About this title: Ron Hansen's powerful retelling of the story of Jesse James's last days is deliberately unromanticized, a complex picture of a conflicted man who seems to be ready, even eager, to meet his end.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780061129018ISBN:0061129011
Description: New. No dust jacket as issued. New Book; may have remainder mark. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 389 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Edition: Abridged
Binding: Audiobook CD
Publisher: HarperAudio
Date Published: 8/28/2007
ISBN-13:9780061129810ISBN:006112981X
Description: New. 006112981X Brand New Book With Remainder Mark. May Have Slight Shelf Wear. In-Stock Now For Immediate Secure Packaging & Delivery. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Harper
Date Published: 8/28/2007
ISBN-13:9780061129018ISBN:0061129011
Description: New. 0061129011 Brand New Book With Remainder Mark. May Have Slight Shelf Wear. In-Stock Now For Immediate Secure Packaging & Delivery. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 9/18/2007
ISBN-13:9780061120190ISBN:0061120197
Description: Fine. 0061120197 Ships next business day. NEW/UNREAD! ! ! Text is Clean and Unmarked! --Be Sure to Compare Seller Feedback and Ratings before Purchasing--Has a small black line on bottom/exterior edge of pages. May have light shelf wear to cover from storage, if any. read more
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780061129018ISBN:0061129011
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 389 p. Audience: General/trade. Book is in excellent condition. Cover and pages are clean, binding is tight. We ship daily, Satisfaction Guaranteed. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date Published: 2/26/1997
ISBN-13:9780060976996ISBN:0060976993
Description: Fine. 0060976993 Ships next business day. NEW/UNREAD! ! ! Text is Clean and Unmarked! --Be Sure to Compare Seller Feedback and Ratings before Purchasing--Has a small black line on bottom/exterior edge of pages. May have light shelf wear to cover from storage, if any. read more
"This took me longer to get through than I would have expected. Interesting for the first hundred pages or so, then a steady alternation between engaging and ridiculously boring for the remaining 280. The boring never kept up quite long enough for me to give up on the book, but it never stayed away long enough either. Still, the end wasn't bad, so at least it started and ended strong. The characterizations, especially of Jesse James and Bob Ford, were well done. There was a lot of detail, some of which was interesting, but enough was superfluous that I think a nice heavy editing session would have been an enormous improvement.
Also, Hansen is fond of slightly off-kilter metaphors that sometimes worked but just as often brought me up short. I don't have the book handy for good examples, but, for instance, at one point someone washes his hands like "silverware." I don't really know what image of hand washing that's supposed to conjure up. And another time someone's face is lined like "geography," which I suppose is just an attempt at a more interesting version of a face like a map, but I think it's a little too abstract."
"This book is a hard one for me to rate and review. My true rating would be 2 1/2 stars. The book was well written and would definately appeal to anyone interested in the story of Jesse James and the events surrounding his death. I did feel that the story went on a little too long. The characterizations are very good and well developed. The story itself seems to be very well researched though I'm not sure how much of it is true since this is listed as historical fiction. All in all it was a decent book."
"Ron Hansen was the first living author of (semi)fiction I'd read in years. I'd seen the movie and LOVED it - my favorite of the year. It reminded me of "Thin Red Line" and I was not surprised to find that the director of Assassination, Andrew Dominik, had been involved with Malick.
The movie is S... L... O... W..., so if you're looking for Bruce Willis type action, skip it. There's a voice over and that's what drove me to the book. I hoped that same poetry would be there and it was.
Who uses the words 'moat' and 'dungeon' as verbs? Hansen does. His language takes you right in to the midst of the story in a way I've never read before.
One of my greatest longings is to know the American past, so I'm always reaching for anything that helps me glimpse how it may have been. Hansen delivers.
I tried to read Desperados after that, about the last living Dalton brother, but couldn't quite get into it."
"I'm biased: I thought the 2008 movie based on this book was so gorgeous, quiet, and mesmerizing that I already knight my review with five stars. Something really lousy will have to happen in the book for me to reduce this rating; so far, the book does not disappoint."
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