Sea Of Grass
by Conrad Richter
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Book Summary Information
Author: Conrad RichterEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1992-07-01
ISBN: 0821410261
Number of pages: 150
Publisher: Ohio University Press
Book Reviews of Sea Of Grass
Book Review: The Beginning Of The End - of an Era
Summary: 5 Stars
I first read this excellent book long ago. The story line evolves almost as a mystery novel, with lead-in followed by the enlightenment - in a setting that touches on the emotional development of all of the different types of personalities that comprise the people of his tale. There are users and the used, basic human nature denied even in the face of it's truth; the burden of public opinion, where the substance of a story changes colors like a chameleon depending upon who does the telling; of living and of dying.
The vast, endless grass plains of the New Mexico and Texas territory provides the backdrop for Richter's story and he describes it masterfully, especially noted if one comes from a West or Southwest background. His words awaken memories and feelings in the older reader that may be absent in a younger one because their time has not yet come to look back; his first-person delivery is recalling events of 50 years past. He steadily gathers around his characters the essential descriptive life's details that bring them to life; there are, tied into moments of the telling, all that the senses evoke at the time, which tethers events firmly to the telling of a story long past.
A beautiful, and even at first glance obviously cultured lady steps off the incoming train from the East, to become the wife of a wealthy, hard working cattle baron, several years her senior, whose life is inexplicably intertwined with the land and with a philosophy he can't let go of. He believes the end of the free range is more than what meets the eye; it is the ruining of the great grasslands that were never meant for the plow because there was not enough water available to handle the needs of a farm, and that the emigrants had no idea of what the land would do them. She almost immediately finds herself at odds with the beliefs of her new husband in the matter of the handling of the homesteaders that are encroaching on the cattleman's open range. He is still powerful with his wealth and community standing behind him; the settlers - most of whom are impoverished - are not powerful, but their sheer numbers are a presence that can't be ignored. She is immediately drawn to the brilliant oratory and the politics of the young Eastern lawyer who has come to plead the case for the new Homestead Development, and perhaps both of these men refuse to see the truth. The story line is superb. All of the age-old elements are there, because that is what makes us what we are; but the resulting story - as told by the young nephew as he begins his own life, is unique and something quite unlike anything I had read before. As he watches, helpless to interfere or be of much use, he struggles in his own way to hold on to the old, familiar, beloved world he is losing while he moves into the new world he has reluctantly been forced to prepare for.
I highly recommend this book as one of a kind; and of a story line that is unique and well thought out. In fact, it would appear that some parts of it may have been drawn from a life experience or two rather than being strictly the product of imagination. "Truth is stranger than Fiction" and we have all known people who loved too deeply to let go even when pride was compromised; who stubbornly held to an ideal doomed; or one child who went bad despite all advantages, while the other children in the same family did not turn to the same fate.
To revisit it's pages again was akin to seeing an old friend after many years absence.
Summary of Sea Of Grass
Published in 1936, this novel presents in epic scope the conflicts in the settling of the American Southwest. Set in New Mexico in the late 19th century, The Sea of Grass concerns the often violent clashes between the pioneering ranchers, whose cattle range freely through the vast sea of grass, and the farmers, or "nesters," who build fences and turn the sod. Against this background is set the triangle of rancher Colonel Jim Brewton, his unstable Eastern wife Lutie, and the ambitious Brice Chamberlain. Richter casts the story in Homeric terms, with the children caught up in the conflicts of their parents.20th Century Books
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