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3.3 AVERAGE
3.3 AVERAGE
DNF - there isn't anything specifically *bad* about this book, but it was slow and never caught my attention. I am sure it was me, and not the novel, but life is too short and filled with books to read.
Terrific story, great imagery, and just general western awesomeness by one of the founders of the genre.
There are a lot of riders and purple sage. Meh.
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Good book! It's sexist, Mormonist (is that a word?), but other than that a pretty good book. I wasn't that into any of the characters though.
A corrupt Mormon bishop is trying to make Jane, a devout Mormon, become the third wife of an old man so as to have the church take control of her ranch. She is torn between her faith, obedience, and common sense.
Lassiter, a stereotypical yet highly enjoyable gunslinger has been trailing his kidnapped sister these many years.
Along the way their paths cross in a romantic and memorable if old fashioned adventure story. Though written in 1912, the prose has a complete freshness to it when it is describing the landscape. Though the dialogue can be melodramatic, it fits with the tone. I had no idea this book leaned heavily into the romance genre.
I have to say, after the Warren Jeffs scandals having the Mormons be the bad guys seems quite timely if unconventional.
I wouldn’t call myself a Western fan, but I absolutely loved this. It’s fun, fast paced, romantic, and set the template for hundreds of imitations. I give it my recommendation.
Lassiter, a stereotypical yet highly enjoyable gunslinger has been trailing his kidnapped sister these many years.
Along the way their paths cross in a romantic and memorable if old fashioned adventure story. Though written in 1912, the prose has a complete freshness to it when it is describing the landscape. Though the dialogue can be melodramatic, it fits with the tone. I had no idea this book leaned heavily into the romance genre.
I have to say, after the Warren Jeffs scandals having the Mormons be the bad guys seems quite timely if unconventional.
I wouldn’t call myself a Western fan, but I absolutely loved this. It’s fun, fast paced, romantic, and set the template for hundreds of imitations. I give it my recommendation.
I finally finished this after months and months of work-related reading. It would never fly today, but Zane Grey gets a whole lot of points, and two stars, on the strength of his skill as a wordsmith. I know he still has a lot of fans, and I think it will be some time before traditional Westerns fall completely out of favor. I could forgive a lot of his missteps (occasional unrealistic dialogue and things like that), but the ending? Holy moly! That could be the worst ending ever, especially considering the popularity of the book.
Actual rating = 1.5/5
I finally got around to reading Riders of the Purple Sage. I'm not too sure what I think of it. It was an okay read, however, I could feel myself getting bored and I only carried on because I inherited a copy from my great-granny (I couldn't read said copy as it was falling apart hence the ebook).
Riders of the Purple Sage was an okay introduction to Western's, I suppose. It's the first one I've read. But, I'll probably need to read another to fully make up my mind whether their worth reading.
The descriptions were detailed and beautiful. I could really imagine both the Sage, Cottonwoods and the Valley. But, and this is weird to say, I think they are full on and overdone.
The story is told from the third-person perspective following both Jane and Venters, alternatively. These characters, as well as Lassiter and Bess, were okay, but I didn't particularly warm or connect to any of them. I didn't particularly understand what was happening to them most of the time.
I also felt the story was very slow paced with only small bursts of action. I thought a Western (from seeing the occasional film on TV) would have more action really. Again, this pace is probably due to the detailed descriptions.
The ending was also extremely abrupt and there was a horrible cliffhanger. I don't feel that everything was tied up as it should have been. But, apparently there is a sequel so I'm guessing a lot of the story will be wrapped up there. However, I doubt I will reading that anytime soon.
Overall, I'm glad I finished Riders of the Purple Sage mainly because it belonged to my great-granny. However, it is unlikely I will pick it up again.
This review and many more can be found at My Expanding Bookshelf.
I finally got around to reading Riders of the Purple Sage. I'm not too sure what I think of it. It was an okay read, however, I could feel myself getting bored and I only carried on because I inherited a copy from my great-granny (I couldn't read said copy as it was falling apart hence the ebook).
Riders of the Purple Sage was an okay introduction to Western's, I suppose. It's the first one I've read. But, I'll probably need to read another to fully make up my mind whether their worth reading.
