| "'He's dangerous all right,' Father said it in a musing way. Then he chuckled. 'But not to us, my dear.'" — Jack Schaefer, Shane |
This classic coming-of-age tale holds the tension of a loaded revolver in a steely hand. When a mysterious gunman emerges from "the glowing west" and rides into a peaceful Wyoming valley, a farm boy's life is forever changed. "Call me Shane," the stranger tells young Bob Starrett, and never says more. Not about his kin or line of work or wilderness adventures.
Shane's Stoic conviction in bridling his past life is matched only by his determination to keep his lethal skillset holstered—or better yet, tucked away in the barn out of sight. Shane never wears his gun, and yet Bob's father, a kindred spirit of Shane, knows that his new farmhand isn't dangerous to the family. The gunman's capabilities for violence are corralled and used to end only those souls who would seek to start a fight. Bob's befriending of Shane is a simple, powerful tale of justice, redemption, and heroic action, when just words just won't do.
I love Jack Shaefer's brevity, lyrical passages, visual descriptions, and celebration of heroes and the boys who idolize them. I can't wait to read Shaefer's twenty five other novels. [JG]
Shane's Stoic conviction in bridling his past life is matched only by his determination to keep his lethal skillset holstered—or better yet, tucked away in the barn out of sight. Shane never wears his gun, and yet Bob's father, a kindred spirit of Shane, knows that his new farmhand isn't dangerous to the family. The gunman's capabilities for violence are corralled and used to end only those souls who would seek to start a fight. Bob's befriending of Shane is a simple, powerful tale of justice, redemption, and heroic action, when just words just won't do.
I love Jack Shaefer's brevity, lyrical passages, visual descriptions, and celebration of heroes and the boys who idolize them. I can't wait to read Shaefer's twenty five other novels. [JG]
 | ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jack Schaefer (1907-91) was a well-traveled newspaperman and author of more than 25 western novels and short stories. He is best known for his debut work, Shane (1949), but I'm eager to read next Mavericks and Monte Walsh, which are two later critically successful books. Shaefer was known for being a meticulous researcher before putting pen to paper, but his style has a brevity and quick-pace that lasted for three decades. In his later years, Shaefer turned from writing novels to essays on nature, culminating into his final work, The American Bestiary: Notes of an Amateur Naturalist, published in 1975. Jack Shaefer passed away on January 27th, 1991 in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the age of 83. |
| "Then he straightened his shoulders and over his face came a slow smile, warm and friendly, the smile of a man who knows his own mind at last." — Jack Schaefer, Shane |
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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