First Person reading list?

Interesting question. I've having a hard time coming up with one off the top of my head. I suspect 95 percent of all westerns are written in third-person. All of my old favorites are, I think.

Three undeniably classic Western novels are written in first person:

Shane by Jack Schaefer.

Hombre by Elmore Leonard

The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark.

Great books, all of 'em. Especially Shane and Hombre, two of my all-time favorites.

True Grit

Vito said:

Three undeniably classic Western novels are written in first person:

Shane by Jack Schaefer.

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Shane is written in first-person? I'm not arguing with you (I've going by memory), but I seem to remember it starting with the boy watching Shane ride in to the family ranch.

By the way, have you ever read Monte Walsh by Schaefer? It might be my favorite western of all time.

Yes, Shane is narrated in first-person by the boy (whose name is Bob in the book rather than Joey).

I really like some of Max Brand's first-person works - my favorite is probably Trouble Trail. There's another one that I haven't read yet but want to (you can read a good review here), South of Rio Grande, that is also first-person. Twisted Bars and The Oath of Office both feature a first-person narrator who is more of an observer of what goes on than anything else. It's a more unusual style of narration, but I like it.

I also read some Western short stories by Elmore Leonard recently that employed the sideline-observer type of narrator - "The Man With the Iron Arm" would be a good example.

alleycat said:

By the way, have you ever read Monte Walsh by Schaefer? It might be my favorite western of all time.

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I haven't read Monte Walsh, but I've heard good things about it. I'll add it to my t-b-r list.

Noirblanche said:

Hello there
I am butting in from Fantasy to ask for some advice.
I am currently writing a fantasy in First Person POV, and I was wondering if you guys could suggest any good Western books written in First person?
I admit I haven't read any western since I was a kid. I already checked the other threads about reading suggestions, but apart from the classics (like Lonesome Dove etc) I would really appreciate any particular direction for First person. I have read other works in other genres in that POV, but I wanted to see if the "western feel" could help me with my MC's voice.
Thank you very much!

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In addition to the books I listed in my previous post, you might want to check out Warlock by Oakley Hall. Despite the title, it's not a horror or fantasy novel; it's a pretty straightforward Western. The book is a re-imagining of the Gunfight at the OK Corral incident that took place in Tombstone, Arizona in 1881, and the title is just a play on compound words (tomb-stone, war-lock...get it?)

Getting back to your POV question: most of Warlock is third-person narrative, but several chapters are diary entries written by a minor character in the story. These first-person diary entries ("The outlaws are trying to take over the town, so we hired a new sheriff today", etc.) provide important background information and observations. Very creative, I think.

Warlock is a pretty dense novel -- fans of Cormac McCarthy, Robert Stone, and Thomas Pynchon might enjoy it as much as any traditional Western fan would -- but you might want to give it a quick look, if only to appreciate the unique structure.

ElisabethF said:

Yes, Shane is narrated in first-person by the boy (whose name is Bob in the book rather than Joey).

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I came back to this thread to say I finally remembered that.

If you're interested in the events in Tombstone, PBS has a great video biography on Wyatt Earp. I don't think it's viewable where you are however (probably only viewable in the US). I can find the link if you'd like and you can check and see. It might also be on A&E.

Edited to add, this is the link: http://video.pbs.org/video/1390089466

A little late coming into this thread, but more recent examples of a first person narrative would be the Cole and Hitch Westerns of Robert B. Parker: Appaloosa, Resolution, Brimstone and Blue-Eyed Devil, all told from Everett Hitch's point of view.