Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
NYRB Classics (2007), Paperback, 274 pages
Description
Classic Literature. Fiction. Western. HTML: In his National Book Award�??winning novel Augustus, John Williams uncovered the secrets of ancient Rome. With Butcher's Crossing, his fiercely intelligent, beautifully written western, Williams dismantles the myths of modern America. It is the 1870s, and Will Andrews, fired up by Emerson to seek "an original relation to nature," drops out of Harvard and heads west. He washes up in Butcher's Crossing, a small Kansas town on the outskirts of nowhere. Butcher's Crossing is full of restless men looking for ways to make money and ways to waste it. Before long Andrews strikes up a friendship with one of them, a man who regales Andrews with tales of immense herds of buffalo, ready for the taking, hidden away in a beautiful valley deep in the Colorado Rockies. He convinces Andrews to join in an expedition to track the animals down. The journey out is grueling, but at the end is a place of paradisiacal richness. Once there, however, the three men abandon themselves to an orgy of slaughter, so caught up in killing buffalo that they lose all sense of time. Winter soon overtakes them: they are snowed in. Next spring, half-insane with cabin fever, cold, and hunger, they stagger back to Butcher's Crossing to find a world as irremediably changed as they have been.… (more)
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User reviews
LibraryThing member stillatim
Williams was happy with three of his novels, and wrote four overall. There's more good writing, intellectual effort, emotional depth and social commentary in any one of the three approved novels than in all 18897874006836789308746739489764 items of Rothdike's oeuvre. And yet, this is relegated to
My general grumpiness aside, this is amazing. The best comparison is Flaubert, another author who wrote, meticulously, a small number of novels that have almost nothing in common with each other except their excellence. Stoner is Williams' 'Bovary,' a novel that relies on the reader being able to empathize with either the main character or the narrator. 'Butcher's' is his 'Sentimental Education': not as well crafted (though still better crafted than anything else you'll come across), but probably appealing to a broader range of people. Also, a bit slow.
He takes on most of the themes you'd expect in a Western: nature, violence, solitude, heroism, and death. But there's more here than in a standard revisionist "it wasn't all cowboys and love stories" western. Rather than worrying away at the Western tradition, Williams uses those themes to worry away at America's soul and it's poorly aligned goals of getting back to our 'natural, authentic selves,' and commercial gain. Getting back to nature (which is a violent, deadly place) will, in the end, drive you mad. And commercial gain will turn you to nihilism. Given those options, it's impressive that Williams manages to give us an unsilly and ambivalent conclusion. A lesser author would have been forced into Sartre territory.
Finally, despite superficial similarities (long horse-riding scenes; long technical descriptions of lost arts), B'sC has nothing important in common with Blood Meridian. BM is a sophisticated, deeply moral satire, that is ultimately concerned with questions of good and evil; it uses its 19th century setting to criticize 20th century life. B'sC has much more in common with Moby Dick, as other reviewers have pointed out: it's not engaged with the westward course of empire, but with the terrifying real-world consequences of the American philosophical tradition, from Emerson to the present.
Definitely one to give to friends who are either flag-wavers or want to 'get back to nature.'
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cultish status, while even your great-great-grandma Ethel has probably read at least one of the Rabbit series. My general grumpiness aside, this is amazing. The best comparison is Flaubert, another author who wrote, meticulously, a small number of novels that have almost nothing in common with each other except their excellence. Stoner is Williams' 'Bovary,' a novel that relies on the reader being able to empathize with either the main character or the narrator. 'Butcher's' is his 'Sentimental Education': not as well crafted (though still better crafted than anything else you'll come across), but probably appealing to a broader range of people. Also, a bit slow.
He takes on most of the themes you'd expect in a Western: nature, violence, solitude, heroism, and death. But there's more here than in a standard revisionist "it wasn't all cowboys and love stories" western. Rather than worrying away at the Western tradition, Williams uses those themes to worry away at America's soul and it's poorly aligned goals of getting back to our 'natural, authentic selves,' and commercial gain. Getting back to nature (which is a violent, deadly place) will, in the end, drive you mad. And commercial gain will turn you to nihilism. Given those options, it's impressive that Williams manages to give us an unsilly and ambivalent conclusion. A lesser author would have been forced into Sartre territory.
Finally, despite superficial similarities (long horse-riding scenes; long technical descriptions of lost arts), B'sC has nothing important in common with Blood Meridian. BM is a sophisticated, deeply moral satire, that is ultimately concerned with questions of good and evil; it uses its 19th century setting to criticize 20th century life. B'sC has much more in common with Moby Dick, as other reviewers have pointed out: it's not engaged with the westward course of empire, but with the terrifying real-world consequences of the American philosophical tradition, from Emerson to the present.
