The Pumpkin Rollers by Elmer Kelton
My rating: 3/5 cats
this was my thought process on choosing this book for my western RA selection: “pumpkin rollers” sounds funny. cormac mccarthy writes westerns. suttree has some pumpkin scenes that illustrate the love a man can find with a gourd. maybe this one is similar.
it is not.
it’s not a bad book, but honestly, until this point, my exposure to westerns had been clint eastwood, deadwood, and mccarthy. the lone man exacting justice, the occasional rape, lawlessness and some shakespearian dialogue. somehow, between this and the god of animals, i ended up with two coming-of-age stories neither of which felt the way i thought a western would/should feel, the main character such a pillar of moral behavior and unwritten codes. it’s an idealized vision of the cowboy, his honor system and chivalry. yawn city.
there is of course the counterpoint of the outlaw, the rustler, the vigilante, but their stories get pushed out into the margins in favor of the young man’s triumph over those who would swindle him and his unwavering devotion to proper behavior.
i always did want to smack gallant.
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