Be Specific About Out Of Books Welcome to Hard Times
| Title | : | Welcome to Hard Times |
| Author | : | E.L. Doctorow |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 224 pages |
| Published | : | July 1st 1996 by Plume (first published 1960) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Westerns. Historical. Historical Fiction. Literature. American. Novels. Americana |
E.L. Doctorow
Paperback | Pages: 224 pages Rating: 3.8 | 1673 Users | 167 Reviews
Ilustration Concering Books Welcome to Hard Times
Hard Times is the name of a town in the barren hills of the Dakota Territory. To this town there comes one day one of the reckless sociopaths who wander the West to kill and rape and pillage. By the time he is through and has ridden off, Hard Times is a smoking ruin. The de facto mayor, Blue, takes in two survivors of the carnage–a boy, Jimmy, and a prostitute, Molly, who has suffered unspeakably–and makes them his provisional family. Blue begins to rebuild Hard Times, welcoming new settlers, while Molly waits with vengeance in her heart for the return of the outlaw. Here is E. L. Doctorow’s debut novel, a searing allegory of frontier life that sets the stage for his subsequent classics.
Specify Books Supposing Welcome to Hard Times
| Original Title: | Bad Man From Bodie |
| ISBN: | 0452275717 (ISBN13: 9780452275713) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Rating Out Of Books Welcome to Hard Times
Ratings: 3.8 From 1673 Users | 167 ReviewsAssess Out Of Books Welcome to Hard Times
This is Doctorows first book written in 1960. I understand a movie was made from the book staring Henry Fonda. The books genre is classified as a serious western. Welcome to Hard Times is about average people who fail to organize and stand as one against evil and never recover from the devastating results of their failure to act. The story also has many subplots for a book that is only 224 pages or 6 hours audio.Doctorow has the traditional characters of a typical western, a bullying evilOK - we read this a book club selection.I have mixed feelings about it - it is well written: I think the choice and use of language is very good.it is - evocative? atmospheric? - the author does a good job of evoking a mood.characters - reasonably well done - it is written from the POV of one of the characters so we only see what he thinks about other people's acts and attitudes and we have no real information about what THEY might think of him, or anything else.That said: I really didn't like
This short first novel by E. L. Doctorow takes place in a Dakota mining town called Hard Times. It is a fit name for a place in the middle of nowhere with harsh weather, hard relationships, bad men and lawlessness. One of the most interesting westerns I have ever read because of its' plot. Hard Times is filled with desperation and hopelessness. Sounds like a cookie-cutter western? It's not, but to say more would give it all away.My rating: 5 stars. This book is classic worthy.
One day you stepped in snow, the next in mud, water soaked in your boots and froze them at night, it was the next worst thing to pure blizzardry, it was weather that wouldn't let you settle. I read several Doctorows back in the late 1980s and never really clicked with him. His writing was fine; it just didn't blow my skirt up. For years though I have thought about picking up a copy of his first book Welcome to Hard Times. I usually like first books and I'm always intrigued with westerns that
Doctorow's first novel is a literary western. That's right. It was shelved in Westerns at my library. In truth, it is a philosophical though action packed story set in Dakota Territory during the wild, lawless days when the West was being settled.The writing is taut and just about perfect. You can see, hear, almost smell the town of Hard Times and the characters leap to life. The "Bad Man from Bodie" rides into town, rapes the whores, then burns down the entire town.Blue is the default
"Nothing is ever buried, the earth rolls over in its tracks, it never goes anywhere, it never changes, only the hope changes like morning and night, only the expectations rise and set. Why does there have to be a promise before destruction?"This simple novel, set in the Dakota flats well before statehood, is written simply and directly and somehow contains a few sharp insights and phrases to be found echoing through all of Tragedy. To be sure, these thoughts are not original. There is no
This is the first book Ive read by E. L. Doctorow, and it was his first, written in 1960. He captures a change to the Zeitgeist, in that this novel is very much a move away from the traditional western. There were aspects that reminded me of the 1973 film High Plains Drifter, to the extent I wondered whether the makers of that film had drawn some of their inspiration from Welcome to Hard Times. Its not a perfect comparison though, as the novel has a deeper strain of pessimism. So, Hard Times is
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