Definitely one to give to friends who are either flag-wavers or want to 'get back to nature.'
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LibraryThing member JimmyChanga
John Williams is a serious man. This is the second book of his I've read, and it seems in both books he approaches some big life questions straight on, completely linearly and with almost no humor. This is dangerous and difficult to do, like walking the line between cliche/sentimentality and deep
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truth. But I admire him for trying. I think he succeeded in Stoner, mostly because it was so bold in its recounting of facts that it never fell into cliche. The whole book seemed very macro-level. But in this book he seems to be doing more of the scene and character development kind of stuff, the up-close stuff, and the prose and dialogue oftentimes fell flat. And other times it is just dull and uninteresting. This was especially a problem in part one, where the scene and characters were still being set up. And sentences that feel cliche, like this:For another moment Andrews looked deep into Charley Hoge's eyes; dull and blue, they were like bits of empty sky reflected in a dirty pool; there was nothing behind them, nothing to stop Andrew's gaze from going on and on.Once they start on their hunting expedition, it got more interesting. I really got into this part, and was turning the pages very fast towards the end. He does a good job with physical descriptions of visceral experiences. And also, some of the writing is really good, much better than that quote. Which is also frustrating, because I wish he had a better editor to tell him which sentences were crap and which were great. In the end, I don't think the parts where he was reflecting over things in this large-life-lesson kind of way really works. It just felt overly dramatic, and not earned enough. In a way, it is a typical coming of age story mixed in with the typical Western. The main character is trying to discover who he really is, and decides he needs to quit Harvard and find out himself by going out west to this little town and getting caught up in something that would give him some real life experience. So then he loses his innocence, his "softness" as the token whore, Francine, puts it. And he realizes that he really didn't want to lose his innocence. And that it was all a lie. And that nature is big and cruel and it breaks you, and it turns you crazy. And it gives you a look in your eye that is empty and disillusioned. I really felt like the writing weighed this one down. It was always trying to describe so much, and explain all these revelations that the main character was having, but at the same time I wasn't having that revelation myself.Rather unrelated, but interesting-to-me facts: I read this book right after Moby Dick, which is about whale hunting. This book is about buffalo hunting, (and Moby Dick mentions buffalo hunting briefly too, in a scoffing manner haha). Also, one of the two epigraphs at the front of this book is by Melville. Nice connections. Show Less
LibraryThing member OmieWise
This is a stupendous novel. The descriptions, the life described, and the deep sense of place are all equally affecting. One of the strangest aspects of the novel is the sense of claustrophobia amidst the huge landscape. I read this over a year ago, but I think of it very often.
LibraryThing member Castlelass
Butcher's Crossing is an anti-western about one man's journey into the American West in the 1800s. Protagonist Will Andrews is a Harvard dropout with wanderlust. He travels to Butcher's Crossing, a small town in western Kansas, looking for one of his father’s acquaintances, named McDonald, who
It is beautifully written, filled with striking descriptions of the rugged terrain, intense weather patterns, and a barebones lifestyle. It is not for the faint of heart, as it includes gruesome scenes of rampant slaughter and butchering of animals (which is realistic to what actually happened and is sickening). The characters are easy to picture. It is a combination of coming of age, quest, and indictment of the ravaging of natural resources. It definitely does not romanticize the Old West.
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runs a trading company. McDonald introduces him to Miller, an accomplished hunter. Miller convinces Will to fund an expedition to Colorado Territory, where he once discovered a valley populated by thousands of bison. It is beautifully written, filled with striking descriptions of the rugged terrain, intense weather patterns, and a barebones lifestyle. It is not for the faint of heart, as it includes gruesome scenes of rampant slaughter and butchering of animals (which is realistic to what actually happened and is sickening). The characters are easy to picture. It is a combination of coming of age, quest, and indictment of the ravaging of natural resources. It definitely does not romanticize the Old West.
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LibraryThing member ToddSherman
Stumbled upon another juggernaut of a novel in research for my upcoming short story collection. “Butcher’s Crossing” is yet again a Western that subverts expectation, rises above its genre while comfortably immersing you in its world. There’s no real antagonist, no great revelation, no
“During the last hour of the stand he came to see Miller as a mechanism, an automaton, moved by the moving herd; and he came to see Miller’s destruction of the buffalo, not as a lust for blood or a lust for the hides or a lust for what the hides would bring, or even at last the blind lust of fury that toiled darkly within him—he came to see the destruction as a cold, mindless response to the life in which Miller had immersed himself.”
