Open Range [Mass Market Paperback]

Lauran Paine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2003

Boss Spearman knows that times are changing on the open range for free-grazing cattlemen who don’t own land. But more and more settlers are staking claim to the land, and when a local rancher kills one of Boss’s crew, he knows he must make a stand.

--This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Lauran Paine "the best in the business." -- Kirkus Reviews --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

About the Author

Lauran Paine was born in Duluth, Minnesota, a descendant of the Revolutionary War patriot and author, Thomas Paine. His family moved to California where he spent years in the livestock trade and rodeos and where he learned from many old-timers how different the Old West was from the way movies portrayed it. After serving in the Navy in World War II, he began writing for Western pulp magazines. He has written more than nine hundred books under his own name and pseudonyms, many published in Britain. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 242 pages
• Publisher: Leisure Books (August 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 084395261X
• ISBN-13: 978-0843952612
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #461,181 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but predictable, August 29, 2003

By 

Chris Salzer (Gainesville, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Open Range (Mass Market Paperback)

Open Range is a great change of pace Western that makes for an easy and entertaining read. It's short, fun, and absolutely nothing that taxes one's brain. Open Range chronicles the adversity experienced by two independent, yet amiable freegrazers in the twilight of the old American West. The veteran cowhand Boss Spearman and his protege Charley Waite make their way in the open West while herding and raising cattle in the open land - much to the displeasure of the local reprobate cowhand magnate and his puppet marshal.

A classic Western book without any surprising and exciting twists and turns, Open Range is much different in book form than the actual movie itself. In a true rarity, I actually enjoyed the movie moreso and found it to be more compelling. That being said, I still enjoyed the book and recommend it to anyone who enjoys Westerns or who is looking for a fun, quick, and easy read. See the movie afterwards and be your own judge.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as Compelling as the Movie, January 23, 2005

By 

Stuart W. Mirsky "swm" (New York, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Open Range (Mass Market Paperback)

Perhaps this book started out with a disadvantage for me in that I came to it because I saw and enjoyed the movie first. The book is much more mundane and lacks the mythic resonance achieved by the Kevin Costner directed film. As others here have noted, the screenplay dramatically departs from the characterization of the Charlie Waite character as found in the book while the book's denouement lacks the massive, bloody and life-changing gun battle which gives the film its sense of power and gravitas. On balance, I found the book okay but not particularly compelling or memorable. Of course I have a few bones to pick with the film's screenplay as well, which went on much too long, drawing out the dramatic ending until one barely cared anymore. Costner would have been better off ending strongly, right after the showdown and the destruction it unleashed. Lauran Paine, author of this novel, would have been better off if he could have achieved the sense of mythic resonance the film somehow managed to tease out of this somewhat ordinary tale of conflict between a rich and ruthless cattleman and a couple of unaffiliated cowboys just passing through.

SWM
author of The King of Vinland's Saga

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THE SCREENPLAY IS BETTER, October 16, 2004

By 

B Ardell Young (Camden, SC United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Open Range (Mass Market Paperback)

I watched the movie before reading the book and was surprised that the movie storyline is much better than the novel. Actually, the book and movie part company when Wait and Spearman return to town to avenge the death of Mose. From that point, the book takes a completely different turn while also enforcing the huge difference in the Wait character in the movie.

The book is okay but it drags from beginning to end. It does not compane with the classic western novels and I imagine anyone reading it because of their interest in the movie will be disappointed.