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Fiction. Western. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML:The classic Western, now newly repackaged as part of Bantam's Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures programā??with never-before-seen material from Louis and his son, Beau L'Amour. "I am Johannes Verne, and I am not afraid." This was the boy's mantra as he plodded through the desert alone, left to die by his vengeful grandfather. Johannes Verne was soon to be rescued by outlaws, but no one could save him from the lasting memory of his grandfather's eyes, full of impenetrable hatred. Raised in part by Indians, then befriended by a mysterious woman, Johannes grew up to become a rugged adventurer and an educated man. But even now, strengthened by the love of a golden-haired girl and well on his way to making a fortune in bustling early-day Los Angeles, the past may rise up to threaten his future once more. And this time only the ancient gods of the desert can save him. Louis Lā??Amourā??s Lost Treasures is a project created to release some of the authorā??s more unconventional manuscripts from the family archives. In Louis Lā??Amourā??s Lost Treasures: Volume 1 and Volume 2, Beau Lā??Amour takes the reader on a guided tour through many of the finished and unfinished short stories, novels, and treatments that his father was never able to publish during his lifetime. Lā??Amourā??s never-before-seen first novel, No Traveller Returns, faithfully completed for this program, is a voyage into danger and violence on the high seas. Additionally, many beloved classics will be rereleased with an exclusive Lost Treasures postscript featuring previously unpublished material, including outlines, plot notes, and alternate drafts. These postscripts tell the story behind the stories that millions of readers have com… (more)
User reviews
This is the story of Johannes Vern, whose parents were pursued into the Californian desert by his Spanish grandfather who was enraged at his daughter's marrying a poor white sailor. They escaped, but the old man's hatred never abated. Now at age six, his mother having died and his father dying of lung disease, Johannes is soon to be alone in the world. His father takes him to California, hoping the boy's grandfather will take him in, but Don Isidro has Zachary Vern shot and maroons Johannes in the desert. Johannes survives and grows to be a man, intent on revenge even while he is fascinated with the beauty of the desert and the mystery of the Indian legend of the giant Tahquitz.
I liked this story a lot less than I expected. For one thing, L'Amour is overly fond of waxing eloquent on reams of advice... most of it antithetical to my personal beliefs (very self-centered, self-reliant, tough-guy-type wisdom). Nor did I care for the mysticism and idealism with which he vests the Indians, or the needy, rather pathetic deities he imagines. At times the plot is rather forced, with friends and enemies of Johannes popping up at just the right moment. There are tons of people who want Johannes dead, more than are really necessary for the story (Fletcher in particular, but also Don Federico). The dialogue is frequently stilted, too.
And while L'Amour has certainly done his research, he is prone to info dumps, with a character expounding for pages and pages on the history of a region or people. Often this character is some rough cowhand or trapper who would be very unlikely to know the type of information he is imparting to Johannes (and us). L'Amour tries to explain that away by saying the men of California had lots of time in the wilderness to think and read, and many devoured all the books they could get their hands on. That may well be, but it's still strange to have a cowboy talk about ancient Greece and Shakespeare and other such subjects.
I have enjoyed several of L'Amour's other books so I won't drop him completely. But if this had been my introduction to his work, I might well have thought my old prejudice justified. Meh.
In The Lonesome Gods,
Another component of every LL novel is the conflict of good and evil. Especially how small-minded individuals that have no desire to build anything lasting (and only take from anyone and everyone) not only harm individuals, but also communities and society as a whole. The main evil characters were Don Isidro: vain, extremely prejudiced grandfather, Frederico: selfish, Fletcher: cruel and suspicious of everyone, expecting them to have a similar lack of character as himself, Rad: an immature bully, and Chato: a purely evil murderer.
In most of his novels, "the man alone" prevails over "the crowd of evil," but this one also highlights everyone's need for loyal, morally good, and tough friends, as well as how sometimes the friends one has made are all that stand between a long, full life and an untimely death. The good characters are (of course) the main character -- Johannes Verne, his father Zachary, Miss Nesselrode, Farley, Kelso, Meghan, and Thomas Fraser.
The element of the novel that tied it all together was the desert. It is harsh, yet one can live in harmony with it, or not -- and suffer terminal consequences.
While I enjoyed the book, it was not one of my all-time favorites.