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Forty Lashes Less One
The hell called Yuma Prison can destroy the soul of any man. And it's worse for those whose damning crime is the color of their skin. The law says Chiricahua Apache Raymond San Carlos and black-as-night former soldier Harold Jackson are murderers, and they'll stay behind bars until they're dead and rotting. But even in the worst place on Earth, there's hope. And for two hard and hated inmates -- first enemies, then allies by necessity -- it waits at the end of a mad and violent contest ... on a bloody trail that winds toward Arizona's five most dangerous men.
272 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1972
82 people are currently reading
1425 people want to read
About the author
Elmore Leonard
184 books3,650 followersElmore John Leonard lived in Dallas, Oklahoma City and Memphis before settling in Detroit in 1935. After serving in the navy, he studied English literature at the University of Detroit where he entered a short story competition. His earliest published novels in the 1950s were westerns, but Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures.
Father of Peter Leonard.
Father of Peter Leonard.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 138 reviews
May 29, 2022
Generally, I do not care for stories that take place in a prison, but this is Elmore Leonard, so I figured I’d give it a try. I’m glad I did.
“Harold Jackson took a place at the end of the table. There were two men at the other end. Shifting his gaze past them as he took a bite of bread, he could see Frank Shelby and the mouthy kid and, opposite them , the big one you would have to hit with a pipe or a pick handle to knock down, and the skinny one, Joe Dean, with the beard that looked like ass fur off a sick dog.”
It’s Yuma prison, 1909, with two memorable characters surrounded by a nasty bunch of fellow prisoners and worthless guards, overseen by an eccentric, Bible-thumping warden. Throw in a handsome woman prisoner, and you have the makings of a page-turner. The interactions and dialogue between this mess of characters is what keeps you flying down the tracks to a most satisfying ending. Leonard sure knows how to spin a yarn.
“Harold Jackson took a place at the end of the table. There were two men at the other end. Shifting his gaze past them as he took a bite of bread, he could see Frank Shelby and the mouthy kid and, opposite them , the big one you would have to hit with a pipe or a pick handle to knock down, and the skinny one, Joe Dean, with the beard that looked like ass fur off a sick dog.”
It’s Yuma prison, 1909, with two memorable characters surrounded by a nasty bunch of fellow prisoners and worthless guards, overseen by an eccentric, Bible-thumping warden. Throw in a handsome woman prisoner, and you have the makings of a page-turner. The interactions and dialogue between this mess of characters is what keeps you flying down the tracks to a most satisfying ending. Leonard sure knows how to spin a yarn.
August 16, 2018
Ho sempre associato il genere Western alla mia infanzia, da bambino andavo a casa di mia nonna e almeno un paio di volte a settimana mi piazzavo sulla poltrona davanti alla televisione a guardare le videocassette di John Wayne.
Poi con l'adolescenza è arrivato Red Dead Redemption e il vecchio West è tornato a fare visita in maniera piuttosto prepotente.
Quando qualche anno fa ho scoperto Elmore Leonard, divenuto in brevissimo tempo forse il mio autore preferito di sempre, non conoscevo la sua produzione di libri western, i libri pubblicati in Italia trattavano già l'ultima parte della sua prolifica carriera di scrittore ed erano ambientati tutti ai giorni nostri, spaziando dalle grigie strade di Detroit alle spiagge bianche della Florida.
L'arrivo del seguito di Red Dead Redemption previsto per il prossimo autunno però mi ha acceso nuovamente la voglia di New Mexico, di Arizona e sopratutto di sparatorie e farabutti.
Tutte cose che Leonard ha trattato a inizio carriera, dando vita a personaggi epici, ma soprattutto ponendo le basi su quelli che sarebbero stati i capisaldi dei suoi romanzi successivi.
Quarante frustate meno una ne è un ottimo esempio: improbabili personaggi che diventano eroi della storia; una trama semplice, reale, senza inutili fronzoli e voli pindarici; i dialoghi che tagliano le pagine come lame di rasoi; la femme fatale; il cattivo; le sparatorie.
E non ultimo il vecchio West.
Sembra di viverci dentro, riesci quasi a sentirne il caldo che sprigiona, riesci quasi ad annusare l'odore della polvere da sparo attraverso le descrizioni dell'autore.
Poi con l'adolescenza è arrivato Red Dead Redemption e il vecchio West è tornato a fare visita in maniera piuttosto prepotente.
Quando qualche anno fa ho scoperto Elmore Leonard, divenuto in brevissimo tempo forse il mio autore preferito di sempre, non conoscevo la sua produzione di libri western, i libri pubblicati in Italia trattavano già l'ultima parte della sua prolifica carriera di scrittore ed erano ambientati tutti ai giorni nostri, spaziando dalle grigie strade di Detroit alle spiagge bianche della Florida.
L'arrivo del seguito di Red Dead Redemption previsto per il prossimo autunno però mi ha acceso nuovamente la voglia di New Mexico, di Arizona e sopratutto di sparatorie e farabutti.
