Take a photo of a barcode or cover
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Kind of childish. Simplistic plot and flat cliched characters. You can tell it's the novelization of an old western movie.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
relaxing
slow-paced
One of the best books I've ever read. I loved every page and I think L'Amour balanced the delicacy of relationships with the harshness of the Land. A classic I will without a doubt be reading again.
For those of a certain age it’s impossible to not picture John Wayne as you read about Honda Lane. A thoroughly entertaining read.
Typical issues of race and gender, which was expected but disappointing, for obvious reasons and also because of the number of lazy narrative shortcuts it resulted in.
However, the story moved along at a good pace.
However, the story moved along at a good pace.
A classic western doing classic western things.
Hondo is a skilled marksman and rider for the US military as tensions between the army and Apaches rise. Out on his own, he stumbles upon a ranch house with a woman and boy. He begins to develop feelings for them, and they for him, but things get complicated when the Apache chief expects her to marry one of his tribe.
This book does everything you expect it to do which I guess is exactly what you want from an old genre western. The main characters have tough exteriors but soft hearts and sometimes things feel a little too convenient. My biggest critique was how the book effectively built anticipation for the final "epic" battle which then was crammed into the final 10 pages of the book and ends abruptly.
Definitely a letdown after an effective buildup.
This was my first foray into western books so I don't really have other recs for things similar.
Hondo is a skilled marksman and rider for the US military as tensions between the army and Apaches rise. Out on his own, he stumbles upon a ranch house with a woman and boy. He begins to develop feelings for them, and they for him, but things get complicated when the Apache chief expects her to marry one of his tribe.
This book does everything you expect it to do which I guess is exactly what you want from an old genre western. The main characters have tough exteriors but soft hearts and sometimes things feel a little too convenient. My biggest critique was how the book effectively built anticipation for the final "epic" battle which then was crammed into the final 10 pages of the book and ends abruptly.
Definitely a letdown after an effective buildup.
This was my first foray into western books so I don't really have other recs for things similar.
What a polarizing novel for myself. I just loved how L'amour describe the landscapes of Arizona.
They are almost poetic, truly showing real love and knowledge about the places written.
On the other hand, characters feel one-dimensioned, a bit corny, and cliché (I kinda expected this from a 1950's Western). For example, Angie, the love interest of Hondo, despite living her all life in the frontier and having been a couple months without her husband, seems to become utterly useless from the very moment she met Hondo.
I also didn't like the overuse of the word "squaw" (English is not my native language, but I
understand that the word has some derogative tone to it, if I'm wrong, by all means, please let me know.)
All in all, Hondo is a pretty enjoyable light novel. I'm looking forward reading something else from L'amour.
They are almost poetic, truly showing real love and knowledge about the places written.
On the other hand, characters feel one-dimensioned, a bit corny, and cliché (I kinda expected this from a 1950's Western). For example, Angie, the love interest of Hondo, despite living her all life in the frontier and having been a couple months without her husband, seems to become utterly useless from the very moment she met Hondo.
I also didn't like the overuse of the word "squaw" (English is not my native language, but I
understand that the word has some derogative tone to it, if I'm wrong, by all means, please let me know.)
All in all, Hondo is a pretty enjoyable light novel. I'm looking forward reading something else from L'amour.
Originally published in 1953, Hondo is very much a product of its time. Its plot is unchallenging, its characters archetypal, its politics conservative, its prose burdened by romanticized nostalgia for the West.
It's unsurprising that the sexual politics of the novel are so normative and its characters so archetypal. Hondo is a man of rugged country, learned in the ways of the Native Americans much like the archetypal Natty Bumppo of James Fenimore Cooper, in need of a good woman to settle his roaming heart. His woman, Angie Lowe, is a hearty country woman, romantic, strong, but clearly unequipped for life without a man. Her husband, Ed, isn't a strong masculine figure, but instead is a lazy, underdeveloped (in a physical sense, though in characterization, too) wimp who can't live up to the expectations of him. Angie's son is a promising young lad, with a heart full of wonder and in desperate need of a strong, masculine role model to grow up right. Vittoro, the noble Apache chief, is strong and cunning, though spiteful at the white men in his land, and his right hand man is conniving, brutal, and ugly.
Needless to say, the cultural lesson is wholly unambiguous; no matter how strong and cunning Vittoro is, he's doomed to death, and L'Amour in at least one passage spins a tale of the white man's rightful destiny to overtake the land of the Indians, whose role, then, is to die fighting bitterly until their roles have been played. Vittoro's gang slaughters indiscriminately, scalping white settlers and playing the boogie men to the peaceful white settlers, who only wish to establish their ranches and go about their lives. L'Amour makes certain to portray Vittoro as the noble warrior, even if he also gives us the white Hondo who is all the more noble and more skillful, his senses nearly superhuman, his prowess uncanny.
L'Amour seems to balance his romanticism for the West with an interesting description of its roughness, and he admittedly manages to write some passages that actually are quite beautiful, even if his cultural message is problematic. I don't appreciate the way in which the relentless romanticism steeps itself in normative sexual and racial politics, but I do appreciate that L'Amour can at least be engaging throughout the novel. I'm certainly interested in reading more of his work, but I also think that I can't engage in the literature as anything more than quaintly diverting. I won't defend its politics, but I think there's still room to appreciate the story.
It's unsurprising that the sexual politics of the novel are so normative and its characters so archetypal. Hondo is a man of rugged country, learned in the ways of the Native Americans much like the archetypal Natty Bumppo of James Fenimore Cooper, in need of a good woman to settle his roaming heart. His woman, Angie Lowe, is a hearty country woman, romantic, strong, but clearly unequipped for life without a man. Her husband, Ed, isn't a strong masculine figure, but instead is a lazy, underdeveloped (in a physical sense, though in characterization, too) wimp who can't live up to the expectations of him. Angie's son is a promising young lad, with a heart full of wonder and in desperate need of a strong, masculine role model to grow up right. Vittoro, the noble Apache chief, is strong and cunning, though spiteful at the white men in his land, and his right hand man is conniving, brutal, and ugly.
Needless to say, the cultural lesson is wholly unambiguous; no matter how strong and cunning Vittoro is, he's doomed to death, and L'Amour in at least one passage spins a tale of the white man's rightful destiny to overtake the land of the Indians, whose role, then, is to die fighting bitterly until their roles have been played. Vittoro's gang slaughters indiscriminately, scalping white settlers and playing the boogie men to the peaceful white settlers, who only wish to establish their ranches and go about their lives. L'Amour makes certain to portray Vittoro as the noble warrior, even if he also gives us the white Hondo who is all the more noble and more skillful, his senses nearly superhuman, his prowess uncanny.
L'Amour seems to balance his romanticism for the West with an interesting description of its roughness, and he admittedly manages to write some passages that actually are quite beautiful, even if his cultural message is problematic. I don't appreciate the way in which the relentless romanticism steeps itself in normative sexual and racial politics, but I do appreciate that L'Amour can at least be engaging throughout the novel. I'm certainly interested in reading more of his work, but I also think that I can't engage in the literature as anything more than quaintly diverting. I won't defend its politics, but I think there's still room to appreciate the story.
This book was made into a movie staring John Wayne. I am a huge John Wayne fan and so is my son. He picked this book for me to read and it was just as good as the movie. This was also my first Louis L'Amour book and I will be reading more of his. My dad also loved to read L'Amour books so I am reading them for him.