Customer Reviews

Chancy (G K Hall Large Print Book Series)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the story of a boy who was condemned with out a chance as a child that progresses into the inspirational tale of a man searching for a future, but being haunted by his past. After a widowed father was hanged for a crime he didn't commit his only son Otis Tom Chancy a strong-willed boy and a loyal son is forced to leave the small Tennessee leaving behind him a ramshackle cabin, the only man who believed in him, and carrying the title of a horse thief's son. As chancy rides west across the plains he obtains experience in being a cowhand and wielding a gun. Along the way he meets up with a cattle outfit near desperation, a rowdy gang of outlaws, and a wealthy rancher looking for a business partner. But the plot thickens when he meets up with his past in a small western town and this time, he's not going anywhere.

I really like this book. Louis Lamour is my favorite author. This is my favorite book by him. I read it last year as a freshman for Accelerated Reader. This is a western story as most of Louis Lamours books are. In this book Otis Chancy is the main character. He starts off with absolutely nothing. Doing anything he can to earn a dollar hear or a buck there. He goes on fighting Indians, crooked sheriffs, and deadly gunmen. He ends up getting a hold of some property and a few head of cattle. With some people helping him out around the ranch, he ends up making a life for himself. This is my favorite book because its western, it has fighting in it and I like Louis Lamour as an author. If you are interested in any of these things then I recommend this book.

I read several times all the books writtent by Louis L'Amour of French-Irish descent. I like the man. What an extraordinary adventurer. Boxer, cowboy, officer of a tank during the second world war, he was a real westerner. I represent myself the American man of the Frontier as Louis L'Amour who loved giving birth to strong characters as Ottis Chancy.

Be ready to be surprised by the quality of the story, the sense of action, the humourous passion of the West. Louis L'Amour, you still are a great author.

L'Amour viewed himself as a storyteller, keeping his audience on edge as a mysterious storyline unfolded, replete with characters worth caring about. "Chancy" is a product bearing the mark of the master storyteller. The plot is not resolved until the final page. L'Amour writes authentically because he lived the lives of the characters he created. Yes he lived a few generations after the Western Frontier days, but as much as reasonably possible, he put himself into the locations and mindset of those living in the Ole West.

L'Amour ties in a subtle romantic theme that sees positive resolution in the conclusion of "Chancy." The protagonist is motivated by wanting to do something significant with his life. He isn't greedy or selfish. Chancy sees himself as an outsider and one of his sidekicks is an Indian who views himself in the same way. Kindred spirits are drawn together for a common purpose. My only real complaint is that all the conflict resolutions are made through violence. The strongest always win. That's just too unrealistic, simplistic, and sad. Otherwise, this is a good escape read.

This was my first L'Amour novel and for two thirds of the book I was drawn in and liked it very much. L'Amour wrote this at the age of 60 and by then he was a master at story telling. His prose is clean and efficient; he can set up a scene and in a few skillful sentence describe nature and places. In Chancy he created an appealing 19-year-old, fighting against great odds to create a good life for himself and to become a respectable man. His father was unjustly hung as a horse thief and he was forced to watch as a 13-year-old boy.
The problem is the last 20 pages of this 160-page novel. I like novels where I can believe the events could actually happen, even if the events are extreme. But L'Amour piles up so much derring-doo, so many struggles-to-the-death, so much total bravery, and our hero overcoming such incredible odds, that this becomes comic book stuff. For example: four desperados are waiting to kill our hero in Cheyenne, after he has had a bruising fist fight and many harrowing escapes. He has a pistol and a rifle. Our hero's trail partner, who is very good with a gun, offers to help. This is my fight, our hero says and goes out alone. You can hear Tex Ritter singing "High Noon" though in that great movie Garry Cooper repeatedly asked for help. Chancy quickly dispatches two of the desperados with his rifle butt; plugs the third after he has started shooting at him from a balcony, and finally brings down the expert gunman with his rifle. Isn't it a bit sad that L'Amour felt he had to give his readers this kind of fantasy rather than a at least a little dose of reality? I remember seeing the movie, TV and popular book versions of the "Gunfight at the OK Corral" Then I read James Horan's wonderful book "The Lawmen"." part of his authentic Wild West series. Horan actually found and read the court transcripts of the trial after the OK Corral shootings and looked up all the actual newspaper accounts. Almost everything in the movie, TV and "biography" of Wyatt Earp was a pack of lies. Is it good to live in la la land? Is it good to have a US president who thinks he's John Wayne? For that matter Wayne ducked enlisting in World War II . Hell, he had a career to pursue. But he sure was a great movie cowboy and Marine sergeant. Anyway, read Horan's wonderful books. There were truly brave men out in the old West but most avid readers of "Westerns" have never heard of them.

Great to get the book. my husband shared his copy with my brother and then he wanted to read it.
I really appreciate the quick delivery and good condition of the book we recieved.As far as how good
the book is, it is a Louie LaMour. They are all good reading,Enough said.