Customer Reviews

Rangle River (Five Star First Edition Western)

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The stories and the style are, of course, a little old-fashioned, but Zane Grey's writing is of the highest quality here as always. Some people say he did not write truly classic literature like Jack Schaeffer and Larry McMurtry. Yet he was a great story teller on the order of Louis L'Amour with vivid, powerful prose. I have yet to read one of his stories that did not linger forever in my mind. If you liked other Zane Grey books, read this one too.

PS - I wrote this before becoming an animal rights activist. This in no way changes my view of the author's talent or the quality of his story-telling. It is unfortunate, however, that Grey's love of nature did not prevent him from hunting and fishing.

I am stoked! The type in Dorchester's Rangle River is clear and sharp on good, thick paper. This is the best-looking printing job I've seen on a paperback book for a long time, and I have read hundreds of paperbacks in my eight years in Thailand.

I was pleased to find an informative and nicely written author biography. Grey's wife Lina was his editor, collaborator, and business manager.

I haven't seen a misspelled word yet in Rangle River. That would be unusual for any book -- rare, anyway. There are no widows. The words and letters are not crowded. Someone did a good job of designing this book.

Zane Grey is a consistently fine author. I would not put these stories in a class with Riders of the Purple Sage, but they have their charm. Real people, real feelings.

These are stories you could read out loud to young people who want to learn about Western cowboys and prospectors. They might spark discussions about greed, loyalty, love, honesty and any deep feelings that need to be shared.

Rangle River, the title story from this collection is set in Australia and is a good 'cowboy' story, and as with most of ZG's shorter works he intensifes his characterizations. It's a good story, and probably the outline for his novel, The Great Trek. In a slightly differing form, Amber's Mirage, the other short novel was used as a prologue or the background for two other Zane Grey novels, but it stands well alone. There are two first hand accounts of Zane Grey's travels in this collection as well--Don: the story of a dog; and Nonnezoshe, a story detailing Zane Grey's trip to the Rainbow Bridge and through Monument Valley, a trip which inspired his early works--Riders of the Purple Sage and The Desert Crucible. You will meet the Mormons and the Indians who taught ZG about the west, and meet fictional characters you will want to read about again, and again. Whether fiction or non-fiction Zane Grey can not be beat when it comes to description of times, places, or people. I highly recommend this book.