And this bit of wisdom:
“I always save the balls,” he said. “They make mighty good eating, and they put starch in your pecker. Unless they come off an old bull. Then you better just stay away from them.”
—Butcher’s Crossing by John Williams
Alas, this paragon has only given us four novels
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pretense to be “the great American novel”. Whenever tragedy looms, it most likely will get sidestepped. When you meet the naïve narrator, you clench teeth against the inevitable exploitation—it never comes. Even the prostitute doesn’t have a heart of gold as much as a desire to hold someone close before the whipping winds of life harden the skins of young men. The butchery of the buffalo hunt, the methodical skinning and gutting, is more akin to “Moby Dick” than anything in literary Westerns. Even the Ahab-esque obsession that Miller exhibits is more doomsday of the soul than extermination of a species. I consider it a great blessing to have read something so unique yet familiar, gorgeous and grotesque, heartfelt and heartless. And I’m glad that my stumbling over this virtually unknown classic will only help to influence the story in my own collection.“During the last hour of the stand he came to see Miller as a mechanism, an automaton, moved by the moving herd; and he came to see Miller’s destruction of the buffalo, not as a lust for blood or a lust for the hides or a lust for what the hides would bring, or even at last the blind lust of fury that toiled darkly within him—he came to see the destruction as a cold, mindless response to the life in which Miller had immersed himself.”
And this bit of wisdom:
“I always save the balls,” he said. “They make mighty good eating, and they put starch in your pecker. Unless they come off an old bull. Then you better just stay away from them.”
—Butcher’s Crossing by John Williams
Alas, this paragon has only given us four novels
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LibraryThing member japaul22
John Williams is such a good writer. He has taken a subject I should have been revolted by and turned it into a book I would highly recommend.
Butcher's Crossing is a small western town on the brink of great things in the mid 1800s. Will Andrews arrives there from his comfortable life in Boston
The two set out with a skinner, Schneider, and a wagon driver/cook, Charley Hoge. They have a tough journey out there, but arrive to find the promised herd. What follows is multiple chapters of details of the slaughter. It will turn your stomach. And then you realize that this is a story of greed and obsession. This greed has consequences. The men get snowed in to the valley for the entire winter. The second half of the book answers whether all of their work will be rewarded or if the trip is a bust.
I really liked this, despite the hunting. In fact, I thought the hunting scenes were an honest look at what could have driven white men to slaughter an entire species. Williams doesn't trivialize or sanction his characters' actions.
Butcher's Crossing is a small western town on the brink of great things in the mid 1800s. Will Andrews arrives there from his comfortable life in Boston
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looking for an adventure. He meets a man named Miller who has been waiting a decade for someone to fund his next great adventure, traveling back to a Colorado valley where he saw thousands of buffalo ripe for the slaughter to gain their skins.The two set out with a skinner, Schneider, and a wagon driver/cook, Charley Hoge. They have a tough journey out there, but arrive to find the promised herd. What follows is multiple chapters of details of the slaughter. It will turn your stomach. And then you realize that this is a story of greed and obsession. This greed has consequences. The men get snowed in to the valley for the entire winter. The second half of the book answers whether all of their work will be rewarded or if the trip is a bust.
I really liked this, despite the hunting. In fact, I thought the hunting scenes were an honest look at what could have driven white men to slaughter an entire species. Williams doesn't trivialize or sanction his characters' actions.
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LibraryThing member bodachliath
Would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed Stoner. It is an unsentimental and bleak description of the futility of buffalo hunting, but it is beautifully written, spare and gripping.
LibraryThing member polarbear123
A fabulous book. Like Stoner there s something simply special about the simplicity of the ideas and prose in this book. I think it is most like a Murakami book in that sense. There is no big plot, I mean there is a story obviously but the beauty is in the experience. This is a book to savour and
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the best of my year so far. Wonderful stuff. Show Less
LibraryThing member gregorybrown
Another amazing book by John Williams, who I first encountered reading his much-buzzed-about Stoner. Butcher's Crossing is an earlier book, and a bit rougher for it. It's best experienced knowing nothing about the plot—not even reading the back cover—so I won't discuss it at all, suffice to say
Seriously, read Stoner and this book. ASAP.
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that the final portion of the book is absolutely amazing. John Williams does introspection like no other author I've read (though I'll admit to not having read some of the touchstones of that mode, like Henry James).Seriously, read Stoner and this book. ASAP.
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LibraryThing member kcshankd
The best book I've read that I hadn't heard of prior to this year. Spare, unblinking portrayal of the end of the buffalo hunts. My only complaint was that I was surprised the 'snowed-in' portion of the novel - which was close to eight months in duration - was completely glossed over in a few pages.
