The Virginian (Signet Classics)
by Owen Wister
|
|
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of The Virginian.
discuss this book
friend reviews (0)
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
lists with this book
Where's the love? Add this book to your favorite list.
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 402)
Read in April, 2007
I enjoyed The Virginian immensely. It’s the perfect book: it combines romance, humor, mystery and action all in one package – and to top it off, it is full of morals.
The narrator opens our minds to the big wide, wild world of the 19th Century American West, mainly through his interactions with the Virginian, an easterner who had come west as a teen to find his lot in life. And, we learn many lessons along the way.
I will discuss three of these lessons in this paper:
1) Treat others bett...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in October, 2007
I cannot believe that I sat in American Lit reading Hawthorne when I could have been reading this. If you have never heard of this book, then I am not sure why; just as I am not sure why I had never heard of it. It is surely Romantic, and sometimes Heroic, but there is a depth of emotion, wit, and thought in this work which made me question how American it could be.
Of course, the author spent some schooling-time in Europe, and holds a dear enough place for Austen and Shakespeare not to desce...more
Of course, the author spent some schooling-time in Europe, and holds a dear enough place for Austen and Shakespeare not to desce...more
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
add a comment
Read in May, 2008
recommended to Nickie by:
5 Pillar programs at George Wythe College
This is the book that started the "Western Movement" in novels and movies. Owen Wister creates a vivid picture of the man simply known as the Virginian. Set in Wyoming about the 1890's.
I am currently listening to lectures about the Iliad and find similarities regarding honor (called Time pronounced tee may) and glory or fame, (called Kleos). The Virginian is the "real western man" though not born in the west. His name says it all.
This is a novel that honors the western way...more
I am currently listening to lectures about the Iliad and find similarities regarding honor (called Time pronounced tee may) and glory or fame, (called Kleos). The Virginian is the "real western man" though not born in the west. His name says it all.
This is a novel that honors the western way...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2001
recommends it for:
Anyone interested in the late nineteenth century American frontier
The Virginian was the inspiration for The Shopkeeper. The inspiration didn't come from the main character of the novel, but from the life of Owen Wister, the author of this classic. Originally published in 1902, Wister visited the Old West in the late nineteenth century and wrote from personal experience.
Although the Virginian can be a somewhat difficult read today, I liked it because Wister wrote from the personal experiences he recorded in his journal. I've never seen the journal, but I'v...more
Although the Virginian can be a somewhat difficult read today, I liked it because Wister wrote from the personal experiences he recorded in his journal. I've never seen the journal, but I'v...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in December, 2007
The Virginian, Oh What a Man! Wow, this was so good; I could not put it down. The Virginian is the most incredible, honest, honorable, handsome (sigh) hero to come along the pike in a long long time. And what a scamp, LOL at his plot to switch the babies (clothes and all) around, so that the parents took home the wrong kids, had to come back to the Judge's ranch, leaving Molly the new teacher alone for him to call on!
Lots of love, laughter and excitement as the Virginian falls for the new t...more
Lots of love, laughter and excitement as the Virginian falls for the new t...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in August, 2006
I read this book while I was engaged to JP, so I really enjoyed the romantic story line. But I also liked that it seemed real, not contrived or overly mushy. I like that we saw some of their struggles, and worries. I thought the novel was tastefully done, and thought provoking. I would really like to read it again from a new life perspective.
Later, JP read it for a class, and was talking about the way the violence of the early west was handled. The first time throught the book this hadn't...more
Later, JP read it for a class, and was talking about the way the violence of the early west was handled. The first time throught the book this hadn't...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 1972
This book isn't your typical western. It is really about a man who lived in the west, Wyoming to be exact. The Virginian is a character of almost mythical essence. He is the American spirit. He is a man of few words, but his actions definitely speak louder than anything he could say. He is the good man of the harsh reality of the west. His friendship and actions with Steve demonstrate his ultimate idealism.
I read this book by choice while in junior high school and ended up checking it out of...more
I read this book by choice while in junior high school and ended up checking it out of...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in September, 2006
Apparently the first 'western'. It was really nice. I loved the story about the chicken taking care of everybody else's offspring, and sitting on and attempting to hatch rocks, mangos, pine cones, etc. The Virginian himself was great. The discussion about "taking the law into your own hands" - as a community, was really interesting. The Judge rightly points out that the people gave the power to courts/congress in the first place. If they people dead/crippled, who is to say the people c...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2003
the ur-western.
i thought it would suck, but it turned me on to all the tropes of the genre, way before it was a genre.
not surprisingly, though a surprise to me, folks riding the frontiers were the first to see the damage that growing industrialism would do the american countryside. Wister noted the detritus of canned food and railroad construction littering the great wide open over 100 years ago (the book was published in 1902). how shocked he'd be...
the cowboy's love of the land and his...more
i thought it would suck, but it turned me on to all the tropes of the genre, way before it was a genre.
not surprisingly, though a surprise to me, folks riding the frontiers were the first to see the damage that growing industrialism would do the american countryside. Wister noted the detritus of canned food and railroad construction littering the great wide open over 100 years ago (the book was published in 1902). how shocked he'd be...
the cowboy's love of the land and his...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
recommends it for:
anyone who cares about the origins of genres in American fiction.
