The Shootist

by Glendon Swarthout
Category: "Fiction - Western"
Pages:186
Year of Publication:1975
Date Added:09/17/2008
Date Read:01/18/2015
Notes:Famous gunfighter John Bernard Books has cancer. He rides into El Paso to see a doctor who once treated him, but the doctor can do nothing for him. He takes a room in the boarding house of the widow Roberts who has a teenage son named Gillom. At first, the widow resents his presence, but in time they become friends. Books prepares for his death. He sells his belongings, buys at tombstone and confronts the fact that he's a dying man and a dying breed. From the local sheriff, he gets the names of three local gunmen and invites them to meet him at a given bar on a given afternoon. They come — and die — killed by Books or by each other. Books is wounded and wants to die. Gillom shows up and takes Books guns and, at his request, kills him and walks out thinking he's something special.
My Rating: 6

Reviews for The Shootist

Review - Shootist, The

I liked Books and the widow Roberts, and the story of a proud man dying of cancer was moving. I did not care for the character of Gillom who stole the money Books had left for his mom and killed Books, not out of pity but because he thought he was cool. The writing was good, if crude in places. Swarthout enjoyed describing, in detailed medical terms, exactly what each bullet did to the person it hit.

Reviewed by Roger on 2015-01-18 11:02:51

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