peter_xxx's review
3.0
this whole book happens during three days before a duel. The whole thing is based on a misunderstanding. The whole book feels like a classic western movie like high noon. The important thing in this book is not the gunfight, but how people react and feel during the days leading up to it.
wildbillbourbon's review against another edition
5.0
What great novel. Telling the full truth of what it is like living up to a legend and dealing the evolving world. This book captured the high and lows up unapologetically.
altlovesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
All this time I have been telling myself that the skills I have to offer continue to be of value. Now I wonder if this is so.
It's only after finishing this book and doing some preliminary research that I realize that the author of My Very First Western is actually the same author as I Am Legend. Wild.
Anyway, so after talking with some library co-workers about video games and my obsession with Red Dead Redemption 2, I realized I had never, everevereverever, read a western. My grandpa had the obligatory wall of Louis L'Amor that I remember as a kid, and even though I was a voracious reader that read anything between two covers I never touched them. I asked my co-workers if there were any westerns that weren't so....pulpy. My coworkers thought that was a funny question, because of course all westerns are pulpy. Everybody knows that. Not willing to say die, I turned to some literary friends of mine, and was rewarded with a whole slew of book suggestions. From those suggestions I followed Goodreads' suggestions for even more. This was one of those "even more" suggestions, and I was delightfully surprised with how it turned out.
First, let's talk format. As the title indicates, this is told in journal format. Normally this sort of format sort of annoys me because of how choppy the story ends up being, but I think the author does a good job of smoothing that over by including the commentary from the person presenting the journal. The book sort of takes that "found journal" trope, where in the first chapter the finder runs into the journal writer, Clay Halser, late in his life, and after a drink and a sudden turn of luck, finds himself in possession of Clay Halser's journal he kept meticulously since he was young and in the war. The finder then "presents" this journal to us, the readers, by hand selecting entries throughout Clay's life that portray the man as a man and not the legend that he had become, and includes some commentary about the passages themselves and Clay's life in general. The author's attention to detail led to the early, young entries being poorly written and rather superficial, while the late in life ones are much longer, better written, and introspective. I thought that was a nice touch as well.
So Clay Halser leads a rough life. He spent time at war as a teenager, came back to his family home and just never really fit in again, and left home to find his fortune. He drifts around awhile, bartending, stagecoach guarding, and falls in with several men who had an impact on how Clay develops as he gets older. He becomes a great shot, and it's thanks to his shooting and an overzealous reporter that Clay Halser, The Legend, is born in the eyes of the public. Clay then, unknowingly, starts chasing this legend that has been made of him, leading him first into fame, and then into failure. The late in life journal entries in particular are sad to read, as Clay confronts the man he's become.
I really enjoyed this book! It obviously had your stagecoach robberies, your gunfights, your "I'm Marshal Of This Town Now" segments, but it also had a lot of quiet moments where Clay ruminates on what it means to be a gunslinger. I like getting into the minds of main characters a lot, and really enjoyed watching Clay mature through the eyes of his journal. I'm glad this was my first western, because now I feel motivated to seek out more.
It's only after finishing this book and doing some preliminary research that I realize that the author of My Very First Western is actually the same author as I Am Legend. Wild.
Anyway, so after talking with some library co-workers about video games and my obsession with Red Dead Redemption 2, I realized I had never, everevereverever, read a western. My grandpa had the obligatory wall of Louis L'Amor that I remember as a kid, and even though I was a voracious reader that read anything between two covers I never touched them. I asked my co-workers if there were any westerns that weren't so....pulpy. My coworkers thought that was a funny question, because of course all westerns are pulpy. Everybody knows that. Not willing to say die, I turned to some literary friends of mine, and was rewarded with a whole slew of book suggestions. From those suggestions I followed Goodreads' suggestions for even more. This was one of those "even more" suggestions, and I was delightfully surprised with how it turned out.
First, let's talk format. As the title indicates, this is told in journal format. Normally this sort of format sort of annoys me because of how choppy the story ends up being, but I think the author does a good job of smoothing that over by including the commentary from the person presenting the journal. The book sort of takes that "found journal" trope, where in the first chapter the finder runs into the journal writer, Clay Halser, late in his life, and after a drink and a sudden turn of luck, finds himself in possession of Clay Halser's journal he kept meticulously since he was young and in the war. The finder then "presents" this journal to us, the readers, by hand selecting entries throughout Clay's life that portray the man as a man and not the legend that he had become, and includes some commentary about the passages themselves and Clay's life in general. The author's attention to detail led to the early, young entries being poorly written and rather superficial, while the late in life ones are much longer, better written, and introspective. I thought that was a nice touch as well.
So Clay Halser leads a rough life. He spent time at war as a teenager, came back to his family home and just never really fit in again, and left home to find his fortune. He drifts around awhile, bartending, stagecoach guarding, and falls in with several men who had an impact on how Clay develops as he gets older. He becomes a great shot, and it's thanks to his shooting and an overzealous reporter that Clay Halser, The Legend, is born in the eyes of the public. Clay then, unknowingly, starts chasing this legend that has been made of him, leading him first into fame, and then into failure. The late in life journal entries in particular are sad to read, as Clay confronts the man he's become.
I really enjoyed this book! It obviously had your stagecoach robberies, your gunfights, your "I'm Marshal Of This Town Now" segments, but it also had a lot of quiet moments where Clay ruminates on what it means to be a gunslinger. I like getting into the minds of main characters a lot, and really enjoyed watching Clay mature through the eyes of his journal. I'm glad this was my first western, because now I feel motivated to seek out more.
mark_lm's review against another edition
2.0
A novel whose protagonist is fairly closely based on Wild Bill Hickock. Idea is that a journalist is present at the gun fighter's death and finds his journal. Makes much of the difference between real events and those imagined by the dime novel authors. Has the usual modern revisionist interest in alcoholism and prostitution. Depressing.
pradhyumnan's review against another edition
3.0
The quintessential western about a man of violence. I can see how this inspired Abercrombie.