C
This book shows its age, but I still found it pretty compelling. The plot is pretty straightforward, following three desperate men looking for gold after hearing a foreboding tale of previous mining crews’ failures and back stabbings over their attempts to get rich. The real gold (heh) in this book is the sheer amount of time spent making this journey through post-WWI Mexico feel so real and fantastic at the same time while staying just under 250 pages. The characters of Dobbs, Curtain, and Howard were hard not to root for and against as their working relationship strengthened and broke down for riches that feel so certain to be found despite never actually being confirmed outside of word of mouth. Dobb’s murder of Curtain and his delirious state for the following days until his death at the hands of three poor bandits similar to his group was a fantastic ending to his character.
The book’s greatest strength is also its weakness, and I found it to be a hurdle to get over. The descriptions of locations, past events, and prophetic tales are ridiculously long. Every single character speaks in flowery paragraphs that don’t really feel fitting for downtrodden tramps or villagers who probably shouldn’t have as good of a grasp on the English language as they realistically should. It feels like it takes up about half of the book, and goes on for about 40 pages after an ending feels like it had already been reached. But this is where some of the best passages in the book are. One of my favorite examples is during a tense holdout against Christian rebels who are after the main characters’ guns, where the Catholic institution is slammed for using these poorer nations for their own gain with little regard for their people the same way the foreign corporations exploit the same nations for their resources. Moments like these wouldn’t be nearly as effective without the prior detail.
This book shows its age, but I still found it pretty compelling. The plot is pretty straightforward, following three desperate men looking for gold after hearing a foreboding tale of previous mining crews’ failures and back stabbings over their attempts to get rich. The real gold (heh) in this book is the sheer amount of time spent making this journey through post-WWI Mexico feel so real and fantastic at the same time while staying just under 250 pages. The characters of Dobbs, Curtain, and Howard were hard not to root for and against as their working relationship strengthened and broke down for riches that feel so certain to be found despite never actually being confirmed outside of word of mouth. Dobb’s murder of Curtain and his delirious state for the following days until his death at the hands of three poor bandits similar to his group was a fantastic ending to his character.
The book’s greatest strength is also its weakness, and I found it to be a hurdle to get over. The descriptions of locations, past events, and prophetic tales are ridiculously long. Every single character speaks in flowery paragraphs that don’t really feel fitting for downtrodden tramps or villagers who probably shouldn’t have as good of a grasp on the English language as they realistically should. It feels like it takes up about half of the book, and goes on for about 40 pages after an ending feels like it had already been reached. But this is where some of the best passages in the book are. One of my favorite examples is during a tense holdout against Christian rebels who are after the main characters’ guns, where the Catholic institution is slammed for using these poorer nations for their own gain with little regard for their people the same way the foreign corporations exploit the same nations for their resources. Moments like these wouldn’t be nearly as effective without the prior detail.