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3.3 AVERAGE
3.3 AVERAGE
Vivid Western character archetypes, suspense in appropriate doses, and an intriguing indictment of Mormonism (published in 1912 when the violence of the religion was apparently known by the reading public). I recently read [b:Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith|10847|Under the Banner of Heaven A Story of Violent Faith|Jon Krakauer|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356441391s/10847.jpg|1723947], which includes a detailed exploration of the religion's history, and this is quite the fictional companion to that.
This book is utter unapologetic melodrama in which the dialogue is so filled with em-dashes and exclamation points you feel breathless reading it, yet this didn't bother me (much). It is filled with movingly beautiful descriptions of setting. Yes, there is a lot of purple sage in this book, but there are crags and sunsets and just all around beauty as well, and such careful wordsmithing. I loved the four main characters and wanted to see them all well and happy. Some might think of the ending here as a cliffhanger, but it feels right and finished to me. If the sequel ([b:The Desert Crucible|19622524|The Desert Crucible|Zane Grey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387680782s/19622524.jpg|26391947]) picked up where this one left off, I'd probably dive right into it just to see these people again; but since it takes place twelve years later with different main characters, I'm more inclined to let my final glimpses of Bess and Venters, Jane and Lassiter be the pictures Grey leaves me with here.
This book is utter unapologetic melodrama in which the dialogue is so filled with em-dashes and exclamation points you feel breathless reading it, yet this didn't bother me (much). It is filled with movingly beautiful descriptions of setting. Yes, there is a lot of purple sage in this book, but there are crags and sunsets and just all around beauty as well, and such careful wordsmithing. I loved the four main characters and wanted to see them all well and happy. Some might think of the ending here as a cliffhanger, but it feels right and finished to me. If the sequel ([b:The Desert Crucible|19622524|The Desert Crucible|Zane Grey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387680782s/19622524.jpg|26391947]) picked up where this one left off, I'd probably dive right into it just to see these people again; but since it takes place twelve years later with different main characters, I'm more inclined to let my final glimpses of Bess and Venters, Jane and Lassiter be the pictures Grey leaves me with here.
Although the writing and storytelling were well done, I found this hard to get through and didn't like the representation of women in this novel.
DISCLAIMER: I ONLY read this book because of the 2020 PopSugar Reading Challenge category of "A Western". I do not like the genre as a whole. So when this category came up I picked the author because, as a life long M*A*S*H* the TV show fan, Col. Potter read Zane Grey all the time. So on a trip to a used book store I picked this book up.
So... I did not DISLIKE this book but I can't say I liked it either. Granted, I floated between reading the paperback and listening to the audio, depending on where I was. This book was full of all the tropes we associate with a western novel... ranchers and ranch hands, a single woman running her ranch alone struggling to not be bullied into wedding a town bigwig so he can have her land and fortune, a mysterious one name stranger (riding a blind horse), comes seeking revenge and ends up staying and helping the lady, lady and stranger fall in love and adopt an unwanted orphan child...
But then remembering this book was originally published in 1912... it may have been Zane Grey who helped establish all these tropes.
My biggest issues was actually with the editing of the audiobook. There were no pauses between the end of a chapter and the beginning of the next... heck they didn't wait for the reader to finish pronouncing the final word of the chapter before the next chapter began.
Would I recommend this book... I guess... if you like westerns. But I am not going to try to find book two in this apparent duology, let alone rush out to read anything else in this genre.
So... I did not DISLIKE this book but I can't say I liked it either. Granted, I floated between reading the paperback and listening to the audio, depending on where I was. This book was full of all the tropes we associate with a western novel... ranchers and ranch hands, a single woman running her ranch alone struggling to not be bullied into wedding a town bigwig so he can have her land and fortune, a mysterious one name stranger (riding a blind horse), comes seeking revenge and ends up staying and helping the lady, lady and stranger fall in love and adopt an unwanted orphan child...
But then remembering this book was originally published in 1912... it may have been Zane Grey who helped establish all these tropes.
My biggest issues was actually with the editing of the audiobook. There were no pauses between the end of a chapter and the beginning of the next... heck they didn't wait for the reader to finish pronouncing the final word of the chapter before the next chapter began.
Would I recommend this book... I guess... if you like westerns. But I am not going to try to find book two in this apparent duology, let alone rush out to read anything else in this genre.
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I really liked this book. The book is set in about 1871 and published in 1912. The story is compelling and although the bullies are Mormons and the heroes are not, it did not bother me one bit being a member of that faith. It was a great story and there are good and bad people in any group.
Riders of the Purple Sage tells the story of a Mormon woman who is bullied by her local church leaders into who she can associate with and how she can live. She is scrutinized by her leaders and chastised often. She owns a ranch and large area of land and to maintain it, employs many men, Mormon and not.
I love the Lassiter character and his development and the twists and turns the story takes. I like the historical fiction and writing about the land and survival. It wasn't a booming story with a "hit or the head" message. Just an adventure told very well, set in Pioneer times in Southern Utah.
Riders of the Purple Sage tells the story of a Mormon woman who is bullied by her local church leaders into who she can associate with and how she can live. She is scrutinized by her leaders and chastised often. She owns a ranch and large area of land and to maintain it, employs many men, Mormon and not.
I love the Lassiter character and his development and the twists and turns the story takes. I like the historical fiction and writing about the land and survival. It wasn't a booming story with a "hit or the head" message. Just an adventure told very well, set in Pioneer times in Southern Utah.
I'm a massive fan of Louis L'Amour books and expected this to be similar. Other than being a Western, Riders differed a surprising amount. The intense anti-Mormon message caught me by surprise and was pretty jarring to modern politically correct sensibilities--although, to be fair, the book takes place only 20ish years after the Mountain Meadows Massacre, so the Mormons didn't have a lot moral high ground at the time. Overall, the book was more of an anti-Morman romance than a Western, and the quintessential Western climactic conflict was downplayed to the point of almost non-existence. Some really compelling characters could still have made the book enjoyable, but the women were all dumb as BRICKS, particularly Jane, and after all the great build-up of Lassiter, he ended up being kind of pathetic. Faye drove me up the wall. I have to wonder if Zane Grey had ever met an actual child before writing that character.
Redeemed from one star by some decent horse chases.
Redeemed from one star by some decent horse chases.
Well, I can now say I’ve read Zane Grey. I listened to the audiobook and I have to say I’m pretty sure I would’ve enjoyed this book more if I had read the print version and didn’t have the really bizarre voice the narrator used every time he was reading a female quote...he just made them all sound dumb. There certainly were some very exciting parts and clear what Gray thought of the Mormons.
adventurous
slow-paced
I just don’t think I’m into Westerns