What's Elizabeth Reading? ...Louis L'Amour

I first came across Louis L'Amour in my Grandpa Jack's front room. He has a whole shelf of books written by him, and the books fit the tone of the room -- western, even though he lives in Orange County. So when I think of the western genre, L'Amour is the author who comes to mind.
That us what I thought until I was standing in the library, looking at a row of books written by the man and seeing that almost none of them take place in the old west. Or the modern west, for that matter. Maybe this was just the selection I was looking at, but suddenly my definition of "western" was expanded.

The book I ended up checking out was Last of the Breed, which is set in Soviet Siberia. I picked it because it was not a romance (wasn't in the mood) and the cover said it was his #1 bestseller (that totally got corrected to say "bests elder." What's up with that?).

My reason for reading L'Amour: A desire to be familiar with him because he was and is so well known in that genre. Being an author and not having read some L'Amour, I figured, was like being a children's TV entertainer and not knowing the Looney Toons.

Last of the Breed is a concept story. It asks the question, "What would happen if an American Indian was captured in Siberia and had to make his way out and back to America via the Bering Strait while evading his captors as they did everything they could do to recapture him?"

Brilliant concept, right?

This is a book to read if you love the roughing it in the outdoors. It is an adventure story. Not action, but adventure. While a few people do die, there are no fight scenes (except for when he takes down a helicopter and its three passengers, armed with only a bow and arrow, if you consider that a fight scene). There are definitely cool, adventurous moments and it is clear L'Amour knows exactly what he is talking about. I would not be surprised to hear he went backpacking in Idaho for research purposes (he keeps comparing Siberia to Idaho, and the Cold War was going on while he was writing, so I imagine he couldn't take a jaunt in the Soviet Union proper).

This is not a book to read if you want romance, fights, or a fast-moving story. He keeps circling over the same ideas, meaning this is an exposition-heavy book that is repetitive. To defend L'Amour, though, he was dealing with one man by himself much of the time, and he had to fill in all the silence somehow and keep us emotionally connected. It got a bit old for me by the end, but I would not be against rereading it.

There are multiple subplots, which he uses to keep the audience's attention, to increase tension, and to raise the stakes. Not all of these subplots are, for me, satisfactorily resolved, leaving the book open-ended. One would expect a sequel, but there isn't one.

As a random side note, this book is also extremely clean and family-friendly, minus the fact that people die and we see one couple talking the morning after they were obviously sleeping together.

My final take was that it was a brilliant concept and the right readers will love the book.