The Ox-Bow Incident (Modern Library Classics)

A wonderful book about how the call for justice can become a beacon for terror. Clark takes an unflinching look at how some men in the Old West took their lust for righteousness as permission to do the unthinkable.

I knew this book from a Henry Fonda movie that I haven’t seen but lives with his legacy. I imagine it would look much like Grapes of Wrath. The author is Walter Van Tilburg Clark and the introduction is by Wallace Stegner, whom I know from The Big Rock Candy Mountain. These are all distinctly western stories because the characters can blend into the landscape, and although it’s cold and it’s a race against dark, Nature’s hardest turns are still no surprise to any characters. There are even a couple of female riders out for revenge in The Ox-Bow Incident. They can handle the wind like the others, as they all hide the problem of lynch mob mentality with the honesty of sleeping between a fire and a horse with a friend ready to hear a confession. Chapter 1 started slowly for me. The card games, drinking, and smoking, and the fight were all risking cliché with a large number of characters that risked just being a name. Clark does finish the chapter with enough moral stance from a character like Farnley, and enough moral ambiguity from the narrator and from Gil, to have the adventure primed. I was then able to read longer stretches of the novel and get into a better flow. The flow is handled with a novelist’s skill for omission, as Kinkaid is not shown, just victimized, leaving the door open for what is not so predictable. When the unpredictability is revealed, I thought the story might take that new direction. What would happen once Risley and the Judge prosecute the leaders of the mob? Instead, the novel stays with the narrator, who although shot is just as active a part of the story because he is the moral voice. For an 1940 book, this would not match a 1940 western movie. I would like to see Fonda repeat this neutral character like he played Tom Joad. On page 166, the accused are told of what their fate will be. On page 207, they receive that fate. This span of pages is great with anticipation. Martin, the Mex, and the feeble-minded old man are able to draw out this sense of “if it can happen to me, it can happen to you”. Unfortunately after 207, and after Kinkaid is found to be alive but injured and riding with the law, Davies’ confession to the narrator is somewhat anti-climatic, as if explaining a photograph after it was already viewed.

This is a classic Western novel written just before WWII. It reminds me a little of Cormac McCarthy's plot development style. You know what is going to happen eventually, but page by page it gives you an agonizing disappointment in your fellow man. The whole thing shows the worthwhile value of thinking as an individual and the weakness of following the crowd, which is relevant to the 21st Century in America. I believe everyone should read it and apply it to their own thinking. It should be taught in high school literature classes and very well may be.

There are many reviews of the movie of this classic novel, but not too much on the novel itself. Our book club chose this book and I was reluctant to read it because it was an OLD western. I am glad to say, I found the book to be a great read and the discussion about this book was very animated and lively!!This classic story of vigilante justice gone awry in an 1880's western U.S town has much to recommend it. First, it is quite accurate for the characters, time period and the geographical region represented. Second, it provides many examples of "peer pressure" at the adult male level. Third, there is much discussion by the characters as to the nature of "good" and "bad" actions and who (in the end) is to be "accountable". Fourth, the novel provides a much different and more thought provoking ending than the movie. Fifth, the plot is applicable to many modern day situations.If you haven't ever read this book, I recommend it to one and all. It is surprising what the "old classics" have to say to us in this 21st century.

Assuming you had some reason for doing so, you could dig up all kinds of critical commentary claiming that Walter Van Tilburg Clark's Western classic "The Ox-Bow Incident" transcends the genre. "Transcends the genre." What does that mean? That's one of those dumb things critics like to say when they accidentally like something they're not supposed to. "Wait a minute, this is really good. It can't be Western/scifi/horror/etc.; therefore, it (music swells) TRANSCENDS THE GENRE!!!!" Nonsense. "The Ox-Bow Incident" doesn't transcend the genre. It's a fine example OF the genre and what good genre writing can accomplish, though it's not the finest example. "Ox-Bow" is a short book, but it still feels about 50 pages too long. It meanders and repeats itself. I'd like to see an alternate-universe version of the book, written by Elmore Leonard or Joe Lansdale, something more economical, something sharper-edged and snappier. Clark kills too much time lovingly describing every posy of the field. He didn't have to transcribe every word in the seemingly neverending debate over the rights and wrongs, ins and outs, yeas or nays, and backs and forths of a ranchers' necktie party. And his vigilante posse could stand to lose a handful of characters who do little but clutter the trail. Still, if flowery passages and levels of political allegory are what it takes to wrangle critical favor for a lowly genre work, then write em, cowboy.

The book is a suspenseful and in-depth look at mob mentality in a western town at a time when police and order were just developing. The characters are rough and tumble and each brings their backgrounds, quirks, miss information, and opinions playing out into a sobering tragedy. After reading the book I was really anxious to see the movie. I think, the movie, with Henry Fonda, while it seems to go too fast to catch all the subtleties of the book, is great, and captures much of the angst felt in the book.I also wonder, sometimes, whether it’s best to read the book before or after watching the movie. In this case, I think the book should come first.

Very Good Book

Jeder, der gern im Western-Genre unterwegs ist, sollte auch dieses Buch gelesen haben!!!

Classic book,but dark .

I wanted to give only 3 stars at first and then thought better of it.There's no denying that the Wild West is convincingly brought to life on the page. No need to deny either that the plot and its moral overtones are eloquently dealt with. No need to argue about the author's grasp of society as a whole and of how men act. It is also obvious that he knows exactly how to express himself with force using his characters to relay different points of views.What irked me a little, although the book is a very short one, is that some scenes are drawn at such lengths that I felt like falling asleep while reading. One such example is the overlong wait until the men finally leave the town to go and hunt the rustlers and supposed murderers. I think that the book would have fared better as a long short story or as a novella. I also ended up nearly disliking Davies, the Saint Manqué as he is called at the end. His exaggerated guilt smacked very much of self indulgence or self obsession. It felt as if the fact that he hadn't been able to save the three men was more of a problem for him than it was for them. I thought a little humility there would have been nice. I grew tired of his ' I know I could have saved them...' It seemed to me that what he wanted was self importance and that his inability to stop the lynching stopped him being regarded as the hero of the day. He really grew quite tiresome with his constant whining. As for the rest of the posse, I suppose most readers will find it difficult to understand why hardly anyone was willing to wait until Drew had been asked if he really had or hadn't sold those beasts. To think that the lives of 3 men counted less than the fear of being thought a softy!

Book was described as 'Very Good' by the booksellet. The copy I received was wrinkled and discoloured by a water stain.