Status Updates From Butcher's crossing

Truly enchanting mastery of the English language. The very New England tradition of Transcendentalism applied to the west/nature as a way to find god-with-a-lowercase-g AND maturity (but aren’t those two secretly the same thing?) Using Francine as a foil for Andrew’s REAL youth over the age he wants to be

river

'He looked at the river again. On this side is the the city, he thought, and on that the wilderness; and though I must return, even that return is only another means I have of leaving it, more and more.'

snow

"He don't like hunters," Miller said. "And they don't like him either."
"Why?"
Miller shrugged. "They do the work, and he gets all the money. They think he's a crook, and he thinks they're fools. You can't blame either side; they're both right."

Uwielbiam jak ten człowiek pisze

“He felt that wherever he lived, and wherever he would live hereafter, he was leaving the city more and more, withdrawing into the wilderness. He felt that that was the central meaning he could find in all his life, and it seemed to him then that all the events of his childhood and his youth had led him unknowingly to this moment upon which he poised, as if before flight.”

Accidentally picked up a western, having not read one for a long while. Thoroughly enjoying the simplicity of the story, characters, and landscape that make westerns easy but emotional reads.

I can definitely see why they say this inspired Cormac McCarthy, you can just tell there’s going to be a depressing end

Yoooou light my fire (you light my fiiire)

Williams continually absorbs you in the landscape, and it really feels like you are in the untamed Colorado wilderness

The buffalo :(

Really attentive writing that flows with surprising ease. American Manifest Destiny/go west/rampant capitalism vs. young man from Boston who just wants to find himself. Hydrogen Bomb vs Coughing Baby but make it evil settler-colonialism

Andrews is a coward lol

“Now that they were over it, it had the appearance of a friend known for a long while-it offered him a sense of security, a sense of comfort, and a knowledge that he could return to it and have that security and comfort whenever he wished.”

Interesting thus far, seeing it through a rdr2 vision but it’s almost thirty years prior so trying to separate them

Getting a little tedious but I like it anyway

Beautiful prose

WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED OH MY GOD

Millers greed sickens me. It wasn’t a rogue buffalo, it was greediness and selfishness. The snow blew in out of nowhere, and they barely survived. Basically everyone has gone crazy and Miller is honestly the reason they’re all still alive

There it is. Buff sickness; or a charging buffalo. His remorseless killing will come back to him.

The key to whatever could possibly happen. He is really the most important character in this story.

I think there’s one possible outcome here, and I’m pretty confident! So, this is what will happen; Miller will get injured. Maybe gets too greedy, and a buffalo charges him. Miller had previously made Schneider go easy on Will, so if he’s not there to do that all hell could break loose between them. Additionally, these characters are all unified BY Miller. Miller also knows the way home. So he really is (1/2)

This book is genuinely so good. I feel like I’m genuinely stuck with these characters, and i feel like we’ve seen all of their vices. Miller, a generally calm guy, LOVES the hunt. He loves to kill. He loves shed blood. Schneider is lustful. Hoge is an alcoholic. Williams is trying to understand himself, and begins to unravel himself at the end of chapter 5. He is becoming them, in a way.

“‘Fred,’ Miller said quietly, ‘when you crawl away from here, crawl away quiet. If these buffalo spook, I’ll shoot you.’” Genuinely chills.

Fuckinggg hell they made it. By hook or by fucking crook they made it. After no water, passing out, almost losing their animals, and being partially lost many times, they made it. I have no idea how they’ll get back over the mountain with the hides though. Now, the real story begins.

Wow. These people are so frozen in the past but so desperate for the future. And they spend their present wasting away, sinning over their vices.

I’m nervous about Schneider. He’s a quiet man, seemingly lost in his own thoughts a lot. But he likes to grin a lot, and he was also after Francine, until she went for Will instead. I think tensions might boil over with them.

Ofc, why wouldn’t you have a brief mention of incest? All jokes aside, the book is good so far. It’s really hard to describe it though. I think to describe it in a single word, pensive. It feels like a dream.

Some impatient mfs in this town. He’s met Miller, a hunter talking of a large herd of buffalo, ripe for the taking. It’s as simple as travel there, hunt for a week, travel back.
Charley, Millers friend, refuses to go. He lost his hand far out from town, and is scared of going so far away. I think the fact he is religious combined with his refusal to go is interesting. Like god is trying to tell them not to go.

A slow start for will.

will be finishing part 3 on this flight