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They had no fuel or food prepared for winter. That would have not been able to be glossed over in reality. Show Less
LibraryThing member RodV
I didn't enjoy this as much as Williams' other novels, Stoner and Augustus, which were both two of my absolute favorite books I read this year, but it was nonetheless a very good read despite some slow going for me through the first half. It was really hard for me to get engaged in this book at
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first for some reason, but that was probably more my fault than the book's; I just don't think I was in the mood for a western when I started it, but I was definitely craving more Williams, so that kept me going. Once the characters found themselves in true jeopardy, snowbound in the mountains, that was where the rubber hit the road for me, and from that point on the rest was gripping. Even through the slow parts, though, Williams' fine prose sustains you. For those looking for a revisionist western/back-to-nature/survival novel that is also a well written piece of literature, you can't go wrong here. I could see it making a fine film adaptation, which it is slated to be in 2013. I look forward to that, if only for the reason that it will garner some more attention for this under-recognized novelist. Show Less
LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
Somewhere in my travels around LT I read a posting that said in effect, when it came to westerns, Butcher’s Crossing by John Williams was one of the best . Wow, thought I, that’s a western that I have never heard about and immediately went about tracking it down. Now I owe a big thank you to
This isn’t a big action packed story, instead it tells a simple tale of a young man who comes to the west sometime in the late 1870’s looking for that unknown something that young men search for. He hooks up with an older man, a buffalo hunter who tells him of a valley that he once stumbled upon. A valley nestled up against the Rocky Mountains with lush grass, water, plenty of game and, uncounted buffalo. Together with two other men they set out to find this valley and hunt the buffalo who take refuge there.
With characters that are complex and memorable, the author weaves his story together with sparse yet picturesque writing. Partly a coming of age story, partly a ecological essay, Butcher’s Crossing captures the essence of a land on the brink of change, the hunter’s time almost over, the buffalo having been brought to the edge of extinction. It will soon be the time of the railroads, as they move in and open up the land for ranching and farming. I don’t understand why this work isn’t better known with it timeless writing and it’s very current themes. I know that I found it to be a wonderful read and for me, helps to define what a revisionist western is meant to be.
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that unidentified poster for pointing me in the direction of this book.This isn’t a big action packed story, instead it tells a simple tale of a young man who comes to the west sometime in the late 1870’s looking for that unknown something that young men search for. He hooks up with an older man, a buffalo hunter who tells him of a valley that he once stumbled upon. A valley nestled up against the Rocky Mountains with lush grass, water, plenty of game and, uncounted buffalo. Together with two other men they set out to find this valley and hunt the buffalo who take refuge there.
With characters that are complex and memorable, the author weaves his story together with sparse yet picturesque writing. Partly a coming of age story, partly a ecological essay, Butcher’s Crossing captures the essence of a land on the brink of change, the hunter’s time almost over, the buffalo having been brought to the edge of extinction. It will soon be the time of the railroads, as they move in and open up the land for ranching and farming. I don’t understand why this work isn’t better known with it timeless writing and it’s very current themes. I know that I found it to be a wonderful read and for me, helps to define what a revisionist western is meant to be.
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LibraryThing member HadriantheBlind
A memorable book. One could reasonably make a comparison to Cormac McCarthy, not because of the writing style (they are opposites, and each good in their own way) but because of the vast and awe-inspiring setting. Man vs. Nature, in capital letters.
LibraryThing member BPetronio
It's hard to find un-romanticized Westerns.
LibraryThing member CBJames
Butcher's Crossing is the story of Will Andrews. With his head full of Emersonian ideas about man's "original relation to nature," he leaves Harvard before completing his degree and heads west where he hopes to find some sort of work with a distant family friend, Mr. McDonald, in the town of
By the 1870's what was wild about the American West was just about gone. There is no mention of Native Americans in Butcher's Crossing because there are few left on the plains by this point. The railroad is on its way west bringing civilization with it. The smart money says leave trapping and hunting behind, buy land as close to the railroad as possible if you want to get rich. The buffalo are in their final days as well. The hunters have been travelling farther and farther afield only to return with fewer and fewer low quality hides. Miller hopes to find one last herd as big as those he found when he first came to the plains when the herds covered the horizon.
Buffalo hides awaiting shipment, Dodge City, Kansas.
