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3.28 AVERAGE
3.28 AVERAGE
I selected this as my pick for the 2018 Popsugar Ultimate Reading Challenge advanced prompt "a bestseller from the year you graduated high school." Since I had read a lot by this author when I was in high school and college, I thought it would be fun to see how this had stood the test of time. I was pleasantly surprised and thoroughly enjoyed this thriller. It was a fun, fast-paced page-turner and reminded me why I'd so enjoyed the Queen of Suspense.
While some of the details were a little dated (such as the FBI agent asking to borrow telephones to make calls and references to the World Trade Center and PanAm), the story was was engaging and kept me flipping the pages. In some ways, this could be considered historical fiction, but it is definitely not dated. I found the writing crisp and the story's pacing just right. Although I did deduce the killer's identity before the big reveal, I enjoyed the story and how it unfolded. The edition of the book that I read included a Q&A with the author, which I enjoyed and enhanced my reading experience.
While some of the details were a little dated (such as the FBI agent asking to borrow telephones to make calls and references to the World Trade Center and PanAm), the story was was engaging and kept me flipping the pages. In some ways, this could be considered historical fiction, but it is definitely not dated. I found the writing crisp and the story's pacing just right. Although I did deduce the killer's identity before the big reveal, I enjoyed the story and how it unfolded. The edition of the book that I read included a Q&A with the author, which I enjoyed and enhanced my reading experience.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is not something I’d normally pick up on my own, but my cousin lent it to me recently and I was willing to try it. When he lent it to me, I also remembered that when I worked at a library years ago we had a huge shelf of Zane Grey books, and I was always curious about them. So I was interested to read this, although my expectations were not very high.
In the end, I’m surprised by how compelling I found this story. Yes, there are the underlying (and sometimes quite overt) patriarchal, racist tones and ideas that you would expect from a book of this era, but I was a bit surprised by several moments in which these were subverted in a way that felt (relatively) modern.
And I appreciated but also became a bit bored of the many descriptions of the desert and cowboy life, but I suppose those are things many readers are looking for in these types of books, and having now been to Arizona myself (although sadly not to the actual desert) I felt I was able to appreciate them more than I would’ve done otherwise.
At the end of the day, I enjoyed this to a certain degree, and I’m still a bit surprised by how much it pulled me in. But there are too many issues throughout for me to truly appreciate it.
In the end, I’m surprised by how compelling I found this story. Yes, there are the underlying (and sometimes quite overt) patriarchal, racist tones and ideas that you would expect from a book of this era, but I was a bit surprised by several moments in which these were subverted in a way that felt (relatively) modern.
And I appreciated but also became a bit bored of the many descriptions of the desert and cowboy life, but I suppose those are things many readers are looking for in these types of books, and having now been to Arizona myself (although sadly not to the actual desert) I felt I was able to appreciate them more than I would’ve done otherwise.
At the end of the day, I enjoyed this to a certain degree, and I’m still a bit surprised by how much it pulled me in. But there are too many issues throughout for me to truly appreciate it.
“Going through life is something like riding a deep canyon where the light seldom shines. It is a strange canyon with unexpected turns and insurmountable walls and cross-canyons, boxed completely from the light. I suppose when we hit the closing wall of one of these box canyons it looks like the end and we want to beat our life out there. Sometimes by accident, sometimes by design, we feel our way out into the place where the light comes through at times, and we go on down that way because farther on there may be a way out into that light. Don’t you want to struggle on a little longer, Magdaline? I’m boxed in at present myself, in a canyon as dark as hell, but I’m feeling around for the way out.”
So philosophizes cowboy John Curry to his Indian friend, Magdaline. Both find themselves in dark canyons, but John has more experience in such matters. Compared to Magdaline’s 19 years, John is a wise old sage at 28. Their troubles involve John’s love interest, Mary Newton, a good woman married to a scoundrel. Even though she’s unhappy and often hurt by her scumbag husband, she feels bound by her obligations in the marriage vows. There is also High-Lo, the 19 year-old cowboy protege and best friend of John. They call him High-Lo because sometimes when work is to be done, they have to look “high and low” in order to find him. He’s the most interesting and fun character of the story. Grey gives us a fine story of how these folks deal with life--the choices they make, and the cards they’re dealt along the way.
Originally published in magazine serial form in 1926, Captives of the Desert is a Zane Grey mixture of old and new West. The setting is Black Mesa, Arizona of the 1920s. Sometimes they’re riding horses, sometimes cars. As with all Grey novels of the West, the landscape of mesas, canyons, and sage are beautifully woven into the story.
Although the outcome is fairly predictable, there are a few twists and turns, with interesting events. A Hopi snake dance is vividly described. Grey’s respect and admiration for the American Indian is displayed more so than in other of his novels that I’ve read.
There isn’t much gun play as can be found in such titles as, [b:Riders of the Purple Sage|90160|Riders of the Purple Sage (Riders of the Purple Sage #1)|Zane Grey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320415192l/90160._SY75_.jpg|2663060], [b:The Rainbow Trail|121292|The Rainbow Trail ( Riders of the Purple Sage#2)|Zane Grey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1171832383l/121292._SY75_.jpg|3063248], and [b:The Lonestar Ranger|25844040|The Lonestar Ranger|Zane Grey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1438357091l/25844040._SX50_.jpg|2425493] , but there’s plenty romance, even if some of it may seem a bit strange to the 21st century reader.
So philosophizes cowboy John Curry to his Indian friend, Magdaline. Both find themselves in dark canyons, but John has more experience in such matters. Compared to Magdaline’s 19 years, John is a wise old sage at 28. Their troubles involve John’s love interest, Mary Newton, a good woman married to a scoundrel. Even though she’s unhappy and often hurt by her scumbag husband, she feels bound by her obligations in the marriage vows. There is also High-Lo, the 19 year-old cowboy protege and best friend of John. They call him High-Lo because sometimes when work is to be done, they have to look “high and low” in order to find him. He’s the most interesting and fun character of the story. Grey gives us a fine story of how these folks deal with life--the choices they make, and the cards they’re dealt along the way.
Originally published in magazine serial form in 1926, Captives of the Desert is a Zane Grey mixture of old and new West. The setting is Black Mesa, Arizona of the 1920s. Sometimes they’re riding horses, sometimes cars. As with all Grey novels of the West, the landscape of mesas, canyons, and sage are beautifully woven into the story.
Although the outcome is fairly predictable, there are a few twists and turns, with interesting events. A Hopi snake dance is vividly described. Grey’s respect and admiration for the American Indian is displayed more so than in other of his novels that I’ve read.
There isn’t much gun play as can be found in such titles as, [b:Riders of the Purple Sage|90160|Riders of the Purple Sage (Riders of the Purple Sage #1)|Zane Grey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320415192l/90160._SY75_.jpg|2663060], [b:The Rainbow Trail|121292|The Rainbow Trail ( Riders of the Purple Sage#2)|Zane Grey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1171832383l/121292._SY75_.jpg|3063248], and [b:The Lonestar Ranger|25844040|The Lonestar Ranger|Zane Grey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1438357091l/25844040._SX50_.jpg|2425493] , but there’s plenty romance, even if some of it may seem a bit strange to the 21st century reader.