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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Hondo a drifter and a pony rider for the Army in a unforgiving land in Apache nation. Angie a settler woman surviving on the frontier raising a son and a ranch the best she can with a lost husband presumed dead. The two meet during a time of tense stand off between the Army and the Apache as settlers are massacred. Forces are at work and survival will come down to who can shoot and use their heads.
Action pack western with a heart. Great world building and story. I wanted more of all this. More exploring the relationship and the battle between the Army and the Apache.
Action pack western with a heart. Great world building and story. I wanted more of all this. More exploring the relationship and the battle between the Army and the Apache.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a good book and reads like a John Wayne movie. (Which is a good thing, I was raised on and LOVE John Wayne movies.) The only thing is I was expecting a bit... more. In some circles, this book is considered to be the peak of western literature, and I just didn't get that. Soild and a great read, no doubt! But not a gripping, nail bitting, change-your-life western I initially believed it to be. Overall, great read and is rooted in it's classic western tropes, settings, and charaters! đź¤
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I feel like you could put a picture of this book in the dictionary next to “Western” and no one would bat an eye. It reads like (and to be fair is based on) a classic Western movie, and it delivers on all the things you’d expect it to—cowboys and Indians, gun fights and damsels, etc. It doesn’t stray far from that mold.
I had never read a Louis L'Amour novel before Hondo but I had long had him on my list of authors to check out. For people my age, L'Amour seems to be the author their grandfather best loved. I'm not sure how well L'Amour continues to be read but in his day he was to westerns what Stephen King has long been to horror. Reading Hondo, I can instantly understand the appeal. Hondo is a brisk, hard-nosed, manly novel of the American west (or American frontier as L'Amour would've preferred). In many ways Hondo is reminiscent of the classic Western novel and film Shane.
Tons of action, a smidge of romance, pure entertainment. Dude knew how to whip up a cracking western.
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A very fine oater. "Hondo" won't ever be called great literature, but it's passable reading when you have a long plane flight or time to spend on the beach. It's short; barely 200 pages. (And, evidently, based on the movie of the same name, which preceded it.) There are all the standard oater elements: taciturn good guy, stalwart woman, Apaches, US Cavalry, four flushers, and snakes in the grass. This is definitely a good read if you're a fan of Westerns. If not, you'd be advised to steer clear.
I really enjoyed this one. My dad is a huge John Wayne fan so I grew up watching his westerns constantly. This was a great nostalgic read.
It was a quick one too; started and finished it Thanksgiving in the time before family arrived.
It was a quick one too; started and finished it Thanksgiving in the time before family arrived.
If you like Louis L'Amour then you'll like this book but it was interesting to listen to this through the filter of 2020 race discussions. This book shows the wide variety of opinions and actions between settlers, soldiers, and the Apache. L'Amour lifts up the strength and honor and scorns the weakness and selfishness of settler, soldier, and Apache alike. He is an author of another time depicting an earlier time so I won't go there but there was one conversation toward the end of the book I appreciated. Hondo is talking with the new officer fresh from West Point and the difference in attitudes is quite stark. The officer sees the Apache and their chief as lying, cowardly savages based on their battle tactics. Hondo responds by asking the officer how he would react in the same situation as the chief and the officer has to concede he would act in the same way. It shows the lack of understanding from those outside of the situation verses the insight of one who had lived with all parties. A great example of needing to withhold judgment in situations we are not familiar or only have external views.
There is then a later conversation between the two where the officer can't understand why Hondo would uphold a promise he made to the Apache chief. The officer saw the Apache as less than himself and not worthy of respect. Again, Hondo's personal interaction with the Apache had taught him differently, but the real point was made by Angie when she corrected the officer by pointing out a gentleman upholds his word regardless of who it is given to.
These things were applicable then and are still true today.
There is then a later conversation between the two where the officer can't understand why Hondo would uphold a promise he made to the Apache chief. The officer saw the Apache as less than himself and not worthy of respect. Again, Hondo's personal interaction with the Apache had taught him differently, but the real point was made by Angie when she corrected the officer by pointing out a gentleman upholds his word regardless of who it is given to.
These things were applicable then and are still true today.