What do you think?
Rate this book
Gambling Man
This unusual western drama tells the tale of Jeff Blaine ,a twelve-year-old boy growing up sans a mother or a father in the small town of Plainsville. Jeff's mom died during his infancy, and his dad Nate left not long after and became an outlaw. With both of the parents absent, Jeff's aunt, Ruth Sewall decided to step in and raise the young boy.
As the tale opens, Nate turns up at Ruth's home and reveals his recent involvement in a gunfight. Because the law is on his tail, his time is rapidly running out. Though Nate hopes to make amends with his son, Jeff stringently rejects him, and Ruth backs up the boy's sentiments by politely asking Nate to leave, then returning the meager amount of support money that Nate sent to Jeff. In time, father and son do begin to make amends, but several obstacles threaten to stand in the way of a peaceful long-term relationship between them, including the violence of Nate's past, and the hostility of Ruth, who soon demonstrates that she's willing to do almost anything to make sure that the outlaw father doesn't take permanent custody of his son.
As the tale opens, Nate turns up at Ruth's home and reveals his recent involvement in a gunfight. Because the law is on his tail, his time is rapidly running out. Though Nate hopes to make amends with his son, Jeff stringently rejects him, and Ruth backs up the boy's sentiments by politely asking Nate to leave, then returning the meager amount of support money that Nate sent to Jeff. In time, father and son do begin to make amends, but several obstacles threaten to stand in the way of a peaceful long-term relationship between them, including the violence of Nate's past, and the hostility of Ruth, who soon demonstrates that she's willing to do almost anything to make sure that the outlaw father doesn't take permanent custody of his son.
- GenresWesterns
157 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1955
17 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 19, 2018
Gentleness and Violence
Gambling Man by Clifton Adams is primarily a father-son story. It is also a love story on many levels - the strained love between father (Nate) and son (Jeff); the hopeful, but turbulent love between Jeff and Amy, his childhood sweetheart; the misguided and selfish love between Jeff and Beulah, his aunt; and it is even a story of love between Jeff and the town. The action takes place in a Texas town in the 1870s and 1880s, as the town grows, shrinks and grows again as the railroad enters and the original townspeople either grow with it or not,
Classic literary themes abound. Throughout the story, we see people changing as they grow up and/or age (although the story seems to take place over just six or seven years). We experience violence, hatred, jealousy, love, and, finally, forgiveness. Every major character experiences learning and change, and it all comes at a high price.
This author skillfully uses contradiction to play with the readers', as well as the characters' emotions. Amy observes, at one point, how gentle the tough, fierce, and even cruel Nate can be: "She had hated Nathan Blaine for so long, and she could not believe that such contradictions as gentleness and violence could live together in one body." While the theme of violent hatred, hate as "a heavy load, when you couldn't put it down," is a thread throughout the book, so is love and tender vulnerability. Adams does an excellent job of balancing these contradictory forces.
Gambling Man by Clifton Adams is primarily a father-son story. It is also a love story on many levels - the strained love between father (Nate) and son (Jeff); the hopeful, but turbulent love between Jeff and Amy, his childhood sweetheart; the misguided and selfish love between Jeff and Beulah, his aunt; and it is even a story of love between Jeff and the town. The action takes place in a Texas town in the 1870s and 1880s, as the town grows, shrinks and grows again as the railroad enters and the original townspeople either grow with it or not,
Classic literary themes abound. Throughout the story, we see people changing as they grow up and/or age (although the story seems to take place over just six or seven years). We experience violence, hatred, jealousy, love, and, finally, forgiveness. Every major character experiences learning and change, and it all comes at a high price.
This author skillfully uses contradiction to play with the readers', as well as the characters' emotions. Amy observes, at one point, how gentle the tough, fierce, and even cruel Nate can be: "She had hated Nathan Blaine for so long, and she could not believe that such contradictions as gentleness and violence could live together in one body." While the theme of violent hatred, hate as "a heavy load, when you couldn't put it down," is a thread throughout the book, so is love and tender vulnerability. Adams does an excellent job of balancing these contradictory forces.
August 3, 2024
A coming of age western. Jeff Blaine never knew his father Nathan; his old man left town when Jeff's mother died not long after Jeff's birth. Now suddenly, Nathan Blaine is back and wants to teach his son a thing or two about being a man. But things go south. Nathan gets in trouble with the law and Jeff has to pick up the emotional pieces and decide what kind of person he wants to be.
The glorious cover painting by Frank McCarthy and the back cover blurb made me think this book would be about a gambling hellion and the woman who'd try to set him straight, but that was only a few pages of the book. Mostly it was about young Jeff growing up, angry, bitter, and confused. Adams, as usual, lets the reader into the minds of the characters and gives them reasons for their actions, though I kind of wished he had stuck to the thoughts of a smaller cast. Though the book is Jeff's story, we see into the minds of his uncle, his aunt, his girl, his father, the marshal, and even a few other characters. I prefer one point of view, but I get why Adams did what he did. The book gets a bit preachy at the end, with the marshal hammering home the lesson like it was an ABC Afterschool Special, but I could put up with that since the 150 pages before had been gritty.
The glorious cover painting by Frank McCarthy and the back cover blurb made me think this book would be about a gambling hellion and the woman who'd try to set him straight, but that was only a few pages of the book. Mostly it was about young Jeff growing up, angry, bitter, and confused. Adams, as usual, lets the reader into the minds of the characters and gives them reasons for their actions, though I kind of wished he had stuck to the thoughts of a smaller cast. Though the book is Jeff's story, we see into the minds of his uncle, his aunt, his girl, his father, the marshal, and even a few other characters. I prefer one point of view, but I get why Adams did what he did. The book gets a bit preachy at the end, with the marshal hammering home the lesson like it was an ABC Afterschool Special, but I could put up with that since the 150 pages before had been gritty.
April 13, 2018
big clifton fan...his westerns always deliver on basic elements of life...
May 25, 2013
Coming-Of-Age Western by one of the true greats of the the Classic Hardboiled Western. This one not particularly noir but Hardboiled just the same.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews