📚: Butcher’s Crossing, John Williams

Journey to the wild west, a buffalo hunt. The wilderness is brutal, turns our best into madmen. Its indifference hollows them out, leaving them alone with their demons and vices; yet, once they’ve tasted it, they never go back.

⚠️ Warning: Spoilers

We follow a young innocent man with idyllic aspirations coming to the wild for the first time, hoping to learn more about himself. All he learns is that he has lost himself, turning into someone he would have found repulsive.

Although the descriptions of the land and the hunt are compelling, I’m giving only ★ because, ultimately, I didn’t find it particularly convincing nor insightful.

On the positive, we see a convincing criticism of the senseless destruction of nature, proud buffalo reduced to roting meat. We see Miller’s greed, his obsession with killing the entire herd, destroying the valley that for so many years he treasured in his mind. We see this greed drive them to, ultimately, lose everything in an instant. We see the ruin of Butcher’s Crossing —and, implicitly, all buffalos hunters— as the market collapses. While convincing, this theme is not particularly interesting. Yes, senseless destruction, bad.

But the main theme: I don’t necessarily dispute the premises —the idyllic notion of nature is disconnected with its brutal indifference, its corrupting effect on men. I just don’t see this text argue that very convincingly. The arguments offered —such as greed driving them to nearly dying or nature reclaiming all the hides in an instant— are not convincing enough.

I didn’t find the characters believable: Schneider whining impatiently about the situation, arguing for obviously worse alternatives; Hoge, whom nature crippled and turned into a pious alcoholic, finally losing his marbles; and all-might Miller, one with nature, master of his domain, obsessing with coming back to town to show his greatness. The story feels forced and simplistic. Even Miller’s obsession feels unnatural —to who does he want to show his greatness? MC Donald? Francine? Why would he care?

The connection between Francine and nature feels clever, but isn’t explored that well and the story feels forced —the “treat the whore with dignity”-trope from the initial encounter, and becoming engrossed with her for months only after one or two minutes of conversation and seeing her naked feels artificial, even for this young virgin. The wilderness turns Will from a young man, a pure soul, —whose disgust for his own lust after the prostitute drives him away— into a callous man capable of abandoning her without saying goodbye after five days of enjoying her body.

I would have liked this novel to explain better how Will’s transformation happened; I didn’t find the arguments convincing. The connection between his experiences out in the country and the change we see in him feels tenuous, unexplored.

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