Replies

Well this one will be shorter (probably making it better)(I hope.)

Since this book was probably written in 1948, published in 1949, I see many themes of the WWII movies. Doing the right thing, fighting only when you have to, reluctant heros.

You also have a Connecticut author that is adding to the mystification of the West and its strong silent characters.

Shane's illustrations brought back my childhood moments of reading books with wonderful drawings. I would return time and again to the pictures to look for more details.

Did you notice that most of the characters have names like, - Joe, Sam, Bob, Chris - but the two gunmen are named Shane and Stark (both start with S, same number of letters but Stark is well --- Starker).

How about that karate kick - I was truly surprised. A book from the 40's had a kick to the head.

You have to confess that some things were just too dramatically overdone. Like, ""..that he killed Wilson before they got him (Shane). I know. HE WAS SHANE." Or, "No bullet can kill that man." Hero, hero, writ very large.

I wonder if "What a Wonderful Life," lifted this from Shane "He's not gone. He's here, in this place, in this place he gave us. He's all around us and in us and he always will be."

Could those who rented the movie refresh my memory about the famous "Shane, Shane, come back." At least that's how I recall it. The closest in the book was, "Shane," I whispered desperately, loud as I dared without the men inside hearing me. "Oh, Shane!"

I don't think Shane was from a Southern aristocratic background. His family moved from Missouri to Arkansas and he left when he was 15. I think one of the most revealing lines spoken by Shane is, "A man is what he is...no breaking the mold...a real man behind him (Bob's father) the kind that could back him (Bob) for the chance another kid (Shane) never had."