The Shootist

I have only read two Glendon Swarthout novels (The Shootist and The Homesman), but, as it turns out, they are two of my favorite books and both were made into favorite movies of mine. Swarthout, who died in 1992 at age 74, had a special talent for writing the kind of western novel that told its story by getting deeply into the heads of its characters. His westerns were not short on gunplay and the like, but Swarthout’s focus was always on what motivated his characters to be the people they were and do the things they did.

The central character of The Shootist is one John Bernard Books, a nineteenth-century gunfighter with a fierce reputation as a sure-shot with a quick hand. But time is beginning to catch up with Books and now, in show more January 1901, he has come to El Paso to see the doctor who saved his life years earlier when Books took the only bullet that ever came near killing him. Books is in pain and he knows that something is seriously wrong with him. And when the doctor tells him that the pain is being caused by the prostate cancer that is killing him, Books knows that he will die in El Paso – and soon.

Word spreads quickly that the famous gunfighter is staying in a local boarding house, and it is only a matter of time before several gunfighters with an exaggerated estimation of their own talents begin to consider the instant fame associated with being the one to kill the famous John Bernard Books. Bond Rogers, the widow for whom the boardinghouse is her only source of income, is losing borders because of the gunfighter’s presence and wants him to leave her home, something Books adamantly refuses to do. Over the course of several weeks, as the cancer progresses and Books becomes more and more helpless, the reader watches the city’s vultures descend on the dying man to lay claim to every personal possession Books is willing to sell, including the very hair on his head. It seems that the death of Books is going to prove quite profitable for several of El Paso’s more-enterprising merchants.

But at the heart of The Shootist is the evolving relationship between Books, his landlady, and the woman’s 17-year-old son, a school dropout who has aspirations to become a gunfighter as famous as Books. Those familiar with the film version of The Shootist will remember young Gillom Bond as somewhat of an innocently naïve boy who can hardly believe his luck that the most famous gunfighter of the day is about to die in his mother’s boardinghouse. This is not at all the Gillom Bond portrayed in the novel, a forum in which Gillom shows a very different temperament and plays a much more significant role in the story’s climax.

Bottom Line: This is an excellent literary western, and that’s the best kind. The Shootist won the Spur Award for Best Western Novel of 1975, and it is very easy to see why. show less

A gunslinger at the twilight of the Old West faces down a terminal cancer diagnosis with a big old display of real American machismo. When I was a kid I watched the John Wayne movie a few times on broadcast TV, and I never knew it was based on a book until I came across a copy at a used book sale earlier this year. The introduction mentions that Wayne steered the movie's end away from the book toward something a little more crowd-pleasing, and I have to say I agree with his choice. Still the book is a satisfying read if a little awkwardly written in places.

p.s., I see the movie streams on Amazon Prime. I'm going to have to give it another look soon.

This is an impressive novel.
Yes, it's a western and some people will dismiss it, for that. But it's not (for the most part) what you think of, when you think of a western. Yes, there are a few times that guns are fired and yes, the main character is an infamous "shootist". Referred to as a killer, assassin, gunfighter, etc.. Yes.

But it's the story of a man whose time is passing as his era is passing. Dying of cancer, he comes to El Paso for a confirmation of his diagnosis, from a doctor he trusts. The novel is the tale of his rapid deterioration, in the face of his illness. His coming to terms with who he is, what he is, and finally... that he can do something good, finally, with his death.

John Wayne played this character in the movie show more version. J. B. Books. It was Wayne's final role, to play the aging gunfighter dying of cancer, while Wayne was dying of cancer. (they even had to pause production, to allow him time to recover from illness during filming)

Certainly, the book is grimmer, darker, and far more brutal than the film. And I'm not talking about killings. Books is slowly destroyed by the cancer as people visit him, all trying to make a profit off his impending demise.

I am very happy that I read this sad book. show less

It took me years to get around the reading this book. It has been on my list and in my mind for a long long time. And when I finally got there it left me speechless. It is so precise and so exact it is like a zen exercise just to read it.

It is a period piece in that it captures the very essence of a time and a man.

I cannot say anything but stupid superlatives. You must read this book to glimpse how excellent writing can be when done done like this.

well, it is a good, solid end-of-the-West story, about the decline of craftsmanship in a non-existent profession, that of the Gun-fighter. That mythical leap being negotiated, there's a nice piece of character development here. Later made into a vehicle for John Wayne.

Fabulous.

A near-perfect character study of John Bernard Books, a gunslinger who stays true to who he is right to the end.

And surprisingly funny in parts.

Well worth the read.

This is a modern classic Western, that turns out not like the movie and not as I would like it. The movie was milktoast compared to the book. Ronald Reagan said it was one of the best books ever written, and I won't agree, but it is memorable. Anyone who enjoys the genre should read this story.