THIS is the original "Western." Look no further, don't even bother to ask anyone else. Trust me. This is it. Say you want to spend a week getting a solid overview of literature of the American west, from authors of different eras. Start with this one. Then read "Riders of the Purple Sage." Then cap it off with the modern masterpiece that is "Lonesome Dove." There. You're done.
Personal fascination item: I love how often, and how well, Wister describes th...more
Personal fascination item: I love how often, and how well, Wister describes th...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
This is my all-time favorite book ever. I read it for a class on Western Literature at BYU, and couldn't put it down. This isn't technically a western because it was written before the western genre existed, but every single western ever written follows one of the storylines contained within this novel, so it is considered the Father of the American Western. It is pretty long and there are several story arcs that come and go, but it is worth it. 2 of my favorite scenes are: when the Judge and Mo...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in March, 2008
The Virginian, a cowboy in frontier Wyoming, wants to marry Miss Wood, but class, education and prejudice stand in his way. He overcomes this obstacle by his virtue, by educating himself and by convincing Miss Wood that class in America is relative. This book has romance, action, and a clear moral voice. I was fascinated by the question inspired by the book that asks in what ways are men today similar to the cowboys of the Wild West. I also enjoyed the pre-feminism discussions of men and wom...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in February, 2008
recommended to Aunty by:
My sisterrecommends it for: All
I learned a lot about our government, and a lot of hard work, and great work ethics. This is a great book of what great leadership is about. "The Virginian" confident, competent, and humble. He knows his capabilities, as well as his weaknesses, and is willing to work at both as hard as he can. He teaches through example, and shows "his works through his labors." He's a great example to me, and I hope to show his great spirit of life, family, love, and work throughout my
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
I almost wrote this book off as a romance. I hadn't heard of it, so was surprised to see it on a "classics" list. About halfway through I realized it's an apt essay on the complexity of lawlessness and codes of social justice in the 19th century wild west. With a lot of romance. And action. It also works as a foil for some interesting literary criticism from a cowboy's point of view. And this cowboy is, apparently, the real deal.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
recommended to R. by:
Ellie Fangman
This is pretty much the only cowboy-western novel you should bother yourself with - except of course Cormac McCarthy's bleakathons. And some Louis L'Amours. Made more interesting by the fact that Wister once stated his intention on writing the "American Dracula" (according to vampire scholar David J. Skal)...
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
2 comments
Read in August, 2008
This book is considered by many to be the first "western" novel. It is a fun read about cowboy era Montana, with a nice love story mixed in for good measure.
It really reminded me of the Rafael Sabatini novels (Captain Blood, The Sea Hawk, Scaramouche) in the flow of the action and the love stories, but also in the insightful philosophical asides by both characters and author.
I would recommend it as a fun book.
It really reminded me of the Rafael Sabatini novels (Captain Blood, The Sea Hawk, Scaramouche) in the flow of the action and the love stories, but also in the insightful philosophical asides by both characters and author.
I would recommend it as a fun book.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
I borrowed this book randomly from my friend Ted to read during a really boring class... it was the most serendipitous hap-upon-a-book ever...I'm not a big "Western" genre fan, but the setting could have been anywhere... Owen Wister, like Olive Burns (Cold Sassy Tree) is absolutely hilarious in portraying the experiences of the main character, in this case, a well-bred easterner during his sojourn in the "wild" west.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
The FIRST WESTERN EVER WRITTEN. Seriously folks, it may be a little lengthy, but if you're good at scan-reading this is just a right down amusing story. Even better, you can see all the major tropes of "Western"ness that later get retold again and again and again in Cowboy-and-Indian types of film, novels, radio, etc. that took over the first half (and some of the second half) of the 20th century.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2008
Frustrating! I was reading a Library paperback, that was falling apart, and couldn't write or highlight so my whole book if filled with torn up sticky notes. I was feeling cheap and made the mistake of not buying my own book. Great lessons on human nature and relationships. I loved it. My daughter says her friends always debate on who the perfect guy is: The Virginian or Laddie.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in August, 2008
recommended to Peter by:
Book club pick by Tony.
One of the first books to form the image of the American cowboy. I was expecting it to be very melodramatic, and while there was a fair amount of that, there was some depth to the characters. Much of what is cliched in Westerns today seems to have originated in this story. I enjoyed it, although there were some drags, and the author does quite a bit of unnecessary pontificating.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
