The U.P. Trail [Hardcover]

Zane Grey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 12, 2009 | ISBN-10: 1605123501 | ISBN-13: 978-1605123509

The U.P. Trail is a romantic adventure set against the building of America's first transcontinental railroad. Neale is an idealistic young construction engineer, charged with completing the Union Pacific Railway's track over the mountains of Wyoming. As he struggles with this monumental task he encounters tremendous obstacles, but none so great as when he comes upon a teenage massacre survivor. Half dead and driven to madness by her ordeal, she is nursed back to health and sanity by Neale, who begins to love her. Can these two young people find happiness amidst the turmoil of this turning point in history? Full of period detail, this sweeping novel will transport you to the West as only Zane Grey's fiction can.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 376 pages
• Publisher: Akasha Classics (April 12, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1605123501
• ISBN-13: 978-1605123509
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Drama, power, passion: a great novel of the American West, June 19, 2000

By 

Robin P. Flynn - See all my reviews

This review is from: U.P. Trail: A Novel (Hardcover)

I started reading Zane Grey's novels about 15 years ago, when a great-uncle told me of the times, as a youth in the 1920s, he had read Grey's novels on cold nights in front of a fire. It must be close to a decade ago when I first read this title, and I can't help but re-read it every few years. It infuses me with wonder and awe every time.

I knew enough about Grey's novels, by the time I read this one, to know that Riders of the Purple Sage was considered his best. But when I got to the end of The U P Trail, I said to myself, "This is the greatest book I have ever read." This novel, which is focused upon the construction of the Union-Pacific Railroad, has something incredibly passionate and elemental about it that not only elevates it above Grey's other numerous titles, including Riders, but makes it a giant in its genre. Grey himself says in his dedication that "it is the book for which I have written all the others."

The book's scope is akin to a giant mirror being held up to reflect, in one grand and allegorical image, the breadth of the human experience in the building of the American West, and the destruction of its frontier culture. It's a tale of heroism, virtue, sacrifice, greed, personal ruin, redemption, betrayal, saintliness, violence, bigotry, lust, depravity, nobility, and so many other aspects of human nature it's hard to list them all here. It is filled with unforgettable characters who represent every social group involved with both the building of the railroad itself, and the white man's ambition to expand the nation to the Pacific coast. Some of the incidents and moments created by Grey will remain with readers long after they have finished the book, if not forever. And central to it all is the tortured story of the lovers Neale and Allie.

As to drawbacks: modern readers may struggle, in places, with the novel's tone and language. The dialogue of its characters sometimes contains the vernacular and political perspective of the era in which the book was written, and held up to modern standards it could occasionally be labeled politically incorrect. Readers may also have trouble accepting the extra-innocent, almost saintly Allie, and the numerous occasions in which her virtue is preserved against all odds.

Generally, though, I believe that the power and beauty of the book will be the primary impression left with those who read it. It should not be missed by anyone who is a Zane Grey fan OR a fan of historical fiction pertaining to the American West. It's a great view of the legacy in which all Americans live today.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Zane Grey, The U. P. Trai, August 22, 2011

By 

Fred Coffman "fredt" (Grantsville Utah) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The U. P. Trail (Kindle Edition)

I have read Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Louis L'Amour and many other modern and classic authors. I am disabled and read a lot all my life and when disabled for 20 years or more. I enjoy all fiction and Historical, and Zane Grey has written some of the best all around fiction that I have read. He gets tedious at times describing the terrain as did L'Amour, but the meat is worth the gristle. He tells a hell of a story that you can't put down any more than the latest Stephen King thriller. It is free and worth what King and Koontz get for theirs. Try it, you will love it. Fredt

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The single greatest western epic ever written., June 19, 2002

By 

OAKSHAMAN "oakshaman" (Algoma, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The U. P. Trail (Paperback)

Without doubt, this is the single greatest western novel that I have ever read. It was a gift given to me as a boy, and I have reread it periodically ever since.

This is a magnificant epic of a novel in a single volume. The collossal enterprise of building the first transcontinental railroad from start to finish connects everything, but is really about Neale's love for Allie Lee- and everything he and their friends go through to rescue her. I know that sounds more like a romance novel than it does a western, but, trust me, this is THE western. You actually care about the many skillfully drawn characters- and it hits you hard when they die in heroic sacrifice. I know that some readers will see the characters as western charactatures and stereotypes, but that is only because Hollywood later overused them- the book came first.

By the way, Larry Red King's rescue of Allie Lee from Belle's "Dance Hall" is still the greatest single scene in any western novel, or film, as far as I am concerned.

Oh yeah, not all the language is "politically correct" these days. That's because the men who built this nation weren't politically correct- empire builders never are.

One more thing, the hero of this novel is an engineer, a civil engineer, and a great role model. At least to me, he was.