Rating: 
Summary: one of the truly great Westerns
Review: Her father's death has left Jane Withersteen in possession of the richest land holding in the Cottonwoods, a Mormon village on the 1871 Utah frontier. Most importantly, Amber Spring runs through her property and so she controls the water supply that makes possible the rolling fields of purple sage. But now the Mormon church wants to gain contol of the spring by forcing an unwilling Jane to marry Elder Tull. They've been steadily increasing the pressure on her and as the novel opens, Tull and his henchmen have come to arrest Venters, the Gentile foreman on her ranch. Outnumbered and outgunned, Jane prays for deliverance. Just as Tull is about to whip Venters, a rider in black appears--Lassiter, the scourge of the Mormons. Lassiter is an archetype of the mythic Western hero. In him we see the origins of both Shane and Ethan Edwards (from The Searchers, Amos in the novel)--a lone gunmen fighting for Justice, he has descended upon Mormon Utah with a vengeance, obsessively searching for the sister who was kidnapped by a Mormon proselytizer. Jane takes him on as a ranch hand, but makes him swear to forsake violence. Inevitably (as in High Noon), events force her to release him from his oath. Despite an extremely harsh view of Mormons, this is one of the truly great Westerns; a must read. GRADE: A
Rating:
Summary: one of the truly great Westerns
Review: Her father's death has left Jane Withersteen in possession of the richest land holding in the Cottonwoods, a Mormon village on the 1871 Utah frontier. Most importantly, Amber Spring runs through her property and so she controls the water supply that makes possible the rolling fields of purple sage. But now the Mormon church wants to gain contol of the spring by forcing an unwilling Jane to marry Elder Tull. They've been steadily increasing the pressure on her and as the novel opens, Tull and his henchmen have come to arrest Venters, the Gentile foreman on her ranch. Outnumbered and outgunned, Jane prays for deliverance. Just as Tull is about to whip Venters, a rider in black appears--Lassiter, the scourge of the Mormons. Lassiter is an archetype of the mythic Western hero. In him we see the origins of both Shane and Ethan Edwards (from The Searchers, Amos in the novel)--a lone gunmen fighting for Justice, he has descended upon Mormon Utah with a vengeance, obsessively searching for the sister who was kidnapped by a Mormon proselytizer. Jane takes him on as a ranch hand, but makes him swear to forsake violence. Inevitably (as in High Noon), events force her to release him from his oath. Despite an extremely harsh view of Mormons, this is one of the truly great Westerns; a must read. GRADE: A
Rating: 
Summary: A classic?
Review: I enjoy a good western. I understand that the good guys are often too good to be true, and the bad guys are as bad as can be. Still, I was very put off by this "classic." As I fought to stay awake through over 250 pages of the words 'purple' and 'sage' being used in various ways, I couldn't help but wonder what all the hype is about this book. Basically, it's this: the good guys are Venters and Lassiter, two practically superhuman cowboys who can do anything--head off a stampede with a blind horse, take 5 bullets and still be able to walk all day, and shoot a man from a horse on the dead run, while on a running horse himself. The bad guys fall into two groups. The Mormons, the evil, black-hearted women stealers, polygamists every one (though the heroine's father seems not to have been one, though he was a Mormon leader), and the cattle rustlers, who are bad, but not as bad as the Mormons, because the rustlers are "honest thieves." The action is pretty dull, the romance is nothing short of corny, and each page is dripping with sappy descriptions of landscape. In short, be forewarned. If you want to read this book, fine, but be prepared for Grey to spend more time developing the color of the sage than developing all the characters combined. There are much better Westerns out there.
Rating:
Summary: A classic?
Review: I enjoy a good western. I understand that the good guys are often too good to be true, and the bad guys are as bad as can be. Still, I was very put off by this "classic." As I fought to stay awake through over 250 pages of the words 'purple' and 'sage' being used in various ways, I couldn't help but wonder what all the hype is about this book. Basically, it's this: the good guys are Venters and Lassiter, two practically superhuman cowboys who can do anything--head off a stampede with a blind horse, take 5 bullets and still be able to walk all day, and shoot a man from a horse on the dead run, while on a running horse himself. The bad guys fall into two groups. The Mormons, the evil, black-hearted women stealers, polygamists every one (though the heroine's father seems not to have been one, though he was a Mormon leader), and the cattle rustlers, who are bad, but not as bad as the Mormons, because the rustlers are "honest thieves." The action is pretty dull, the romance is nothing short of corny, and each page is dripping with sappy descriptions of landscape. In short, be forewarned. If you want to read this book, fine, but be prepared for Grey to spend more time developing the color of the sage than developing all the characters combined. There are much better Westerns out there.
