Wednesday, March 27, 2013

2013 read #41: The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark.

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.

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