- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks (Nov 7 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0199553874
- ISBN-13: 978-0199553877
- Product Dimensions: 19 x 12.7 x 1.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 222 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #295,488 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
Excellent introduction by Lee Clark Mitchell, that confirms Zane Grey was never anecdotal: this novel is much more than just a Western. Georges-Claude Guilbert, Universite Francois Rabelais Tours
Book Description
`With searching eyes he studied the beautiful purple, barren waste of sage. Here was the unknown and the perilous.' The novel that set the pattern for the modern Western, Riders of the Purple Sage was first published in 1912, immediately selling over a million copies. In the remote border country of South Utah, a man is about to be whipped by the Mormons in order to pressure Jane Withersteen into marrying against her will. The punishment is halted by the arrival of the hero, Lassiter, a gunman in black leather, who routs the persecutors and then gradually recounts his own history of an endless search for a woman abducted long ago by the Mormons. Secrecy, seduction, captivity, and escape: out of these elements Zane Grey built his acclaimed story of the American West.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Riders of the Purple Sage is a good read!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Riders of the Purple Sage (Mass Market Paperback)
In Riders of the Purple Sage, Zane Grey takes the reader to the small Mormon town in Utah called Cottonwoods. The novel is set in the 1870's. The novel is centered on the life of Jane WIthersteen, whose father was the founder and center of the town. Jane faces many troubles in Cottonwoods. The main one is that her cattle have been stolen by Oldring and his gang. Another is that Jane is pressured by the townspeople because she allows Gentiles to live there. She is torn between her feelings and her religion until a stranger, Lassiter, comes riding into town searching for the answers to a secret that only Jane knows the answer to.Jane is the main character in the book. This book is different because most westerns do not center around the life of a woman. Most westerns are focused on the rough, tough, cowboy who shoots people and lives on the edge to survive. Jane is different. Her father founded the town she lives in and she keeps the town going. She is like the head of the town. She owns almost everything in the town and the landscape around it. She is very wealthy and has no biases. She likes who she likes because of who they are, not what their religion is, like the rest of the town does. The town hates that she acts like that. Jane takes Lassiter in and answers his questions about the secret. I really like that the author uses a woman in this novel because it gives a whole different perspective to a western. Most westerns focus on the cowboy and his journeys, but this book focuses on a woman, Jane, throughout the book and the troubles she encounters living in the West. It gives us a perspective of what women may have been like in the West. It still has the rough, tough cowboy, but he is not the only focus in the book. There is more happening than just the journey of a cowboy. This book was also a pleasure to read because it does a good job of describing the landscape around Cottonwoods and in the sage. Some westerns give the reader an idea of the landscape, but this book focuses on the landscape and uses it in the book. For instance, Venters travels into the sage and hides behind the rock and in holes in the mountains and terrain around him. The landscape is used throughout the book when the characters are faced with problems such as the one described above with Venters. The landscape helped to hide him. I think it was clever to bring the landscape in and use it as part of the story. Alot of westerns do not use the landscape, they just describe it to give the reader a setting and an idea of the landscape in the book. The book is a typical western though, because Lassiter is a typical cowboy. He has a deep secret and is in search of answers to that secret. He is a stranger that comes riding into town. He sleeps in the sage under the stars and will not sleep inside. He is on a mission and is not going to let anything or anyone get in his way. Most westerns have the cowboy meet a woman as in this story. Overall, I think this is a good book for all sorts of readers. Zane Grey is a good writer who includes aspects for all kinds of readers. Riders of the Purple Sage is an action pact, mystery solving, all around good book for anyone who is in the mood for a western.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful Introduction to Westerns for Teen Readers!,
By Evelyn Horan (California) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Riders of the Purple Sage (Modern Library Classics) (Paperback)
Zane Grey was my first western author. After reading one book as a young teen, I began to read all his books. I loved his ability to describe a setting, his wonderful use of simple descriptive language and his love of nature, all show through in his work. The plots are simple enough for young people to follow and the stories usually end well so that the reader has a sense of satisfaction at the conclusion, and he has learned to know the characters as friends. This book is one that includes all these elements! Enjoyable read, especially for teens!Evelyn Horan - author Jeannie, A Texas Frontier Girl, Books One - Three
3.0 out of 5 stars
I'd mosey on past this one, partn'r....classic or not.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Riders of the Purple Sage (Mass Market Paperback)
I occasionally enjoy a good western, but how "Riders of the Purple Sage" ever got to be considered a western classic is beyond me. Between the sickeningly chivalrous Lassiter, the naïve but always-dutiful Jane (and the rest of the set-piece characters), I could easily imagine it was written by Louisa May Alcott or one of the Bronte sisters in their father's attic. This may be worth a try if you've never read Zane Grey before and want to give it a try but I think I'll stick with Jack Schaffer (try "Monte Walsh"), Louis L'Amour, Larry McMurtry or A.B. Guthrie from now on.
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