An enjoyable quick read. Typical of its genre, but with more moralizing than is usual. Every woman wants a Shane or Joe Starrett watching over them. ( )

Classic Western story. Basis of the movie. ( )

I’m having a really tough time writing a review for Shane. I liked the book quite a bit, but just don’t have a lot to say about it. A compact little book with some depth to it. It’s a tough book to summarize. The book was so influential on other westerns that any summary will now sound like a pile of clichés: A mysterious drifter arrives in a settlement in 1890’s Montana and becomes enmeshed in a fight between settles and the big rancher who craves their land. It would be an easy book to dismiss based on such a summary, but it would be a mistake.

The book was very well written. This isn't so much a novel about a heroic drifter who arrives in town and saves the day. That is the spine of the story, but the focus on the book is on the effect Shane has on the Starrett family and the effects he would like them to have on him. Shane isn't just a cipher of a character. Though we never learn much about Shane's past, it is clear that he enjoys his time with the Starrett family and would like to be able to settle down to their way of living. I was reminded a bit of Unforgiven, as Shane is clearly a gunfighter who would like to escape that lifestyle but knows he will most likely be unable to.

The Starretts felt real and it was nice to read about a truly functional family. Young Bob idolizes his father, Joe, a good man who is trying to make a go of his farm. Marion, the mother was believably portrayed. Through the course of the novel you can see that she is developing feelings for Shane, though nothing overt is ever stated in the novel. The only time it felt overly clunky would be when the mother and father would have discussions about how Shane affected their lives. I just couldn't see two people having conversations like that.

Otherwise Jack Schafer does a very good job. The book is written from the point of view of Bob Starrett, a man reflecting back on this time in his childhood. The author does a very good job with Bob's narration. The way it is presented allows for Bob to discuss situations both as he saw them at the time and with the maturity he's gained since then.

Overall, Shane was a very satisfying read. Quite a bit better than I bargained for. ( )

Shane - powerful, dark, brooding - defines the archetype: a man among men. ( )

I really enjoyed this one, and read it in one day (OK, it’s very short). It has tension, morality, interesting characters. Shane is a kind of anti-hero, reminding me of Ethan Edwards—he is necessary to the preservation of decent society, but the things which make him able to protect that society will also finally make him unfit to be a part of it. The tragedy is that the big bad world won’t let Shane simply relax, as he tries to do—he really settles in to life on the farm. Marian and Joe debate and feel guilt about what they have done to Shane, by pushing him back to violence. In doing so, however, they have also offered him a chance to make a lasting contribution to their world, which he helped to build as well as to protect. ( )