Arizona Ames by Zane Grey: A Book Review

Up until reading Arizona Ames I could easily and genuinely say that I thoroughly enjoy the writing of Zane Grey. But, this book was such a pointless slog of a novel that I can't possibly recommend it. It was slow moving and lacking any real narrative thread that joined the exploits of the main character to a story worth reading that the book literally shoots itself in the foot. And, the closest thing to an actual narrative thread that runs through-out the story is a bit bizarre, and kind of off-putting to modern readers at least.

I don't know if the idea of a man looking for a woman to settle down with that is exactly like his twin sister was a particularly strange concept when this novel was published in 1932, but today that seems a bit strange, at least it does to me. Plus, Arizona Ames is an incredibly boring novel, and that is an observation I rarely make about anything written by Zane Grey.

For the record, I have a personal rule that I tend to stick by, and it goes a bit like this; if I've made it fifty pages into a book and I have yet to lose interest, I stick it out, and finish the tome. Well, in the case of this particular piece of literature, I figured out that it was doing nothing for me at about page number seventy-five. So, sticking to my own personal rules of reading, I finished it, but boy was it a chore to do so.

The closest thing I can offer to a plot summary of this book is to say that the title character travels the wild west, getting into the occasional interesting adventure, but mostly looking for a girl just like his sister for the sake of romance. Is there any action? Yeah, there is, but mostly it falls short of the memorable variety.

Zane Grey is usually a recommendable author in my book, but this book is not one of the ones that I can recommend. It is dull, strange, and generally a waste of time.

Oddly enough, there is a movie adapted from this book, and I am tempted to give a shot as a viewer. That sounds a bit weird considering my opinion of the source material. But, perhaps a future review is brewing in my mind? Let me see how easy it is to find the movie.

-W. Jay Pinto