The descriptions were detailed and beautiful. I could really imagine both the Sage, Cottonwoods and the Valley. But, and this is weird to say, I think they are full on and overdone.
The story is told from the third-person perspective following both Jane and Venters, alternatively. These characters, as well as Lassiter and Bess, were okay, but I didn't particularly warm or connect to any of them. I didn't particularly understand what was happening to them most of the time.
I also felt the story was very slow paced with only small bursts of action. I thought a Western (from seeing the occasional film on TV) would have more action really. Again, this pace is probably due to the detailed descriptions.
The ending was also extremely abrupt and there was a horrible cliffhanger. I don't feel that everything was tied up as it should have been. But, apparently there is a sequel so I'm guessing a lot of the story will be wrapped up there. However, I doubt I will reading that anytime soon.
Overall, I'm glad I finished Riders of the Purple Sage mainly because it belonged to my great-granny. However, it is unlikely I will pick it up again.
This review and many more can be found at My Expanding Bookshelf.
The cover of this book says that this is the restored edition of the novel. Apparently when it was first published, Grey's editor cut huge portions out of the novel. With the approval of the author's son, the editor of this edition reconstructed the novel from the original manuscript. The only thing it needs now, ironically, is a good editor. As it stands I can see perfectly well why it was cut so heavily. For example, in the first 5 chapters the words "rider", "purple", and "sage" are repeated over two hundred times, I suppose either in case you forgot what book you were reading or because Grey didn't own a thesaurus. The descriptions are painstakingly detailed to the point of tedium. There is so much that is unnecessary that any effort on the part of the reader to imaging the surroundings is just wasted. I read this because Zane Grey was one of my father's and my grandmother's favorite authors, but I can only assume they liked him pared down to a manageable level.
Full disclaimer, I have NEVER been fond of Westerns. Now I’m not talking about fun Westerns, like Steampunk (the Weird West Tales series by Mike Resnick is HILARIOUS; you should all read it) or Time Travel (yes, I’m thinking Back to the Future here, lol) but the pure Westerns. You know, where Character A steals Character B’s horse and Character B decides that the only way to avenge his pride is to slaughter Character A’s entire posse. Those kinds of Westerns.
So when my reading challenge list included “A classic from a genre you don’t normally read”, I decided to go with a Western; mainly because my only other choices were gore or pure romance, both of which I can’t stomach. And not knowing much about the genre, I looked up the only Western author I’d heard of, Zane Grey (thanks, Colonel Potter).
“Riders of the Purple Sage” is not only Zane Grey’s most well known book, it’s also considered by most to be the best selling Western of all time and the book that started the genre. It’s spawned a couple movies, inspired many writers and actors, and even has a country rock band named after it. Very, very popular…and very, VERY boring!
The plot itself isn’t too bad, though there’s actually two of them. In the first one, a rancher named Jane Withersteen is being harassed by the dastardly Mormon…authorities?…clergy?…we’ll just go with “dudes in charge” for not being docile enough and marrying the man they want her to. Lassiter, a mysterious dark rider, wanders along and helps her out. The second plot is about a Gentile named Venters, whom Jane is supposedly in love with (and vice versa), who leaves her ranch to try to track down some cattle rustlers so he can make the Mormon’s like him and ends up disappearing into a side canyon with another girl for apparently like a month. Either one would have made a decent book, but smashed together like they were, it was a little strange to follow.
Back to the boring. Look, I know the West is beautiful. The canyons, towers, hills of sage brush…all gorgeous. But it should NOT take 11 pages for one man to ride a handful of miles into a canyon. You do NOT need to describe every single hare running away from his dogs or explain every time his horse decided to switch from running to trotting. And the amount of times someone said the word sage, you’d think it grew on top of everything, the houses, the people, the horses. Someone else did a count in their Goodreads review: 237. They mentioned sage 237 times in a 320 page book. For someone who loves the West and/or extremely detailed descriptions of a book’s world this might be great, but for the average reader? ::thumbs down::
And also…WE GET IT, Jane is a Mormon! She doesn’t have to say it every single time she has a conversation! I came to dread the pages where she actually spoke. Everything turned into “How can I love this man if it goes against my faith” “They wouldn’t possibly turn against me, a fellow Mormon” “I know you can’t stand my Mormonism.” Yes, the author used the word “Mormonism”…he used it MULTIPLE times.
