Spaghetti Western

So Young, Brave, and Handsome by Leif Enger, was our book choice for this month. And we were hard pressed to find a food theme for it, but if only I had thought about this genre, the Spaghetti Western, I would have served spaghetti! But I didn't, and so we had white bean chili, a wonderful salad, rolls, and hermits for dessert. None of which would have likely come out of a Zane Gray novel, which is what I compare this book to, even though I've never read a Zane Gray novel. I have heard enough about the quintessential western to know that our choice certainly fit the bill.

This first-person narration gives us at the helm of our journey, Monte Becket, who is certainly not a prototypical western hero, but he provides us one. Having authored a one-hit wonder along the likes of Riders of the Purple Sage (by Zane Gray) he has spent several years trying to krank out other novels, to no avail. Having quit his average-Joe job at the Post Office he begins to feel the pressure of writer's block. Enter Glendon Hale, hero (or anti-hero depending on how you look at it) quiet builder of boats with a sketchy past, including leaving the love of his life some twenty years past.

Glendon suddenly decides he needs redemption and sets out on a quest to find and get forgiveness. He asks Monte to accompany him, and Monte says yes with the blessing of his own loving family. The two set off on what becomes an increasingly dangerous journey, as Glendon's past is brought to light and the law still has an interest in him.

This journey to redemption is well written, almost lyrical, and through Monte we get an insightful look at the characters with all of their humanness--frailties and strengths alike.

The antagonist of the story is the archetype of evil, Siringo, an ex-Pinkerton (you learn something new everyday!) and he is unrelenting in his pursuit of the two. And of course that makes the story!

There is a lovely irony in the story that Monte, having written a great romantic western that people recognize him for, when living out a tale similar to it, is completely overwhelmed by the true grittiness of such a life.

What I particularly liked about this story, besides it being a quick and easy read, is that the author researched his history, and the people and places he mentions are true, outside of his fictional characters, that is. I love the fact that the Hundred and One was really a ranch in Ponca City, Oklahoma and his description was accurate. We also get a glimpse of the end of an era, the cowboy age, and the beginning of a new one, with the use of automobiles.

So though it was a long and dusty trail, with some shoot-em-ups, there is a type of reconciliation. But it might not be the one you expected.