Name: Evan's review of Butcher's Crossing by John Williams
Item: Butcher's Crossing
Rating: 5
Author: Evan

John Williams

In the 1870s, Will Andrews, fired up by Emerson to seek "an original relation to nature," drops out of Harvard and heads west. He washes up in Butcher's Crossing, a small Kansas town full of restless men looking for ways to make money and ways to waste it. One of these men regales Will with tales of the immense buffalo herds hidden away in the Colorado Rockies and convinces him to join an expedition to track them down. At the end of a grueling journey, the men reach a place of paradisal richness, where they abandon themselves to an orgy of slaughter. So caught up in killing buffalo that they lose all sense of time, the men are overtaken by winter and snowed in. In the spring, half-insane with cabin fever, cold, and hunger, they stagger back to Butcher's Crossing to find a world as irremediably changed as they have been.

Butcher's Crossing

Alfie Coleman

A mesmerizing adventure from start to finish.

"Stoner" was a solitary 'adventure' of sorts and makes "Butcher's Crossing" seem like an epic in its sense of scale. Admittedly, I was worried, even after loving "Stoner": what would a Western look like by John Williams? I just couldn't picture it, yet I decided to just go for it anyways, and couldn't be happier I did.

"Butcher's Crossing" is very rich. The amount of subtext (or, especially by the end, outright-stated themes and questions) overflowing from these pages is astounding; it's the kind of book I wish they actually had me reading and discussing back in school. Topics covered or hinted at include manifest destiny, greed, waste, conservationism, indifference/harshness of nature, and so many 'struggles of Man' that I don't really know where to get started. It'll get your noggin joggin', I promise you.

I enjoyed all of the leads: Miller, Andrews, Schneider, and Hoge all have something to contribute to their journey west to slaughter buffalo. Miller is an especially interesting character; I'm sure many would consider him an antagonist of sorts, but I believe his classification is very murky. Expertly crafted characters once again by Williams, I was very happy to hear any one of them speak.

Williams changed up his style for this novel; many more semicolons, most notably; and similar to "Blood Meridian", a lot of ink is used to describe the world around the characters to help not just paint a picture but set a tone. Like "Stoner", I believe I can classify Williams' prose as something not too flashy on its surface level yet he makes the mundane really pop before your eyes. This is, comparatively, more flowery prose -- but again, it's not absurd or too indulgent, it's a great balance. He does a lot with a little, it's a really unique voice at work and, like "Stoner", I am really happy to witness his work.

I absolutely loved and recommend "Butcher's Crossing".

Evan

A mesmerizing adventure from start to finish.

  

"Stoner" was a solitary 'adventure' of sorts and makes "Butcher's Crossing" seem like an epic in its sense of scale. Admittedly, I was worried, even after loving "Stoner": what would a Western look like by John Williams? I just couldn't picture it, yet I decided to just go for it anyways, and couldn't be happier I did.

  

"Butcher's Crossing" is very rich. The amount of subtext (or, especially by the end, outright-stated themes and questions) overflowing from these pages is astounding; it's the kind of book I wish they actually had me reading and discussing back in school. Topics covered or hinted at include manifest destiny, greed, waste, conservationism, indifference/harshness of nature, and so many 'struggles of Man' that I don't really know where to get started. It'll get your noggin joggin', I promise you.

  

I enjoyed all of the leads: Miller, Andrews, Schneider, and Hoge all have something to contribute to their journey west to slaughter buffalo. Miller is an especially interesting character; I'm sure many would consider him an antagonist of sorts, but I believe his classification is very murky. Expertly crafted characters once again by Williams, I was very happy to hear any one of them speak.

  

Williams changed up his style for this novel; many more semicolons, most notably; and similar to "Blood Meridian", a lot of ink is used to describe the world around the characters to help not just paint a picture but set a tone. Like "Stoner", I believe I can classify Williams' prose as something not too flashy on its surface level yet he makes the mundane really pop before your eyes. This is, comparatively, more flowery prose -- but again, it's not absurd or too indulgent, it's a great balance. He does a lot with a little, it's a really unique voice at work and, like "Stoner", I am really happy to witness his work.

  

I absolutely loved and recommend "Butcher's Crossing".

Williams paints a bleak picture of America's [literal] landscape in the shadow of Manifest Destiny and builds an argument against viewing nature as a means to peace, liberation, or self-actualization. This is a good companion to Cormac and makes me very excited to read more Williams.

elizabeth

laurenl

Murdoch

Joe Zimet

Gabe Cortez

A. D. Knapp

Kevin Owens

BY THE AUTHOR OF STONER Will Andrews is no academic. He longs for wildness, freedom, hope and vigour. He leaves Harvard and sets out for the West to discover a new way of living. In a small town called Butcher's Crossing he meets a hunter with a story of a lost herd of buffalo in a remote Colorado valley, just waiting to be taken by a team of men brave and crazy enough to find them. Will makes up his mind to be one of those men, but the journey, the killing, harsh conditions and sheer hard luck will test his mind and body to their limits.

Erika

Nav Singh

Will Vunderink

Es war um 1870, als Will Andrews der Aussicht auf eine glänzende Karriere und Harvard den Rücken kehrt. Beflügelt von der Naturauffassung Ralph W. Emersons, sucht er im Westen nach einer "ursprünglichen Beziehung zur Natur". In Butcher's Crossing, einem kleinen Städtchen in Kansas, am Rande von Nirgendwo, wimmelt es von rastlosen Männern, die das Abenteuer suchen und schnell verdientes Geld ebenso schnell wieder vergeuden. Einer von ihnen lockt Andrews mit Geschichten von riesigen Büffelherden, die, versteckt in einem entlegenen Tal tief in den Colorado Rockies, nur eingefangen werden müssten: Andrews schließt sich einer Expedition an, mit dem Ziel, die Tiere aufzuspüren. Die Reise ist aufreibend und strapaziös, aber am Ende erreichen die Männer einen Ort von paradiesischer Schönheit. Doch statt von Ehrfurcht werden sie von Gier ergriffen - und entfesseln eine Tragödie. Ein Roman darüber, wie man im Leben verliert und was man dabei gewinnt. (Quelle: buchkatalog.de).

Alfie Coleman &
Butcher's Crossing by John Williams

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Alfie Coleman &Butcher's Crossing by John Williams

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Alfie Coleman &
Butcher's Crossing by John Williams