The Searchers

Mr. LeMay wrote wonderful stories, whether novels, short stories or movie screenplays. I've owned a hardcover version of "The Searchers" for over 30 years.I'm trying to replace all of my favorite books in eformat, as well as getting as many books by my favorite authors in eformat. I was thrilled today to find 7 ebooks by Mr. LeMay.The novels:The SearchersThe UnforgivenThe Smoky YearsWinter Rangeand 3 books featuring short stories:Spanish CrossingThe Bells Of San JuanWest Of Nowhere***************************I would give them all 5 stars - except I can only change the font on "The Searchers". The other books have a serif font that looks like Times New Roman, and is very hard for me to read. I have a lot of vision problems, and a sans serif font, like Arial or Helvetica is much easier for me to see. I have Helvetica set as the permanent font on my Kindle Fire and the Kindle app on my phone.Also, per Mr. LeMay's entry on Wikipedia, there are 2 more short story collections, "Painted Rock" and "Tonopah Range" which are not available in eformat, even though they were published in 2004 & 2006, respectively. To the publisher: Whyever not? I'm not buying hardcover or paperback books anymore. I don't have the room. Plus eformat books are generally less expensive, which means I can afford to buy more books.

"The Searchers" qualifies as a western classic. Mind you, the John Ford film with John Wayne sticks closely to Alan LeMay's novel, but it differs in some major ways. Back to why you should read "The Searchers." First, if you love westerns, especially oaters with lifestyle lore, you'll crave this western with its lore on Comanche Indians. LeMay piles on the background like Louis L'Amour did in his westerns. This is not the mark of a tenderfoot. Second, this ranks as memorable literature, with evocative prose. LeMay knows when to end a chapter for maximum impact. The characters are interesting; the surprises are shocking, and the depiction of Indians here may give liberal-minded readers pause. In every sense of the phrase "are the only good Indians, dead Indians. The history about the Indians and the Quaker Peace Keepers is complicated and fascinating at the same time. I thoroughly enjoyed this frontier saga!

This is the classic book that the movie "The Searchers" was made from. A family is attacked and murdered by the Comanche, all but two girls who are taken captive. The brother of the murdered man and their adopted son arrive too late to save the family but discover the two girls are missing. This starts a search of miles and years looking for the one living captive. A search that continues long after there is any hope as the two men find they are obsessed with the search.

Easy answer. Both were good, but the book wins this one. Hands down.When I first saw the movie back in the mid-20th century, I'm sure i was impressed. It never occurred to me the movie would later be recognized by numerous organizations in many countries as being in the top dozen or so best/influential movies of ALL time. After reading the book this week I rented the movie. Oh my goodness, what high definition has done for movies of the fifties. It is now truly spectacular. Lots of great scenery. Lots of horses back and forth. Even colorful, scary Indians. But you have to admit that cramming a story about a five year repetitive search over arid countryside into a movie just short of two hours will require lots being left out or most of it just passing it through at the speed of a rifle bullet. The book, to me, has the advantage of being able to be fuller, richer. And Mr. Le May took full advantage. He gave us a better storyline and, to me, a more authentic ending. BTW....how about the super performance by the Duke.

This book was made into what many consider to be John Wayne's finest movie. Girl abducted by Indians, Uncle (John Wayne) sets out to find her. The book obviously has far more detail than the movie and this makes for a good read. It is one of the few books that I have read that it is better to see the movie first and then read the book. This means that you can put faces to the characters in the book.The book is quite long but once immersed you will thoroughly enjoy it if you are a fan of good western novels.

Great story line of a man determined to keep his family together even though it took several years from his own life. Well written.

I couldn't put the book down! I can not tell you how many times I have seen the movie with my hero..John Wayne. This is a powerful story. The insight into the settlers thoughts and the ways of the Indians. A book to add to my hardback collection. If you like westerns, this is the book for you. I highly recommend.

