Saturday, December 24, 2022

Butcher’s Crossing (John Williams)

John Williams
Butcher’s Crossing 



A truly great book by the author of Stoner which I loved. This is entirely different in it's subject matter but has the brilliant descriptive writing that really evokes the situations written about. Given that not many of us will have experienced the content of the novel Williams' ability to transport you there is brilliant. I'm sure he never experienced what he's written about either which makes it even more impressive. Highly recommended and I wont try to summarise the plot suffice to say it's about relationships and survival. Human fanaticism and self contemplation. How people react to extremes. Ultimately what drives us. The plot is brilliant too with majorly significant story lines. As a side note, in the 1800s bison in USA dropped from over 50 million to under 500. Killed for hides, for farmland and also culled to push native Americans out of their traditional lands. The novel is a brilliantly depressing read.

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