The Virginian

There are so many stories about the Old West, a time all its own and uniquely strange. We have all heard stories of the West: the vast open plains and prairies full of tumbleweed and framed by tall snow capped mountains; the lonely towns sitting out in the desert with a few dusty cowboys walking about; the saloon and the bank, the church that doubles as a school; all covered by a thin layer of humidity and sand. And we see the cowboy on his horse, the righteous character of the story, a tall man with a dark hat pulled over his eyes This is what we call the Old West; this is what we are used to. The Virginian by Owen Wister is all this and more; it shows the Old West the way we know it but also with a bit of something new.

No one really knows who The Virginian is; he is many different things. To his boss he is a hard working man who can be trusted, to his friends he is a quiet, stoic man who can drink them under the table anytime, and to his few enemies he is a force to be reckoned with and a fast gun. But he is still a mystery to everyone - a man with seemingly no past, no family, and no permanent home. Then Molly Wood comes to town. She is fiercely independent and The Virginian's opposite in every way. But when fate throws these two together, they can become a perfect team. The Virginian may be the only person who can tame Molly, and she might be the only person The Virginian will open up to.

This book was very interesting to read. Written in 1902, it is very much a product of its time; the language is very eloquent and flowery, which made it a little hard to read at times. There are also some very long chapters. The biggest problem with this book is the way in which it is written. While it starts out as a second person narrative, the character who is narrating slowly falls out of the story and he is replaced by a third person narrator. These two narratives switch back and forth over the course of the book, making it a little hard to read and a little mentally jarring. What I did like about this book, though, was how neatly if finished. Many things happen in the book and I thought a lot of them were going to get lost at the end, but every one of them is finalized and ended by the last chapter, leaving me with a sense of satisfaction. The ending itself is also wonderful with a nice aftertaste of happiness and joy. Aside from a few things, this book was very good and worth at least a try - another notch to add to my classic books holster (pun intended.)

*****
RJ