If you were taken to the John Wayne film by your father, as I was, you may remember it as long, and perhaps not easy to understand. That would be I think because much of the story was altered, or just left out, from this rather fine novel of a time.There is much depth here, to go with the length. Truer things one might know from later experience out on those prairies are brought out. The story itself, the kernel having to do with the man and the girl, reads very true, as do the experiences of the youth who came along. I don't remember any of this being in the film, which was however striking, as well as with a bit of necessary entertaining through humorous asides, a drama of its own.I can only think to recommend very highly one other book beside this, different and truly excellent on similar territory. It's written by a poet who has lived 'there' a long time, Paulette Giles. She is a poet, and this shows besides all the rest that is fine, in her book 'News of the World'.These two together, and you will have learned some things of true character, in what were the range of realities in the American West.

Having been a fan of the John Wayne film it has taken while before I got to read the original story. Obviously there are many variations between the book and film but both stand alone in their brilliance. Le May captures the real West feel in his portrayal of frontier life. The story centres on Martin rather than the John Wayne character, here called Amos rather than E than. The saga of the the search to find Debbie is anguishing and protracted involving many hardships and setbacks before a rather surprising ending. Quite honestly this is one of the best Western novels I have read and one I would definitely recommend.

Written back in 1954, by author and screenwriter Alan LeMay, following scrupulous research into many of the surviving accounts of Indian abductions of white pioneer women and children along the frontier of the South Western expansion of the United States, this is the fictional account of the epic quest of two driven and determined white men, an uncle and an adopted brother (after his own family have been massacred) to find 9 year old Debbie Edwards who has been abducted following a murder raid on the family ranch by a Comanche war party.The sheer power of the novel was certainly not lost on movie director John Ford, who would make the story the basis of his (belatedly) critically acclaimed film ‘The Searchers’, and this is a power which resonates to the present day. This is not just another dated pulp western novel which belongs to a bye gone age. Rather it is a work of great and enduring quality, which gives the reader a real insight into what it must have been like to have lived along the frontier in those violent and dangerous times, whether they were optimistic white settlers intent on building a better future for their families, and prepared to live with the risks, or angry and threatened Indian tribes, faced with the progressive annexation of their ancestral homelands and the mass slaughter of the buffalo herds, on which so much of their livelihood depended.Today’s reader is likely to come to LeMay’s book through having discovered and enjoyed Ford’s film, most likely on television, and having noted that this wasn’t ‘just another Western’, and that Wayne’s character, the very disturbed Ethan Edwards, is possibly Wayne’s most accomplished and nuanced role in his long cinematic career.So how does it differ from the film? Well, part of the power of Ford’s film was that he cleverly chose not to show the violence, leaving the cinemagoer to imagine it for himself. LeMay tells you in exacting detail, based on the historical record, the atrocities committed both by the Indians, and by the white men.The quest takes place over a period of 5 years, so there is much more in LeMay than makes it through to the film, and the ending is also different, but just as valid as the one chosen by Ford.John Ford could always spot a good line of dialogue, and, for those familiar with the film, it is these words of LeMays’ that leap out of the printed page, time and again, as the reader progresses through the book, because they are also spoken in the film, word for word, though not necessarily by the same characters as in the original novel.This is a book well worthy not only of being discovered by today’s readers, but also of being re-made as a film, not to eclipse the ‘Fordian interpretation’ that is John Ford’s masterpiece, but to set in modern cinematic terms the sweep, depth and interpretation of the original novel. Clint Eastwood or Kevin Costner take note!

It’s ok but not up with the best. I liked the length of the many journeys that are made but the character development is weak in my opinion and scenes which are clearly regarded as either pivotal or possibly shocking are not fleshed out enough. I am closing in on the end game though and will finish it. It has kept me involved just about enough but no more.

I have just finished reading this book. It was so good. The film The Searchers is one of my favourites. However the book is better as it can go into so much more detail and would be very long for a film. The plot is slightly different to the film as is so often the case. I can recommend this book. Loved it.

I have read this story many times & enjoyed every minute, John Wayne was perfect for the part of Ethan & the rest of the actors spot on for the parts they played, my heart & sorrow went out to him & his family. If I had been alive in those times I would have loved to have been one of the pioneers, though I have read many books on the history of America the Indians strike terror in my soul. So perhaps it was best I was born when I was & lived through the WWII, the threat of the atomic bomb & it's terrors.