Riders of the purple sage - Rambling Readers

No cover — Zane Grey: Riders of the purple sage (1912, Harper & Brothers)

334 pages

English language

Published Nov. 21, 1912 by Harper & Brothers.

OCLC Number:: 6868219

(2 reviews)

Riders of the Purple Sage is a novel that tells the story of a woman by the name of Jane Withersteen and her battle to overcome persecution by members of her polygamous Mormon fundamentalist church. A leader of the church, Elder Tull, wants to marry her, but she has evaded him for years. Things get complicated when Bern Venters and Lassiter, a famous gunman and killer of Mormons help her look after her cattle and horses. She is blinded by her faith to see that her church men are the ones harming her. But when her adopted child disappears... she abandons her beliefs and discovers her true love. The plot deepens and it involves a horse race and a decision to whether to roll a large stone that forever closes off the only way in or out of her hiding place. A second plot involves a innocent girl Bern Venters …

Riders of the Purple Sage is a novel that tells the story of a woman by the name of Jane Withersteen and her battle to overcome persecution by members of her polygamous Mormon fundamentalist church. A leader of the church, Elder Tull, wants to marry her, but she has evaded him for years. Things get complicated when Bern Venters and Lassiter, a famous gunman and killer of Mormons help her look after her cattle and horses. She is blinded by her faith to see that her church men are the ones harming her. But when her adopted child disappears... she abandons her beliefs and discovers her true love. The plot deepens and it involves a horse race and a decision to whether to roll a large stone that forever closes off the only way in or out of her hiding place. A second plot involves a innocent girl Bern Venters accidentally shot…or is she innocent?! The lives of all these people intertwine ….past…present and future! Preceded by Zane Grey's book: 'The Heritage of the West' and Followed by Zane Grey's book: 'The Rainbow Trail'

41 editions

Arbieroo reviewed Riders of the purple sage by Zane Grey (Oxford world's classics)

Review of 'Riders of the purple sage' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

There's a long introduction to this edition which discusses gender and sexuality in the novel and how they relate to its enduring popularity. At one point the essayist wonders why the initial audience included such a high proportion of women. This seems obvious to me; the story consists of two romances! There's been a female audience for novels of romance ever since they were invented.

So I was not really expecting romance, more a written version of the film High Plains Drifter or some such. Well, there's lots of mysterious strangers, injustice, desire for revenge, riding of horses and landscape worship and some gunplay, too, but it's inescapably a character-driven romantic tale. Fun, too, for the most part. The way things play out, the story is also the Fall of Adam and Eve, in reverse, which is a trifle weird.

It's surprisingly well written, apart from the occassions when the …

There's a long introduction to this edition which discusses gender and sexuality in the novel and how they relate to its enduring popularity. At one point the essayist wonders why the initial audience included such a high proportion of women. This seems obvious to me; the story consists of two romances! There's been a female audience for novels of romance ever since they were invented.

So I was not really expecting romance, more a written version of the film High Plains Drifter or some such. Well, there's lots of mysterious strangers, injustice, desire for revenge, riding of horses and landscape worship and some gunplay, too, but it's inescapably a character-driven romantic tale. Fun, too, for the most part. The way things play out, the story is also the Fall of Adam and Eve, in reverse, which is a trifle weird.

It's surprisingly well written, apart from the occassions when the landscape description turns purple to match the sage and I can recommend it to anyone who wants to find out what the "formula Western" novel was all about back in 1912.

Deeper than expected.

Chris Brooks

rated it

May 2, 2018

Subjects

Women ranchers -- Fiction.
Mormon women -- Fiction.
Polygamy -- Fiction.
Utah -- Fiction.