"High Lonesome" by Louis L'Amour

This is probably the grittiest book I have read yet from L'Amour.  And one of the deepest and most profound.  While I always learn things about history and human nature from his books, High Lonesome has particular heft.  In fact, I am counting it as a classic book for my Classics Club list because it has so many amazing insights into the way people act and interact, plus some gorgeous writing.

High Lonesome explores the question of whether or not someone can turn from the path they're on and choose a different one, as well as how much a person's past affects their future.  The main character, a young man named Considine, has slowly fallen into an unsavory lifestyle.  A successful small robbery when he needed some money fast led to a larger robbery, and so on until now, he's part of a gang that robs banks.  Considine is a careful planner, and his cautious ways ensure their robberies are quick and clean.  But Considine has a conscience that hasn't totally been deadened yet by whatever reasons and excuses he makes for his outlawry.  It bothers him, and he sometimes yearns to find a way to leave his badman lifestyle.

Dave Spanyer and his daughter Lennie are headed for California.  Spanyer was an outlaw in his younger days but, when he married, he turned honest.  He and his wife lived happily for years, and now he's been raising Lennie by himself since his wife died.  But his past misdeeds threaten to wreck his reputation now, so Spanyer decides they should move to California where no one will know him, and where his criminal past won't jeopardize his daughter's future.

Lennie is a sweet, kind, intelligent young woman, and her open cheerfulness makes her friends wherever she goes.  She's the kind of female character L'Amour wrote best -- one who is as capable and determined as the male characters in his stories, but still distinctly feminine.  This little excerpt shows what I mean:

     Lennie was building a fire.  "I thought you'd want some coffee," she said, "and there's a little meat."

     Considine glanced at her, and then away, his throat tight.  She was so much the daughter of Dave Spanyer, and too much the child of rolling wagons and Indian fighting not to know what awaited them; yet she went quietly about the business of making coffee, a woman's business.  But her rifle lay close at hand.

     What man would not want such a woman?  Not one to follow only, but to stand beside him during the dark days, to work with him, plan with him, share with him, making their life a whole thing together. (p. 120)

That's the sort of Strong Female Characters I love best -- ones with inner strength who aren't afraid to face hardship, defend themselves and others, and do what is right, but who also aren't afraid to be womanly.  Who know that caring for others, feeding and nurturing them, are important and worthy tasks, and who don't sneer at doing them.

A chance meeting between the Spanyers and Considine's gang changes the future for all of them.  Considine makes the choice to put someone else's safety before his own, and his willingness to sacrifice himself inspires and changes those around him as well.  It's a thrilling adventure, yes, but one with so much weighty and serious pondering beneath the surface.

Particularly Good Bits:

Folks said time was a healer, but time was also a thief.  It robbed a man of years, and robbed him of memories (p. 35).

Spanyer knew that no man could be judged except against the background of his time.  The customs and moral standards of a time were applicable only to that time (p. 82-83).

Why did the young think that dreams were only for them?  The old dream also, with less hope, less anticipation, yet they dream (p. 106).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-16 for some mentions of pretty gruesome ways to torture and kill a person.  L'Amour doesn't spend more than a sentence or two on them, but they are horrible to imagine.  There's also a little bit of kissing and a smattering of bad language, plus quite a bit of western violence.  The threat of rape hovers in the background but is not explicitly mentioned.  Older teens can probably handle it, but I wouldn't hand this to my thirteen-year-old.

This is my 16th book read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list and my 38th book read from my TBR shelves for #TheUnreadShelfProject2023.