Rating:
Summary: My first Western, but not my last...
Review: I had never read a Western, so when I gave it a try I thought I'd start with the best Western author -- Zane Grey -- and read his most famous work -- Riders of the Purple Sage. I think I made a good choice. One, the setting is beautifully and gloriously described. Rock formations, plains, desert, sage....his descriptions evoke mental images as if you are watching a movie. Two, the characters are unique, well-described, exhibit growth and development, and interact in deed and dialogue in realistic ways. By the end of the book, you will feel like you know these people. Three, the plot is absolutely fantastic. It starts exciting, and continues to unfold realistically, yet unpredictably, throughout the whole book to the very last page. From the opening pages, to the climax...very exciting. I was on the edge of my seat and could not put this book down. I practically cried at the end...it is that good. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: My first Western, but not my last...
Review: I had never read a Western, so when I gave it a try I thought I'd start with the best Western author -- Zane Grey -- and read his most famous work -- Riders of the Purple Sage. I think I made a good choice. One, the setting is beautifully and gloriously described. Rock formations, plains, desert, sage....his descriptions evoke mental images as if you are watching a movie. Two, the characters are unique, well-described, exhibit growth and development, and interact in deed and dialogue in realistic ways. By the end of the book, you will feel like you know these people. Three, the plot is absolutely fantastic. It starts exciting, and continues to unfold realistically, yet unpredictably, throughout the whole book to the very last page. From the opening pages, to the climax...very exciting. I was on the edge of my seat and could not put this book down. I practically cried at the end...it is that good. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: I'd mosey on past this one, partn'r....classic or not.
Review: I occasionally enjoy a good western, but how "Riders of the Purple Sage" ever got to be considered a western classic is beyond me. Between the sickeningly chivalrous Lassiter, the naïve but always-dutiful Jane (and the rest of the set-piece characters), I could easily imagine it was written by Louisa May Alcott or one of the Bronte sisters in their father's attic. This may be worth a try if you've never read Zane Grey before and want to give it a try but I think I'll stick with Jack Schaffer (try "Monte Walsh"), Louis L'Amour, Larry McMurtry or A.B. Guthrie from now on.
Rating:
Summary: I'd mosey on past this one, partn'r....classic or not.
Review: I picked up this book thinking I was going to get a classic spaghetti western: a gun-slinging rapid-firing rapid-reading book. Instead I got a soap opera set in Utah with purple prose tiringly describing purple sage, cliffs and rock formations. There is an astounding lack of action. Not being familiar with genre, maybe my expectations were off, but I shant be coming back to Zane Grey soon.
Rating:
Summary: Thought I Was Getting a Classic Western
Review: I picked up this book thinking I was going to get a classic spaghetti western: a gun-slinging rapid-firing rapid-reading book. Instead I got a soap opera set in Utah with purple prose tiringly describing purple sage, cliffs and rock formations. There is an astounding lack of action. Not being familiar with genre, maybe my expectations were off, but I shant be coming back to Zane Grey soon.
Rating:
Summary: More purple than sage, but worth reading
Review: If you are not an aficionado of the Western novel but would like to sample the genre, then you should try one or more of the three great classics; Jack Schaefer's "Shane", Owen Wister's "The Virginian" , and this novel by Zane Grey. Of the three, "Shane" has the most literary merit and is the only one with claims to being great literature. "The Virginian" is often regarded as the first true representative of the genre, establishing as it does many of the great archetypal characters and incidents of Western myth, and "Riders of the Purple Sage" remains the best-selling Western. "Riders" has two very remarkable features. The first is the surprising complexity and mythic depth of the story. There is for example, a Garden of Eden theme, with two of the characters isolated for an extended time in a lush wilderness. This is so strikingly like the Emil Zola novel "La Faute de l'Abbe Mouret" (The Abbe Mouret's Sin) that one wonders if Grey had read and been inspired by that work. Interwoven with this is an Oedipal theme. If all of this sounds a bit much for a cowboy yarn, I can only say that it really is all there. The other remarkable thing about the book is its attitude toward the Mormon religion. The hero is an avowed "killer of Mormons". The LDS church is depicted as essentially brutal and tyrannical. This, I suppose, reflects a prejudice of the time, but I wonder how present-day members of that church regard this novel. It has to be said that Grey is not a great writer and in particular, he cannot do dialogue. In fact, the dialogue in the first few pages is so appalling that I nearly gave up on the book there and then. However, I'm glad I stuck with it. It is such a fine and strange story and has such a wonderful sense of place.
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