Reviews

The Shootist by Glendon Swarthout

woody1881's review

4.0

Here is another book I should have read long ago. The movie was mostly true to the book, with one disturbing difference, but no spoilers here.

There is a spoiler in the introduction of the book, but I am not sorry I read it. I have a hard time deciding which is better, the book or the movie. For detail, the book I suppose. For entertainment, the movie.

oddlyconfusing's review

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

unicornbanzaiiking's review

5.0

Best western I've ever read! So good!!

the_weirdling's review

5.0

For every 50 westerns I read, most are suffered through. They aren't very good. It's like romance novels for bros. A few are good, and maybe one is truly great. This is one of the truly great ones. It's maybe one of the best five every written. Soooo good.

mariaejike's review

inspiring reflective relaxing tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.75

dixiet's review

4.0

This was really well written. I enjoyed it very much even though it's not my usual kind of read.

bluegrasspam's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Very violent and descriptive. 

timmens59's review

5.0

What a fine, outstanding piece of literature. Many will recognize the title from the movie adaptation, The Shootist, starring the Duke, Lauren Bacall, Ronnie Howard and Jimmy Stewart. I'm a fan of the movie and as a fan of the Duke and aware of his dying of lung cancer, the movie was particularly poignant when I watched in back in '76. Back to the book. Swarthout reminds me of Charles Portis and True Grit fame. The writing is tight, original, lyrical, capturing what I imagine the way men and women in the 19th century West used the language. It has a beauty to it, an elegance even. As is often the case, the book has darker and richer moments not captured in the movie for various reasons. In this edition, Swarthout's son, who co-wrote the movie screenplay, writes a fascinating foreward in which he explains Wayne's and Stewart's objections to a few aspects of the screenplay, which in its original form followed the book's darker and cynical moments of human nature. So a couple of things were changed, but I won't go into details. I will say, however, Swarthout displays the knowledge of a surgeon in describing the horrors of a gunshot wound. Men don't just die from a bullet wound in this book. You travel with the bullet, in minute detail. I took it as his attempt to swat away at the many romantic tropes of the Western myth, giving the reader a much more realistic examination of gun violence and the brutality often experienced at the hands of humans. Highly recommended.

mark_lm's review

4.0

Very good.

paulataua's review

3.0

Came across ‘The Shootist’ in a secondhand bookshop, remembered liking the John Wayne movie of the same name in the seventies, so gave it a try. It was a fairly OK read, short and not very enthralling, but interesting in how much the ending differed from the movie . Worth it just for that!