The Shootist

 

For the first time in over a year I finished reading a book, and my word did I pick a good one. 

The Shootist is a novel by Glendon Swarthout, and served as the basis for the movie of the same name that became John Wayne's final role on film. It's about John Barnard Books, a middle aged gunfighter who travels to El Paso to see a surgeon he trusts. That doctor verifies what he already knew, that he is dying of prostate cancer. Taking up a room in the boarding house of a widow and her troubled teenage son, Books determines that the illness will not best him; instead, he intends to leave the world as he lived it, with a gun in his hand. 

From the start Swarthout charms you with the poetry of his language, the wonderful descriptions of people and places, and insightful glimpes into the inner workings of the main characters. This was once voted as one of the greatrest Westerns of the 20th century, and they weren't wrong. 

I can't say I love the ending, which is much darker than the film. But I cannot say it was the wrong choice, as it fits perfetctly into the tale. 

Grade: A+