Hombre audiobook

It's always a tricky thing reviewing an Elmore Leonard novel. His writing is usually so efficient and effortless that it doesn't seem like he's doing much but his stories sneak up on you anyway. I always struggle to go into detail about why I like the books, other than to say that I really enjoyed the story. He was able to buff and polish his style until the form became invisible and only story shined through. Donald Westlake was the same way in his work. Although there haven't been any Leonard books so far that have blown me away, I can definitely say I've enjoyed the five that I've read. Hombre, considered one of Leonard's classics, is no different. It's a simple plot, about a group of travelers in a mud wagon stagecoach who are stalked by road agents after a satchel of stolen money. Leonard's spare style and his use of first-person (his only novel to use that POV), is effective at lending the story it's mythic tone. It's deceptively uncomplicated and well-paced, right up to it's great final act.

Oh, Man...

Why John Russell Is HombreThe crime and suspense novelist Elmore Leonard (1925 -- 2013) began as a writer of westerns. The Library of America has recently published a volume of four Leonard western novels, including "Hombre", and eight short stories to accompany its three earlier volumes of Leonard's crime fiction.Although an early work, "Hombre" may be Leonard's best-known novel. First published in 1961 as a paperback original, "Hombre" became famous in the 1967 film adaptation starring Paul Newman as John Russell, 21, who through the book and the film is known simply as "Hombre". The story turns on the nature of the nickname "Hombre" and on why John Russell has earned it.The book is stylistically unique among Leonard's output in that it is recounted in the first person. The narrator, Carl Everett Allen, 21 as is Russell, is a naive, callow young man. He recounts the origins of his story in a brief preface to the reader which explains that Russell's nickname of "hombre" or "man" best describes Russell's character. Early in his story, Allen recounts how his boss, Henry Mendez, had told him to "Take a good look at Russell. You will never see another like him as long as you live." Allen repeats Mendez' words at the conclusion of his story, after the reader has come to know Russell for him or herself.The book is set in 1884 in the Arizona territory. Russell is a white person who spent much time in his youth with the Apache Tribe. When Russell becomes a passenger with five other people on a chartered stagecoach, the other individuals don't want him to ride in the coach because they believe he is an Apache. But when outlaws hold up the stagecoach. the passengers realize that they need Russell's help and familiarity with weaponry and terrain in order to survive.In the course of the stagecoach journey, the novel develops many different characters. These include Mendez,the driver who has told the narrator about Russell that "you will never see another like him as long as you live". The passengers include include Dr. Favor, the corrupt superintendent of an Indian reservation, his young wife, a 17 year old, "McClaren girl" who also has been held by the Apaches and is returning home, the narrator, who travels in search of a new job and success, a mysterious, sinister figure named Brandon, and Russell, the "Hombre" himself. The story explores the characters' varied reactions to the precarious situation in which they find themselves in the Arizona desert pursued by outlaws.Hombre is taciturn and stays within himself. At the outset of the book, he is disinclined to become involved in the business of others. As the story progresses with increased danger from the outlaws, dissension among those on the stagecoach, and threats to the groups' survival, Hombre assumes the role of the decision maker. His decisions often seem harsh and morally questionable. The book explores different perspectives, at several points, on the moral necessity of helping other people in dire straits. Hombre's tough-minded perspective is frequently juxtaposed with that of the tender-hearted "McClaren girl". The book describes the starkness of the Arizona desert. It includes a great deal of building dramatic tension and violence as the story works to a climax. The book is taut and reads quickly. But the primary value of the book lies in its depiction of character, its portrayal of racial prejudice and in its consideration of the many ethical dilemmas that arise in the course of the story. John Russell emerges as enigmatic but heroic and ultimately as a tragic figure. Leonard's story of Russell and of how he earns the name "Hombre" has many aspects of the formulaic Western, but it also shows the genre at its best. The book amply deserves its inclusion in the Library of America.Robin Friedman

An excellent book made into a movie that followed it very closely starring Paul Newman. It just doesn't get any better than that. It's a western, very realistic & gritty.Leonard's characters are all flawed in such interesting ways. The hero is a halfbreed who resents the hell out of the world & makes life hard on himself because he won't communicate. It's not stupid, but understandable the way Leonard writes it. The logic of each character is remorseless. Like a train wreck, you can see it coming but it is inexorable, so all you can do is watch in fascination & wonder about the details.

Okey, dokey guys. This is the first western I've ever read and I loved it. However, it's by Elmore Leonard and there are not many books by EL that I haven't enjoyed. I will read again; it went right back on my "to read again" shelf because I wasn't feeling well and mind wandered. Can't believe that 1) I read a western; 2) I loved the main character; and 3) there was a story to tell, a well-crafted story. No surprises there, it was by the Master, Elmore Leonard.