And that ending! ::facedesk::
Now, on the plus side: I’ve read some reviews of this book that said it was anti-Mormon and I don’t really think it came across that way. Yes, the author spoke against Mormons several times, but not really against the Mormon faith itself, just against the bad guys (those “dudes in charge”) who were exploiting the Mormon faith to get what they wanted. There was a lot of inner monologue where Jane was coming to terms with the fact that her leaders might not be the pillars of goodness she thought they were, but that it didn’t mean her faith had to be shaken. I think that’s a great message. Sometimes in life, the people who we looked up to the most aren’t who we thought they were, but that doesn’t mean that our beliefs are wrong.
On the whole, I’d say that I obviously didn’t really like this book…but I can see where people who love Westerns would enjoy it. There were a lot of shoot outs, a stampede or two, some nice scenery, and (spoiler!) the men get their gals. Also, it had a nice overall message.
So when my reading challenge list included “A classic from a genre you don’t normally read”, I decided to go with a Western; mainly because my only other choices were gore or pure romance, both of which I can’t stomach. And not knowing much about the genre, I looked up the only Western author I’d heard of, Zane Grey (thanks, Colonel Potter).
“Riders of the Purple Sage” is not only Zane Grey’s most well known book, it’s also considered by most to be the best selling Western of all time and the book that started the genre. It’s spawned a couple movies, inspired many writers and actors, and even has a country rock band named after it. Very, very popular…and very, VERY boring!
The plot itself isn’t too bad, though there’s actually two of them. In the first one, a rancher named Jane Withersteen is being harassed by the dastardly Mormon…authorities?…clergy?…we’ll just go with “dudes in charge” for not being docile enough and marrying the man they want her to. Lassiter, a mysterious dark rider, wanders along and helps her out. The second plot is about a Gentile named Venters, whom Jane is supposedly in love with (and vice versa), who leaves her ranch to try to track down some cattle rustlers so he can make the Mormon’s like him and ends up disappearing into a side canyon with another girl for apparently like a month. Either one would have made a decent book, but smashed together like they were, it was a little strange to follow.
Back to the boring. Look, I know the West is beautiful. The canyons, towers, hills of sage brush…all gorgeous. But it should NOT take 11 pages for one man to ride a handful of miles into a canyon. You do NOT need to describe every single hare running away from his dogs or explain every time his horse decided to switch from running to trotting. And the amount of times someone said the word sage, you’d think it grew on top of everything, the houses, the people, the horses. Someone else did a count in their Goodreads review: 237. They mentioned sage 237 times in a 320 page book. For someone who loves the West and/or extremely detailed descriptions of a book’s world this might be great, but for the average reader? ::thumbs down::
And also…WE GET IT, Jane is a Mormon! She doesn’t have to say it every single time she has a conversation! I came to dread the pages where she actually spoke. Everything turned into “How can I love this man if it goes against my faith” “They wouldn’t possibly turn against me, a fellow Mormon” “I know you can’t stand my Mormonism.” Yes, the author used the word “Mormonism”…he used it MULTIPLE times.
And that ending! ::facedesk::
Now, on the plus side: I’ve read some reviews of this book that said it was anti-Mormon and I don’t really think it came across that way. Yes, the author spoke against Mormons several times, but not really against the Mormon faith itself, just against the bad guys (those “dudes in charge”) who were exploiting the Mormon faith to get what they wanted. There was a lot of inner monologue where Jane was coming to terms with the fact that her leaders might not be the pillars of goodness she thought they were, but that it didn’t mean her faith had to be shaken. I think that’s a great message. Sometimes in life, the people who we looked up to the most aren’t who we thought they were, but that doesn’t mean that our beliefs are wrong.
On the whole, I’d say that I obviously didn’t really like this book…but I can see where people who love Westerns would enjoy it. There were a lot of shoot outs, a stampede or two, some nice scenery, and (spoiler!) the men get their gals. Also, it had a nice overall message.