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readordie68's review against another edition
4.0
A masterful novel of the trail that carries the brand of lived experience on every page. Captures the craft of working cattle and its attendant joys and frustrations like nothing else I've read. Also serves as sobering testimony to the pervasive white supremacy and violence that undergirded the "civilizing" of the West.
matritense's review against another edition
No character development. It's very "and then this happened and then this happened". However, it was interesting to read a bit of what I'm sure Larry McMurtry used as part of his inspiration for Lonesome Dove.
misajane79's review against another edition
3.0
For DHV book club. A Texas classic, that reminded me that I never really wanted to be a cowboy.
thegrimbookworm's review against another edition
4.0
Although this is a fiction, this felt more like a nonfiction in its believe-ability. So much so, I've actually read that people have made the mistake in thinking this is a nonfiction detailing the actual log of a cowboy during a long cattle drive. Given that this was written based on the author's own experiences as a cowboy, it makes sense. It was his attempt to give people an unromanticized depiction of the West.
Overall I enjoyed the book, but it's because the West is an interest of mine. I think only people interested in cattle drives and the West would find it as interesting, as things do get rather tedious and monotonous at points. Even repetitive, as the terrain rarely changed. Land, then rivers, land then rivers. I struggled in sections of the book because of this, but it makes sense that there would be lulls in a cattle drive. It'd be hellish if the entire drive was action upon action. I wished the empty chapters were less drawn out, but at the same time, it did make it feel like we were right alongside the cowboys for the ride.
The dialogue was a bit rough to get through, especially the chapters where characters sat around to tell stories at their campfire at night. It felt awkwardly written, clunky, and some of the stories told by the characters felt aimless. Thankfully that's few and far in between.
I would also like to point out, this was written in 1903. As you would expect, the language chosen for certain races is unfortunate. Including the decided name of the main character's favorite black horse. Such is the ugly truth of our history. Just as a heads up for anyone who was interested.
Overall I enjoyed the book, but it's because the West is an interest of mine. I think only people interested in cattle drives and the West would find it as interesting, as things do get rather tedious and monotonous at points. Even repetitive, as the terrain rarely changed. Land, then rivers, land then rivers. I struggled in sections of the book because of this, but it makes sense that there would be lulls in a cattle drive. It'd be hellish if the entire drive was action upon action. I wished the empty chapters were less drawn out, but at the same time, it did make it feel like we were right alongside the cowboys for the ride.
The dialogue was a bit rough to get through, especially the chapters where characters sat around to tell stories at their campfire at night. It felt awkwardly written, clunky, and some of the stories told by the characters felt aimless. Thankfully that's few and far in between.
I would also like to point out, this was written in 1903. As you would expect, the language chosen for certain races is unfortunate. Including the decided name of the main character's favorite black horse. Such is the ugly truth of our history. Just as a heads up for anyone who was interested.
awes_'s review against another edition
4.0
This book is true to it’s title as it’s a very honest in its depiction of cowboy life on the trail. It’s filled with technical details of driving cattle over a long distance, which could be tedious for readers that don’t have a particular interest in the topic. Despite being fiction, it doesn’t really feel like it, with nothing being even vaguely hard to believe.
In fact, for a lot of the book nothing or any particular importance actually happens. From my understanding, this does reflect real life on the trails, with periods of tedium punctuated by bursts of activity such as river crossings or stampedes. The author gives a lot to detailed attention to these events; most river crossings span multiple pages, explaining exactly how the crossing points were found and the cattle divided and driven across. One of the stampedes amounts to 8 pages of rounding up cattle. This detail’s kind of the point of the book though, as it is supposed to more reflect the life of cowboys rather than glorify the vice.
Some remarks regarding certain races are very uncomfortable, but they do unfortunately reflect the opinions of certain peoples at the time. The book was written in 1902 and is set not long after the civil war. Some important characters themselves fought for the confederacy, and there’s clear stigma against black people and Native Americans. This is all in accordance to history though, and I think it’s important to recognise the ugly truth of these views being the norm once.
In fact, for a lot of the book nothing or any particular importance actually happens. From my understanding, this does reflect real life on the trails, with periods of tedium punctuated by bursts of activity such as river crossings or stampedes. The author gives a lot to detailed attention to these events; most river crossings span multiple pages, explaining exactly how the crossing points were found and the cattle divided and driven across. One of the stampedes amounts to 8 pages of rounding up cattle. This detail’s kind of the point of the book though, as it is supposed to more reflect the life of cowboys rather than glorify the vice.
Some remarks regarding certain races are very uncomfortable, but they do unfortunately reflect the opinions of certain peoples at the time. The book was written in 1902 and is set not long after the civil war. Some important characters themselves fought for the confederacy, and there’s clear stigma against black people and Native Americans. This is all in accordance to history though, and I think it’s important to recognise the ugly truth of these views being the norm once.
jmeston's review against another edition
5.0
I'm going to finally mark this as read even though I haven't gotten to the last bit. I started reading this aloud to my daughters. My oldest was very interested in the life on the trail, cattle wrangling, etc. It's the best cowboy era book I've read (or very nearly finished).
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