I could argue that all great westerns are set at just this moment in time, when the wild is about to give way to the civilized. The last great cattle drive, the last stand of the native tribes, the end of the gunslinger era. Shane is about a cattle rancher's attempts to keep farmers out of his valley. True Grit is about a frontiersman's final days of usefulness. As soon as Americans started moving west, the west was finished. If the Jacksonian ideal of one man standing on his own against the wild and all those around him ever existed, it only existed as a doomed figure, trying to keep the end at bay as long as possible. His days were always numbered. His greatest misfortune was that he would live to see the end.
Butcher's Crossing exists firmly within this tradition of the wild west's final days. It's drowning in it. Miller looking for one last great hunt. McDonald trying to buy up all the land he can for all the profit he can make when the railroad arrives. The impending arrival of the railroad itself. Will Andrew's desire to experience the wilderness before it's gone altogether. Experience it he does. In the book's centerpiece scene, the buffalo hunt, at the exact heart of the novel.
After a while Andrews began to perceive a rhythm in Miller's slaughter. First, with a deliberate slow movement that was a tightening of the arm muscles, a steadying of his head, and a slow squeeze of his hand, Miller would fire his rifle; then quickly he would eject the still-smoking cartridge and reload; he would study the animal he had shot, and if he saw that it was cleanly hit, his eyes would search among the circling herd for a buffalo that seemed particularly restless; after a few seconds, the wounded animal would stagger and crash to the ground; and then he would shoot again. The whole business seemed to Andrews like a dance, a thunderous minuet created by the wildness that surrounded it.
One man, Miller, kills almost every member of the last great buffalo herd, leaving the hidden Rocky Mountain valley where he found it dotted with skinned corpses, like a hellish landscape by Hieronymus Bosch. Then, like Ernest Hemingway's Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea, Miller must get his 'catch' back to town where he can sell it.
Butcher's Crossing is a classic western. It does not break any molds, nor does it offer an ironic, modern take on the events it describes. There's even the familiar young man at the side of an older mentor/idol as there is in just about every John Wayne western one can name. While Butcher's Crossing works completely within the norms of the western genre, it works. That the post hunt journey back to Butcher's Crossing and the novel's final scenes play out exactly as readers familiar with Old Man and the Sea would expect does not detract from their emotional impact. In the end, the reader feels the personal loss of the hunter's broken dreams and the larger loss of a wilderness laid waste for a quick profit and a passing fad.
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Butcher's Crossing, Kansas. In the 1870's, when the novel is set, Butcher's Crossing is a town built on the buffalo hide boom. Will rejects Mr. McDonald's offer to join him in a land speculation scheme and soon falls under the wing of experienced buffalo hunter Mr. Miller, who is looking for someone to fund an expedition to find one of the last full size buffalo herds in the Rockies. Andrews agrees to provide the needed funds and becomes one of four expedition members.By the 1870's what was wild about the American West was just about gone. There is no mention of Native Americans in Butcher's Crossing because there are few left on the plains by this point. The railroad is on its way west bringing civilization with it. The smart money says leave trapping and hunting behind, buy land as close to the railroad as possible if you want to get rich. The buffalo are in their final days as well. The hunters have been travelling farther and farther afield only to return with fewer and fewer low quality hides. Miller hopes to find one last herd as big as those he found when he first came to the plains when the herds covered the horizon.
Buffalo hides awaiting shipment, Dodge City, Kansas.
I could argue that all great westerns are set at just this moment in time, when the wild is about to give way to the civilized. The last great cattle drive, the last stand of the native tribes, the end of the gunslinger era. Shane is about a cattle rancher's attempts to keep farmers out of his valley. True Grit is about a frontiersman's final days of usefulness. As soon as Americans started moving west, the west was finished. If the Jacksonian ideal of one man standing on his own against the wild and all those around him ever existed, it only existed as a doomed figure, trying to keep the end at bay as long as possible. His days were always numbered. His greatest misfortune was that he would live to see the end.
Butcher's Crossing exists firmly within this tradition of the wild west's final days. It's drowning in it. Miller looking for one last great hunt. McDonald trying to buy up all the land he can for all the profit he can make when the railroad arrives. The impending arrival of the railroad itself. Will Andrew's desire to experience the wilderness before it's gone altogether. Experience it he does. In the book's centerpiece scene, the buffalo hunt, at the exact heart of the novel.
After a while Andrews began to perceive a rhythm in Miller's slaughter. First, with a deliberate slow movement that was a tightening of the arm muscles, a steadying of his head, and a slow squeeze of his hand, Miller would fire his rifle; then quickly he would eject the still-smoking cartridge and reload; he would study the animal he had shot, and if he saw that it was cleanly hit, his eyes would search among the circling herd for a buffalo that seemed particularly restless; after a few seconds, the wounded animal would stagger and crash to the ground; and then he would shoot again. The whole business seemed to Andrews like a dance, a thunderous minuet created by the wildness that surrounded it.
