Me-Smith.

by Caroline Lockhart

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Ill THE EMPTY CHAIR Pztee Mcaethue came into the big living, room of the ranch-house bearing tenderly in his arms a long brown sack. He set it upon a chair, and, as he patted it affectionately, he said to the Indian woman in explanation: These are some specimens which I have been fortunate enough to find in a limestone formation in the country through which we have just passed. No doubt you will be amused, madam, but the wealth of Croesus could not buy from me the contents of this canvas sack. I broke a horse for that son-of-a-gun onct. He owes me a dollar and six bits for the job yet, remarked Tubbs. The fire of enthusiasm died in McArthur's eyes as they rested upon his man. What for a prospect do you aim to open up in a limestone formation? Smith, tipped on the rear legs of his chair, with his head resting comfortably against the unbleached muslin sheeting which lined the walls, winked at Tubbs as he asked the question. ' What for a prospect'? repeated McArthur. Yes, ' prospect'?that's what I said. You say you've got your war-bag full of spec'mens. McArthur laughed heartily. Ah, my dear sir, I understand. You are referring to mines?to mineral specimens. These are the specimens of which I am speaking. Opening the sack, McArthur held up for inspection what looked to be a lump of dried mud. This is a magnificent specimen of the crustacean period, he declared. The Indian woman looked from the prized object to his animated face; then, with puzzled eyes, she looked at Smith, who touched his forehead with his finger, making a spiral, upward gesture which in the sign language says crazy. The woman promptly gathered up the rag rug she was braiding and moved to a bench in the farthermost corner of the room. I can ...

Genres: Fiction

164 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2008

About the author

1870-1962

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had this author on my lists from Gutenberg, specifically on the "Howdy,Pardner!" list for interesting-looking Westerns. When I discovered that I could use the book for two different challenge tasks this month (read a Western, and read a book with a person's name in the title) I figured it was the perfect time to finally have a peek at Lockhart's work.

Unfortunately, I did not care much for this book. I can appreciate the different viewpoint, with the main character being an absolutely despicable creature, a cold-blooded murderer, a conniving, deceitful lout who is only interested in what he can get from anyone he meets. Well, I can appreciate the idea of this viewpoint, the idea of giving a twist to the typical Western hero. But the reality of it was not as appealing.

The first chapter shows what a cad Smith is. He is lost out on the range and asks an Indian he meets for directions. Then promptly kills him. Shoots him so full of lead I was disgusted. Steals his blanket and is annoyed with himself for making a couple of bullet holes in it. Pulls a moccasin off the dead man's foot to confirm by the beading what tribe the man had belonged to. Then this as he left:
“I’m a killer, me—Smith,” he said, and grinned.

Well, dang.

So I was more than prepared for this Smith creature to be a man I would love to hate, and he was. I kept reading to see what kind of chaos he would create and if he would ever get caught, but I never did really enjoy the story and just skimmed for highlights after the halfway point.

What was wrong with this book for me, I wonder? I've read others with hateful characters, so it wasn't completely that. I did think the ending was superb and totally justified, even if it was a bit corny. Maybe that was the problem. The whole plot felt corny. One of the characters was a 'bug-hunter' which the author claimed is the name for any scientific type in the West. This one was hunting for fossils and turned out to be a very convenient person to the plot. But it all still felt corny.

This was Lockhart's first novel, so maybe her later work would seem different to me. There are four or five others at Gutenberg, but judging from my blah response to this one, I doubt if I will ever try any of them.....not me--Zapata.

[Gowe]

I've been on a classics spree, and 'Me:Smith' was recommended as a classic by Project Gutenberg. Why, I don't know.

I tried really hard and got to 38% of the book
I did not want to agree with the reviews I read on here. But goodness gracious, I couldn't get myself to care one bit about any of the characters. The lead character, Smith, is an insufferable twat with an overblown sense of self-importance. Susie is just annoying, and so is her mother, the Indian woman. Dora is the cliché woman that all men would like: cute giggle, earnest eyes, and all that mess. The only character I could have liked was MacArthur. He seemed the only intelligent one of the lot, and even he was terribly dull. I'm sorry, I really tried, but I can't read any further.

I hope it gets better farther along, but I won't be the one to find out 😂.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read my review at my blog.