"You can look at something for a long time and not see it until it has moved or run off."- Elmore Leonard, HombreBook two in Library of America's: Westerns: Last Stand at Saber River / Hombre / Valdez Is Coming / Forty Lashes Less One / Stories. Hombre, published in 1961, has the feel almost of a locked-room mystery. Except instead of a room, it is a mud coach (think a lighter version of a stage coach). The hero is John Russell, an Apache-raised white man. The story is narrated by a young, innocent man whose vision of Russell changes (along with the rest of the coach passengers) after the coach is held-up and the passengers are left for dead.One of Leonard's big themes in this book is predudice and our expectations of others based on class and background. Like many of Leonard's novels, this one was made into a movie (starring Paul Newman) in 1967.

``Echa un buen vistazo a Rusell. No volverás a ver a otro como él en tu vida´´. Aquel primer día, en la posta de Delgado, Henry Mendez lo había dicho todo. HombreDiligencias, forajidos descorazonados, héroes silenciosos y estoicos, apaches, sol, desierto, agentes indios, botines de miles de dólares, minas abandonadas... Estos y muchos más elementos del western clásico son conjugados con maestría por Elmore Leonard alrededor de un pequeño grupo de personajes. Todos ellos deben recorrer tres noches de distancia hacia el sur de la frontera en Arizona. Lo que les ocurrirá durante el viaje no lo olvidarán nunca, poniendo al límite su instinto de supervivencia. En esa diligencia viaja Jonh Rusell, Hombre, un anglomexicano, que ha pasado toda su infancia con los indios apaches, aprendiendo todo de ellos. Todos los viajeros agradecerán al terminar su aventura que Hombre decidiera montarse en ella aquel día soleado en Sweetmary.Es un hombre callado, de respuestas lacónicas, cruel por fuera, profundamente justo y abnegado en su interior. Un hombre que tendría justificación para tener todos los prejuicios que quisiese, sin embargo, no tiene ninguno. Extremadamente severo en sus comportamientos y sus declaraciones, sin jamás importarle lo que el resto piense de el. Lo que lejos de hacerlo un desalmado, lo hace justo, de hondas convicciones, estoico y tremendamente inteligente para sacar adelante lo que muy en su interior cree que es correcto y bueno. Sin alardes. Sin postureos. Todo él destila autenticidad, seguridad, abnegación y tenacidad. Exactamente lo que es para mi este y muchos otros westerns, relatos como excusa para mostrar y honrar las mas hondas virtudes del alma humana. Larga vida al western.

Loved it. Certainly a classic Western as it's often touted, Hombre was published in 1961. It is Elmore Leonard's only first person point-of-view novel, according to his 1989 Introduction to The Armchair Detective Library edition I read. Believe it or not, my local public library still shelved it in their holdings. The Apache-raised white John Russell is a perplexing protagonist given his stoic, pragmatic outlook. I liked the narrator's voice, brisk pace, steady build up, and gut-felt climax. Did I say I dug Hombre? I've seen the movie Hombre with Paul Newman, also, which is also quite excellent.

Hombre is a unique book when taken in context with the other books that I’ve read by Leonard. His writing style felt like it was adjusted to match the dryness of the Arizona desert as well as the solitude of its main character, John Russell. Both, the character and his setting seemed to be intertwined through the pages, serving each other throughout the story. The story is thought provoking. Leonard gambles with the lives of all his characters and in doing so, repeatedly pits the value of one life against another. He makes it easy to fall into this gambit and once inside it’s impossible to climb back out. He makes the end a relief but the end also provokes the biggest question of the book: John Russell.With John Russell, Leonard once again creates a distinct human persona. The intrigue with Russell is associated with his actions, which were the final outcome of a host of personal feelings. Various portions of selfishness, kindness, disgust, and pity shaped his every move creating a complexity that mirrors real life. This complexity is maintained until the very end, when one of the supporting characters, the narrator of the story, thinks he has John Russell figured out, but even now, I still have my doubts.

3.5 actual ratingThe early western works of Elmore Leonard read like one of the old spaghetti westerns on tv. It was an easy read and good overall but there was just not enough action taking place for me to give it a full 4 stars.