One man, Miller, kills almost every member of the last great buffalo herd, leaving the hidden Rocky Mountain valley where he found it dotted with skinned corpses, like a hellish landscape by Hieronymus Bosch. Then, like Ernest Hemingway's Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea, Miller must get his 'catch' back to town where he can sell it.
Butcher's Crossing is a classic western. It does not break any molds, nor does it offer an ironic, modern take on the events it describes. There's even the familiar young man at the side of an older mentor/idol as there is in just about every John Wayne western one can name. While Butcher's Crossing works completely within the norms of the western genre, it works. That the post hunt journey back to Butcher's Crossing and the novel's final scenes play out exactly as readers familiar with Old Man and the Sea would expect does not detract from their emotional impact. In the end, the reader feels the personal loss of the hunter's broken dreams and the larger loss of a wilderness laid waste for a quick profit and a passing fad.
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LibraryThing member Patrick311
While nowhere near as good as Williams's transcendent Stoner, Butcher's Crossing is a fairly riveting story of one man's journey into the West. Will Andrews, Harvard dropout, travels to the dusty Kansas town of Butcher's Crossing in search of his true self, which he'd previously only found in the
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woods around Cambridge. In Butcher's Crossing, he seeks out an acquaintance of his father's, McDonald, who runs a trading company, buying and selling buffalo hides. McDonald can tell that Andrews has come to Butcher's Crossing for something other than a business opportunity -- he wants to go out on a hunt -- so he recommends that he talk to a man named Miller. Miller has an idea for a hunt that will put all other hunts to shame. He wants to make an expedition deep into the Colorado Territory, where he once discovered a hidden valley filled with thousands upon thousands of buffalo. After remarkably little consideration, Andrews agrees to fund the expedition and travel along as a skinner.The book is full of rich, evocative descriptions of rolling plains, rocky mountains, intense heat and bitter, horrible cold. It's also rife with scenes of slaughter and, yes, butchering. You can practically smell the entrails steaming in the summer sun. With relatively sparse dialog, Williams manages to create several very vivid characters, including the bumbling, haunted Charley Hoge, my favorite in the book.I rarely read Westerns (Might this be my first? I think it is.), so I can't comment on how this either conforms to or deviates from the conventions of the genre. I found the descriptions of how the men lived, of how they survived without all that I enjoy in my daily life (like plumbing and a bed), to be fascinating. And the story -- a lassic quest, really -- offered plenty of action. Indeed, there's a sequence that's as tense and pact with danger as the movie Wages of Fear. In the end, I found the philosophy of the book to be somewhat opaque, and it's for this that I'm giving the book three stars. If you are looking for a great Western, you'll definitely find it in Butcher's Crossing. But if you want to read Williams at his best, I recommend Stoner instead. Show Less
LibraryThing member OscarWilde87
Butcher's Crossing is a town in the West. It consists of a hotel, a saloon, a dry goods store, stables and a few other houses. The railroad has not yet come to Butcher's Crossing, but the local hide seller, McDonald, strongly believes it will and that the town will flourish then. So far, only few
In the second part of the novel, the reader follows the group of men on their trip to Colorado. After they almost die of thirst, Miller finally manages to find water and soon afterwards the group arrives in the valley where they find a huge herd of buffalo. Miller is set on killing all the animals which delays the group's return to Butcher's Crossing. They camp in the valley for so long that they are surprised by a blizzard and are snowed in, struggling for survival in the cold. Unable to leave the valley in the snow they have to wait till spring which delays their return to Butcher's Crossing for over six months. The second part ends with Schneider dying while crossing a river and the group losing all their hides, that is everything they had worked for for so long. Back in Butcher's Crossing it becomes obvious that the railroad has not come. Andrews, Miller and Charley Hoge find the town almost completely deserted and run down, which leaves Andrews to reflect on his life and what has and will become of him.
The novel works with a rather small set of characters and it is exactly the interplay of those characters that I liked. Williams did an excellent job of describing the landscape and capturing the characters in their surroundings. This is especially true for the character of Will Andrews, a young man who sets out to discover a new way of living. Through an omniscient third-person narrator we learn what Andrews thinks about the persons that surround him and how he feels on the trip to Colorado. To my mind the following quotation (p. 176) shows Williams' skill quite well. It describes how Andrews feels about hunting, skinning and cutting up buffalo. In the end, it is also a good comparison to the way Andrews feels about his new way of living.
