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Saturday, May 28, 2016

Review ; Zane Grey's " Riders of the Purple Sage" ***. 96

Wild West
Introduction
I have a great love for books about the Wild West and my favorite writer is Zane Grey. This man brings alive the Wild West and it’s a pleasure to read his books. In my opinion Zane Grey is in the top bracket of writers who brought the Wild West alive with all its glory. This is one chapter of American history that has captivated the world. The Wild West is generally associated with the 19th century and covers both periods before and after the civil war (1861-65). This period of American history really made America, what it is today and history and love for guns can be traced to this period.
Zane Grey
Zane Grey appeared on the scene and he gave pen to that thrilling period. He was a prolific writer and I have read at least 25 of his books. His” Riders of the Purple Sage’ is in my view is his best work. It’s a lovely tale of love, revenge and gun fights and brings out the type of life that existed during those tumultuous days.
Zane Grey wrote tens of books and many have been made memorable by Hollywood. Zane was born in 1872 and died in 1939. He is famous as the man who he idealized the American frontier He was the driving force in shaping the myths of the Old West; his books and stories were adapted later by both TV and cinema. It is on record that he wrote over 90 books and his total sales exceeded 40 million copies. Zane became even more famous after his death as his books were reprinted and sold millions of copies. Truly Zane Grey was the great American dream.
The novel
The story revolves around a gunfighter named Lassiter who arrives at a ranch owned by a lovely girl called Jane Withersteen. This girl is besieged by a Mormon gang and Lassiter not only wins her love but destroys the Mormon gang. What a lovely tale. It’s a story that one can read and read again. I wonder why such books are no longer written,
It’s a simple story, but the way Zane Grey writes is the clue as his style engrosses the reader as he creates a tale of love in a situation where danger lurks. Zane Grey always wrote of macho men and beautiful women. This is indeed the dream of most human beings and Zane Grey pandered to that dream. In fact I can say he was a seller of dreams which he created in an era that is now history.
The novel grips from the word ‘go” and at every moment the reader looks for the end as to when Lassiter will destroy the Mormon gang and win the love of the women with who he has fallen in love with. It’s a stupendous tale and one can read and re-read it any number of times
Ko

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