HOMBRE was a huge leap forward for Elmore Leonard, in my opinion. His first four novels were all solid, well-written Westerns, but with very little that made them stand out from the hundreds of other Westerns at the time. I'm a fan of those early ones for their remarkable compactness and directness of style, but HOMBRE is the first one that feels really different, not just in its themes but in the way Leonard approaches the characters.It's unique also in that it's the first (and only) one written in first person. Later, Leonard would vow never to write in first person again, but it works really well in this one. It's narrated by a former stage coach company clerk, riding along on an emergency journey with a disparate group of people-- his former boss Mendez, a fiery tempered young woman who has just been rescued from captivity by Apaches, a shady Indian Affairs agent named Favor and Favor's wife, an even shadier gunman with dubious intentions named Braden, and the "Hombre" of the title: the taciturn John Russell. Russell is a source of anxiety for the passengers, being a white man who was raised Apache but is now about to give a shot at living in the white man's world. He is barely tolerated by the bigoted Mr. and Mrs. Favor, until the gunman Braden reveals his true intentions; he is part of a gang lying in wait to steal the money Favor had embezzled from his post as an Indian Affairs agent. With their lives on the line, Russell must lead the group to safety across the hostile landscape of Arizona, with the outlaws in close pursuit.There's some very good action in HOMBRE, but more than anything else this novel is a character study. Of all the central characters, but most especially of John Russell. He is an enigma to the others, a silent and stoic presence who refuses to submit to the opinions of the others or to placate them with false pretensions. They hate him, they fear him, but they NEED him. And by the end of HOMBRE, they finally learn what kind of man he actually is. And it's something none of them could ever even aspire to.Mark this as one of my favorites of Elmore Leonard's Westerns. Looking at his bibliography, it seems he took a break from writing fiction for several years after this, some eight years, and when he did return to fiction he concentrated mostly on modern day crime thrillers. But between 1970 and '79, he wrote three more Westerns, all far superior to his earlier work in the genre. That great streak started with HOMBRE.

Man, this is a tight story that builds tension with each new paragraph. Leonard was a master. He created a believable voice in the Carl's first person and structured the narrative to boil over just in the last couple of pages. Lean and mean. Tough to beat.

In the middle of reading Singer's The Manor, hanging Around 19th century Poles, I sort of stumbled into Hombre on my Nook at the doctor's office. A few pages and I was hooked. What wonderfully crafted language and characters, along with a plot that's impossible to put down. Always a big Paul Newman fan, I vaguely remember the movie, in which he played the title character. It was good, but I don't think it began to define the characters the way the book does. It's only about a hundred pages, and I got it very chap from BookBub, I think, although I don't know if it's still available. Now back to Poland...

Rightfully so, Elmore Leonard is best known for his crime fiction, but Leonard was not always a mystery writer. He began his career, in fact, as a writer of western novels and short stories, and he made significant contributions to that genre. And, just as with his crime novels, several of Leonard’s westerns were chosen by Hollywood producers to become major movies of the day. Hombre, written in 1961, was one of those so chosen, and in 1967 it became a feature film starring Paul Newman as “Hombre,” a white man who had been raised by his Apache kidnappers. “Maybe he let us think a lot of things about him that weren’t true. But as Russell would say, that was up to us. He let people do or think what they wanted while he smoked a cigarette and thought it out calmly, without his feelings getting mixed up in it. Russell never changed the whole time, though I think everyone else did in some way. He did what he felt had to be done. Even if it meant dying. So maybe you don’t have to understand him. You just know him.”As a boy, John Russell was taken from his family by Apaches who made him one of their own. Now, Russell so easily passes for Apache that the light color of his eyes is the only startling thing about his physical appearance. Russell continued to live with the tribe even when it was eventually forced onto the reservation, so for all practical purposes he considers himself to be Apache - not white. But now, John Russell, sporting a fresh haircut and dressed as a white man, is on a personal mission of his own, and he finds himself on a small stagecoach making its final run across that part of Arizona. When the other passengers realize who John Russell really is, they want nothing to do with him — even to forcing him to ride atop the coach with its driver. The passengers include a young woman who has just been recaptured from the Apaches who had held and abused her for several weeks, another woman and her Indian Agent husband who has a secret of his own, and an intimidating cowboy who bullied his way into the stage at the last minute. Russell, who has little other choice, tolerates the abuse, but he’s listening to their words — and he’s taking notes. But then everything changes. Suddenly, the passengers are begrudgingly depending on John Russell to keep them alive. And John Russell is probably just as surprised as they are to find himself defending a bunch of people who hate him so much. Bottom Line: Hombre is significant in the degree to which it exposes the exploitation and deadly abuse suffered by the Indian tribes at the hands of those who continually invaded their lands, and it is highly sympathetic to that point of view. It is also a novel about the foolishness and hypocrisy of any kind of racism that happens to have been written in the midst of America’s civil rights movement of the fifties and sixties — and the timing was no accident. This is a reminder of just how good and impactful a western novel can be, and I highly recommend it.