"It came to him that he turned away from the buffalo not because of a womanish nausea at blood and stench and spilling gut; it came to him that he had sickened and turned away because of his shock at seeing the buffalo, a few moments before proud and noble and full of the dignity of life, now stark and helpless, a length of inert meat, divested of itself, or his notion of its self, swinging grotesquely, mockingly, before him. It was not itself; or it was not that self that he had imagined it to be. That self was murdered; and in that murder he had felt the destruction of something within him, and he had not been able to face it. So he had turned away."
Butcher's Crossing is a perfect novel, superbly written and highly readable. 5 stars.
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people live in Butcher's Crossing, many of them hunters who provide the hides for McDonald to sell. This is the setting of John Williams' Butcher's Crossing. Enter Will Andrews, the protagonist. He leaves Harvard and sets out to to go west to Butcher's Crossing. Soon after he arrives he meets with McDonald, who is an aquaintance of Will's father. In search of a new way of living, Will Andrews asks McDonald where to go in town and whom to talk to. This is how Andrews learns about Miller, a buffalo hunter. Miller and his companion, Charley Hoge, are soon found in the saloon. After a short talk Andrews agrees to Miller's proposition to go further west to find a buffalo herd in a hidden valley in Colorado and hunt them for their hides. With the help of Andrews' money, Miller is able to buy everything they need for the trip and hire a skinner, Schneider.In the second part of the novel, the reader follows the group of men on their trip to Colorado. After they almost die of thirst, Miller finally manages to find water and soon afterwards the group arrives in the valley where they find a huge herd of buffalo. Miller is set on killing all the animals which delays the group's return to Butcher's Crossing. They camp in the valley for so long that they are surprised by a blizzard and are snowed in, struggling for survival in the cold. Unable to leave the valley in the snow they have to wait till spring which delays their return to Butcher's Crossing for over six months. The second part ends with Schneider dying while crossing a river and the group losing all their hides, that is everything they had worked for for so long. Back in Butcher's Crossing it becomes obvious that the railroad has not come. Andrews, Miller and Charley Hoge find the town almost completely deserted and run down, which leaves Andrews to reflect on his life and what has and will become of him.
The novel works with a rather small set of characters and it is exactly the interplay of those characters that I liked. Williams did an excellent job of describing the landscape and capturing the characters in their surroundings. This is especially true for the character of Will Andrews, a young man who sets out to discover a new way of living. Through an omniscient third-person narrator we learn what Andrews thinks about the persons that surround him and how he feels on the trip to Colorado. To my mind the following quotation (p. 176) shows Williams' skill quite well. It describes how Andrews feels about hunting, skinning and cutting up buffalo. In the end, it is also a good comparison to the way Andrews feels about his new way of living.
"It came to him that he turned away from the buffalo not because of a womanish nausea at blood and stench and spilling gut; it came to him that he had sickened and turned away because of his shock at seeing the buffalo, a few moments before proud and noble and full of the dignity of life, now stark and helpless, a length of inert meat, divested of itself, or his notion of its self, swinging grotesquely, mockingly, before him. It was not itself; or it was not that self that he had imagined it to be. That self was murdered; and in that murder he had felt the destruction of something within him, and he had not been able to face it. So he had turned away."
Butcher's Crossing is a perfect novel, superbly written and highly readable. 5 stars.
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LibraryThing member Stahl-Ricco
Really good read, slow and methodical, yet just as it should be!
Will Anderson, young and looking for adventure, travels out from Boston and Harvard, to the West, to end up in the town of Butcher's Crossing. He puts up money for a buffalo hunt, and he and three others set off. All three end up
It's a nice ol' western story, full of descriptive details and scenery. At times, I felt saddle sore and dust covered as I read along. Could almost smell the gunpowder too! Strong sense of place on each and every page.
Good last line too! "He rode forward without hurry, and felt behind him the sun slowly rise and harden the air." Ahh...
Will Anderson, young and looking for adventure, travels out from Boston and Harvard, to the West, to end up in the town of Butcher's Crossing. He puts up money for a buffalo hunt, and he and three others set off. All three end up
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getting more than just the hunt!It's a nice ol' western story, full of descriptive details and scenery. At times, I felt saddle sore and dust covered as I read along. Could almost smell the gunpowder too! Strong sense of place on each and every page.
Good last line too! "He rode forward without hurry, and felt behind him the sun slowly rise and harden the air." Ahh...
