The Way West

A.B. Gutrhrie has a mastery of the days of the mountain men and the first pioneers to cross the great divide to settle the far west. The feeling of being along the trail, the trails and joys of the people, and the land they crossed, can not be presented in a more expressive manner than by Guthrie. Most of all, understanding Dick Summers and his love of the untaimed land, wildlife, and people, wanting it not to change, but knowing his is part of the reasons in will, brings a deep feeling of sorry to anyone who feels as he did.

The Way West is the second in the series of great Western novels by A.B. Guthrie. The story picks up in 1846 in Independence, Missouri, jumping off point for the Oregon Trail. Former mountain man Dick Summers is coaxed out of farm life and back in to the saddle as the pilot of an early wagon train bound for the Willamette Valley. Summers is an American archetype - doesn't say much, doesn't get excited, knows how do the important outdoor things, he's beyond mere competence, but not braggy, even-tempered, yet underneath it, a compassionate man. Elijah ('Lije') Evans, the main new protagonist, becomes an unlikely leader of the cavalcade. Guthrie introduces the characters that populated the Old West - big and small, courageous and cowering, mostly ordinary people. The book is excellent in historical detail - you feel like you are climbing Independence Rock along with Brownie Evans or crossing the Snake. The reader gets a real sense of the extreme difficulty of these early wagon train trips. To quote Dick Summers, "It ain't easy, but it ain't beyond doin' either." Highest recommendation for anyone interested in the American West.

Rarely is a sequel, whether it be a movie or book, as good as the original. But, rest assured that this is not the case of "The Way West," A.B. Guthrie's follow-up to "The Big Sky," and the second of six books in The Big Sky series. How good are these two volumes? Well, the first has been designated "the best novel of the American West" by the Western Literature Association. "The Way West" won the Pulitzer Price for fiction in 1950. Which is the better book? Impossible to tell, they're almost like two books in one. "The Way West" begins where "The Big Sky" ends in 1846 as Dick Summers, a true mountain man introduced in the original, is living as a farmer in Missouri. His sickly wife has just died and he is urgently asked to be the guide for a wagon train departing from Independence to Fort Vancouver in Oregon. What follows next are months of exciting adventures among the Indians, rattlesnakes, stampeding buffalo, raging rivers, and other obstacles they have to surmount in the quest to the west. The pacing of "The Way West" is similar to "The Big Sky." Quiet passages wherein we get to really know the many principal characters of the book interspersed with tension filled episodes of action. The details of the trek, the dialogue, the characters are so real that this book compels the reader to keep turning pages late into the night. It's amazing to discover and reflect on what these settlers went through to expand our country from sea to sea. I can't say enough good things about these two books, and once I take a breather, I'll move on to the next book in the series.

This book changed the way I read novels. I used to read mostly fast-paced books with lots of excitement, "page-turners" that propel you towards the ending. Although The Way West has a good story line, it did not develop in the way I expected. I kept waiting for the Indian attacks and shoot-outs, standard fare for a novel about a wagon train, but they never quite came. In the meantime I started to appreciate the way the author got into the minds of the characters, how well he described their lives and journeys. This book is not so much about telling a story about a wagon train as telling the individual stories of the people in it. The book describes their day-to-day lives, their attitudes and motivations, and gives insight into the times in which they lived. The landscapes of the early west are painted beautifully. Guthrie does all of this in a writing style which is very readable.Most novels today use techniques to keep you on the edge of your seat, so that when you finish a chapter you want to dive into the next. They manipulate the reader and compel you forward to the finish line and - if the author is crafty enough - to the next book in the series. This is much more about selling books than creating art.I found that when I reached the end of a chapter in The Way West, I was often inclined to return to the start of the chapter and read it again. After reading this book, I started looking for books of greater substance, that create lasting images. Guthrie's other books fit the bill nicely.The Way West is a beautifully written book. Slow down and enjoy it.

This sequel to The Big Sky continues the story of Dick Summers. It would be very beneficial to first read The Big Sky. I actually found The Big Sky more interesting and if possible, better-written, than The Way West. Both books are extremely interesting and hard to put down. The Way West tells the story of a wagon train on its way to Oregon. Dick Summers, an experienced mountain man, agrees to lead the group to Oregon. This takes place in the early days of the Oregon Trail when men were still working out the exact route they would take. There are six Big Sky novels of which The Way West is the second. I am currently reading the third book in the series, Fair Land, Fair Land. It is every bit as good as the first two. All of these books are historically accurate and, once again, very hard to put down. I highly recommend The Way West!! Enjoy!!