Customer Reviews

Off the Mangrove Coast (Random House Large Print)

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

 

 

Louis L'Amour was one of the great writers of modern times, and he is sorely missed by everyone that loves a good story. This book is one of the best collections of his short stories, some of them never before published. His books and stories are often filled with a deep sense of justice, and the ultimate triumph of all that is right. The stories in "Off The Mangrove Coast", follow that pattern. There is the story of a boxer, seeking justice for the cruel death of his father. In another story a man goes out into the jungles of Borneo, trying to rescue some tourists from murderers and headhunters. There is a story about a true friendship that forms during a perilous journey on the sea, in search of treasure. There are nine stories included in this book. These are stories about the heart of adventure and courage, and the surprising good that can sometimes be found in very unexpected places. Louis L'Amour wanted to be remembered as a good storyteller, and in this and so many of his other books that wish has always been fulfilled.

The nince uncollected stories here range from L'Amour's earliest days as a writer to his latest, but are linked by protagonists seeking justice. While L'Amour is most famous for his Westerns, most of these stories draw upon his own life experiences for their setting and subjects. L'Amour was a boxer, winning over 50 bouts, and in "Fighters Should Be Hungry" he presents the classic tale of a hungry kid seeking to avenge his father's death. Boxing surfaces again in the equally formulaic "The Rounds Don't Matter." I don't know that he was ever a detective, but he's not much of a detective writer, based on the two weak pulp stories here, "The Unexpected Corprse" and "Time of Teror." For the Western fans, there's a quite nice little tale of outlaws and gold, called "The Secret of Silver Springs." And for the checkers fans there's a brief little throwaway tale about a champion seaman checker player called "It's Your Move." I have to confess that "The Cross and the Candle" made such a small impression that I have no idea what it was about! The two best stories derive their quality from L'Amour's travels. "Off the Mangrove Coast" is about a villanous quarter of sailors seeking gold lost at sea. It's a tense, gripping story with a great fight scene. The longest and best story is "The Diamond of Jeru", about an expatriate American on Borneo who dreams of making a big diamond score so he go back home. When an American couple hire him to take them upriver, it turns into Deliverance meets The Headhunters. It's a great old-fashioned adventure tale that was recently made into a cable movie. All in all, a mixed bag with two gems and a few lumps of coal.

I've always been a fan of Louis Lamour's western's but this book is an excellent example of just how great a writer he was. Using his life experiences Mr. Lamour paints a vivid and entertaining picture in each of the short stories included in this compilation. And only one of them is set in the western genre. A great read for any fan of his or anyone who loves short stories.

Last September I found myself in a desperate situation, i.e. in a holding pattern with nothing to read. Then, I found a cast-off copy of Sackett (The Sacketts, No 6) by Louis L'Amour, which, though being the pulpiest of formulaic western fiction, at least served the immediate purpose of mental diversion. Why, it was even engaging enough to finish. The question then arose: Should I obtain and read more of, if not all of, his other westerns? Uh ... no, that's just not an option because I suspect they're all cut from the same piece of rawhide. And there are just too many. And there's just too little daily reading time in my life to recklessly fritter it away. However, I did note that he's written other short stories not of the western genre (Say it ain't so, Joe!) and I thought, before I cut the author loose, that I would give them a go. Simply out of curiosity, mind you. Thus, OFF THE MANGROVE COAST.

This is a compendium of nine short stories ranging in length from nine to sixty-eight pages. One unfolds in the Old West. The other eight take place more or less contemporarily in Borneo (2) and the United States (6). The heroes are two boxers, a private eye, an expatriate American in Paris, two treasure-hunting adventurers, a cowboy drifter, an insurance salesman, and a checkers player. (Perhaps a series could be built around the checkers player, you think?)

All the stories read as if tamed-down versions of those written for the male-oriented "men's adventure" genre of pulp magazines in the 50s and 60s. I say "tamed-down" because only once is a scantily-clad female part of the plot - and that but briefly. Otherwise, all the male heroes are reacting to danger and opposition with the expected all-American virtues: competence, perseverance, bravery, gallantry, loyalty, and a sense of justice deserved. It's Good vs. Evil in black and white. While this is perfectly fine - indeed, thriller fiction traditionally follows this general formula - there are none of the messy, gray areas that one sees in the real world, which are an essential part of the plots from my personal favorite author, Gerald Seymour, and which are the incubators of Pyrrhic victories contested by protagonists that aren't overtly heroic and antagonists that aren't totally iniquitous.

Louis L'Amour was apparently writing for a different audience in a simpler time, i.e. readers living during the Cold War when it was the Godless Red Menace against God-Fearing America and its allies. Only in the beginning of the last short, "Time of Terror", did I get a hint of something more edgy - something akin to the weird reality found in a Dean Koontz thriller, but the story ended abruptly without evolving further in that style.

Ok, ok. Perhaps I'm over-dramatizing and over-simplifying. The point is, L'Amour's characters and plots are to me more unadorned and less ambiguous than those I've come to appreciate in the twenty-first century; for whatever reasons the author's tales seem very mid-20th century. However, that said, I'm awarding OFF THE MANGROVE COAST, like I did SACKETT, four stars because the stories are representative of their time and, while not riveting or likely to cause the reader to do a mental double-take, are nonetheless enjoyable to a better than average degree.

....sometimes I like my stories written straight ahead with no deep analysis required. And easy to read. And in small bites.

These are great tales of pirates and noire detectives and exotic lands and plenty of fights and murder. No deep analysis required. Straight ahead storytelling from one of the best. The best five bucks I spent all summer...

This book contains many different kinds of stories and at first as I picked up the book and saw the contents only contained one western story, oooh, I might not like this collection. But being adventerous, I said to myself it's only one book. So I bought it and thoroughly enjoyed every story without question.

I came upon this book having no prior experience with the work of Louis L'Amour. Now I am a convert, and will eagerly search out other novels and short stories by this great American storyteller. Written in stirring yet simple prose, this collection of nine short stories is a perfect antidote for too many "serious" books. Each tale presents a new cast of memorable characters, and usually offers a riveting moment when true courage is summoned against odds. If the tropes seem familiar, dont blame L'Amour! Even a casual reading will reveal that Hollywood has often borrowed from the great Louis L'Amour.