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LibraryThing member stef7sa
A tiny 4 stars. This novel does not come near Stoner unfortunately. It reminded me of Moby Dick in its very detailed descriptions of the buffalo hunt. But it is difficult to identify with the main character as the author does not give away much about him. His entire background in a wealthy Boston
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family is only hinted at. Show Less
LibraryThing member stephengoldenberg
I loved 'Stoner', John Williams' recently rediscovered classic novel, and I'm generally a fan of Western novels, so this has been on my 'to read' list for some time. For most of the book, it is like a survival guide. As we follow the four men on their epic journey across the Colorado plains in the
The characters would easily fit in to a John Ford western - the whore with a heart of gold, the grizzled, bible-bashing, whiskey-soaked wagon driver with one hand, the wise old superman-type leader who is more than slightly unhinged, the angry rebellious buffalo skinner who clashes with the leader. However, for me, the problem was the main character, Will Andrews. He's very much the same kind of almost anonymous dreamer with no clear vision of what he wants from life as Stoner. But whereas that eponymous character, against all the odds, worked brilliantly, the same type of character doesn't cut it in a Western. One example of why I found him annoying - when they start shooting and skinning buffalo, he finds it repulsive, destructive and wasteful and empathises with them - but he quickly gets over it and gets on with the job!
Despite these reservations, it's by no means a bad read. It's just that, if you want to read a really exciting Wild West novel which mixes myth with authenticity, go with anything by Larry McMurtry - especially 'Lonesome Dove'.
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1870s, we learn how to survive in hot arid conditions with little or no water; and then, how to survive a winter snowed up in a mountain pass (it helps to have piles of buffalo hides). It's a novel consisting mostly of dramatic, poetic descriptions of landscape and weather with only occasional moments of drama. You will also learn everything you need to know about how to shoot large numbers of buffalo while still keeping the herd together so you can shoot more, and how to skin and butcher them (eating the raw liver is particularly recommended for its magical properties - if you can stomach it). There is no doubting the authenticity of this novel.The characters would easily fit in to a John Ford western - the whore with a heart of gold, the grizzled, bible-bashing, whiskey-soaked wagon driver with one hand, the wise old superman-type leader who is more than slightly unhinged, the angry rebellious buffalo skinner who clashes with the leader. However, for me, the problem was the main character, Will Andrews. He's very much the same kind of almost anonymous dreamer with no clear vision of what he wants from life as Stoner. But whereas that eponymous character, against all the odds, worked brilliantly, the same type of character doesn't cut it in a Western. One example of why I found him annoying - when they start shooting and skinning buffalo, he finds it repulsive, destructive and wasteful and empathises with them - but he quickly gets over it and gets on with the job!
Despite these reservations, it's by no means a bad read. It's just that, if you want to read a really exciting Wild West novel which mixes myth with authenticity, go with anything by Larry McMurtry - especially 'Lonesome Dove'.
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LibraryThing member michaelbartley
after reading Stoner by Williams, which I loved I was afraid to read this novel. I was afraid it would not be as good and I would be disappointed. I am glad to report I was not disappointed! This a powerful novel of 5 characters and of survival in a world that is indifferent.
LibraryThing member A.Godhelm
A quintessential "man vs nature" western at the twilight of the buffalo hunting era. At times very evocative of place, less so of men. Feels like the author watched Treasure of Sierra Madre recently, but it doesn't quite make it to those heights.
LibraryThing member markm2315
quite good. reviews I have found do not compare it to heart of darkness.
LibraryThing member LGCullens
I found this book mildly interesting, and historically instructive in its graphic detail, with a mostly realistic plot, but I wasn't enamored with the writing. That to the point of pulling my hair out over the verbosity of superfluous descriptive filler, finding it disruptive of an attempt at a
All in all, a good part of the storyline struck me as yet another depressing example of humankind's ongoing unquenchable pleonexia that is diminishing the biosphere. A redeeming aspect to me were times where ignorance and the sway of Nature countered man's hubris.
"...Epicureans supposed that animals and plants could not have been created for human use, because so many people are fools..." -- Pan's Travail
Yet, I suppose others may find the adventure entertaining.
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flowing storyline.All in all, a good part of the storyline struck me as yet another depressing example of humankind's ongoing unquenchable pleonexia that is diminishing the biosphere. A redeeming aspect to me were times where ignorance and the sway of Nature countered man's hubris.
"...Epicureans supposed that animals and plants could not have been created for human use, because so many people are fools..." -- Pan's Travail
Yet, I suppose others may find the adventure entertaining.
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LibraryThing member soylentgreen23
Written in a spare, almost King James Bible kind of language, with a focus on every small detail and element that matters, this tale of hunting buffalo is one of the greatest westerns ever composed. An absolute masterpiece.
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1960
Physical description
274 p.; 7.98 inches
ISBN
1590171985 / 9781590171981