Started: Jan. 20
Finished: Jan. 24
Notes: I've been reading a fair amount of non-fiction concerning the Old West of late, so thought I'd turn to some of the fiction on the era. This particular novel was the basis for the 1960 movie starring Burt Lancaster. I've read this author's novel The Searchers and generally enjoyed it, so thought I'd give him another go.
Mini review: After a somewhat slow start, this turned out to be a damn fine novel. It's written in a style more common to half a century or more ago, being verbose by today's standards, but this is necessary as this isn't simply a tale of gunfights and adventure, though there is some of that. This is mainly a tale of the cowfolk who helped build the frontier and the hardships and dangers they faced, especially their struggles against Native American tribes, her being the Kiowa. Also, by modern standards this isn't the most politically correct of novels, but the anger and curses thrown at the Kiowa is mostly understandable (at least from some characters) because of the tense situations; in other words, if you're fighting for your life, you're not going to worry so much if the words coming from your mouth are politcally correct.
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