Shane

My discovery of Shane was sparked by Wikipedia.  I was looking up information on the most recent Dark Tower book (which I will be reviewing soon) and I began wandering through Wikipedia as some people have a tendency to do.  I noticed that main character of the Dark Tower series, Roland, was partially based off of the titular character of the book Shane. I do so love origin stories and behind the scenes information, so I thought it would be worthwhile picking up.

When I did scoop it up at my local used book store, (it came out after 1923, so its copyright is still strong) I noticed that it was very short.  Like my the book I reviewed immediately before this one, it was probably 120 pages at the most.  I had noticed on Amazon that versions of the book had been edited to remove "words that might offend" and so I was a little hesitant to pick up a copy without knowing if it was the edited one or not but after a quick look at the copyright page I saw Bantam was kind enough to promise "It contains the complete text of the original hard-cover edition. NOT ONE WORD HAS BEEN OMITTED."  There were still times when characters said "By Godfrey" or something similar but I assume that that was in the original version.

What I read about this book would have me believe that it redefined the western genre; somewhat created the mysterious gunslinger archetype.  I would believe it, a lot of this book seems slightly cliche now but I can forgive that if it was creating those tropes.  This was Jack Schaefer's first book, and his most famous.  For a writer to come out of the gate with a book like this shows real skill.

The storytelling and pacing are excellent.  Living in this era, knowing that the mysterious gunfighter is the protagonist, most readers would be able to guess a lot of the plot just from that.  However, this story is told entirely from the view of an admiring kid, which does make it an interesting change from the norm.  The way that certain things are described, the book can really take you into the kid's head and show how he really looks up to Shane.

I am not a huge fan of the western genre, but I enjoyed this.  It was a fast, fun read with bona fide historical significance. Overall, I would give it an 87%.