The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
220 pages
Published 1940
Read from March 20 to March 27
Rating: ★★★★½ out of 5
"A man ought to keep things to himself," a character says near the end of The Ox-Bow Incident,
but that doesn't mean even the most virile and laconic rangehand lacks
those feelings. This book was written in a fascinating style, what I
might venture to dub "perceptive masculinity." This book is the
apotheosis of pulp, refining pulp's terse, masculist sensibilities into
something approaching blunt poetry. It might be a disgrace to even
assert that this novel derives from pulp stock. It was a solid, powerful
read, all the more tragic for its characters' inability to express or
even fully define their inner fears, doubts, and emotions.
No comments:
Post a Comment