![]() ![]() He, and he alone, is the only remaining Indian with a crude and primitive code of honor. Joe, you see, is a special snowflake of a Red Indian. I understand L'Amour was writing after centuries of negative, and inaccurate, propaganda from the US government about native peoples, but even when I tried to make allowances for that, the constant harping on Joe's true self being "savage" and "uncivilized" was extremely tiresome. Over and over again, we're told, "No one could survive out there!" and "Alekhin would catch the American and kill him!" and "Natalya stared into the distance, wondering if he was still alive," and "The past few months had made Joe lean and strong," and worst of all, "Joe was reverting to a savage Indian." ![]() ![]() As the book went on, everything got more and more repetitive: the survival techniques, the chase, and especially the writing. I even enjoyed the cat and mouse chase, at least at the beginning. Instead of knowing how a task is accomplished, we know only that it has been done. I liked the survival bits of this, though L'Amour is often frustratingly vague about how much time has passed between one scene and the next. ![]()
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