Tutte cose che Leonard ha trattato a inizio carriera, dando vita a personaggi epici, ma soprattutto ponendo le basi su quelli che sarebbero stati i capisaldi dei suoi romanzi successivi.
Quarante frustate meno una ne è un ottimo esempio: improbabili personaggi che diventano eroi della storia; una trama semplice, reale, senza inutili fronzoli e voli pindarici; i dialoghi che tagliano le pagine come lame di rasoi; la femme fatale; il cattivo; le sparatorie.
E non ultimo il vecchio West.
Sembra di viverci dentro, riesci quasi a sentirne il caldo che sprigiona, riesci quasi ad annusare l'odore della polvere da sparo attraverso le descrizioni dell'autore.
October 16, 2025
Elmore Leonard's Novel Of Yuma Prison
Elmore Leonard (1925 -- 2013) wrote western novels before turning to the crime and suspense fiction for which he is better known. The Library of America has recently published a volume of four of Leonard's western novels and eight of his stories which offers an excellent opportunity to explore his writing in this genre. I have been enjoying reading each individual work in the LOA compilation.
Published as a paperback original in 1972, "Forty Lashes Less One" is the final western novel in the LOA volume. The story is set in 1909, the last year of operation of the Yuma Territorial Prison in Yuma, Arizona. The prison had been established in 1875 and was built by convict labor. In 1909, the inmates were transferred to a new Arizona State prison in Florence. The site of the old prison is today an Arizona State Park.
Leonard's novel offers a gritty look at Yuma Territorial Prison and its horrors just as the facility was being closed and the inmates transferred to Florence. The depiction of prison life is as central to the book as is the story. The novel features an attempted escape by some inmates as they were being transferred by train to the new Florence prison. The scenes of prison life have a realistic feel, but Leonard's book is a work of fiction.
The book includes many characters involved in the administration of the prison together with many of the inmates, including two women. The language of the story is realistic and raw and includes many racial epithets unacceptable today. It is clear that the book rejects racially offensive views offered by several characters just as it rejects the cruelty of the old prison.
The central characters in the book are two inmates convicted of murder, an African American named Harold Jackson and an Apache Indian Raymond San Carlos. The two men become bitter enemies when the meet in the prison due to the machinations of another prisoner, Frank Shelby, the kingpin among the inmates and the villain of the book. Jackson and Carlos are thrown together in a horrible pit, the snake den, in solitary confinement. They gradually become fast friends due in part to the well-meaning but bumbling attempts of the new temporary superintendent in Yuma's final days, Everett Manly. Manly, 60, had converted to religion as a young man and had had an undistinguished 40-year career as a fundamentalist minister. He knows next to nothing about prisons but he takes an interest in reform and in Jackson and Carlos. He makes awkward and laughable efforts to teach the two young men Christianity, but he ultimately gives the two inmates strength and purpose when he gives them the opportunity to learn to run. Manly is far from free of racism but he does show an interest in his inmate charges and works towards having them better their situation in life.
The book describes the hierarchy of prison life, with Shelby and his group intimidating the other inmates and the guards. Leonard shows the foul cells, the cruel hard labor of the inmates, the corrupt guards and administrators, the ever-present violence and sickness, and the inevitable sexual abuse occasioned by the presence of the two women inmates. The book builds to the moment of transfer to Florence and the plans of Shelby and his followers to escape during the train trip.
The book includes the sharp, realistic dialogue that would make Leonard famous together with the depictions of prison life. In places, the book becomes too cluttered with characters and sub-plots and lacks the sense of pacing that Leonard would master soon after writing this work. The book invites reflection on religion, as taught by Mr. Manly, and also includes a sharp portrayal and critique of racism and of the prison system. It also includes complex plotting and a sharp twist at the end of the story. "Four Lashes Less One" is worthy of inclusion by the LOA, and is a great deal more than a stereotyped prison melodrama.
Robin Friedman
Elmore Leonard (1925 -- 2013) wrote western novels before turning to the crime and suspense fiction for which he is better known. The Library of America has recently published a volume of four of Leonard's western novels and eight of his stories which offers an excellent opportunity to explore his writing in this genre. I have been enjoying reading each individual work in the LOA compilation.
Published as a paperback original in 1972, "Forty Lashes Less One" is the final western novel in the LOA volume. The story is set in 1909, the last year of operation of the Yuma Territorial Prison in Yuma, Arizona. The prison had been established in 1875 and was built by convict labor. In 1909, the inmates were transferred to a new Arizona State prison in Florence. The site of the old prison is today an Arizona State Park.
Leonard's novel offers a gritty look at Yuma Territorial Prison and its horrors just as the facility was being closed and the inmates transferred to Florence. The depiction of prison life is as central to the book as is the story. The novel features an attempted escape by some inmates as they were being transferred by train to the new Florence prison. The scenes of prison life have a realistic feel, but Leonard's book is a work of fiction.
The book includes many characters involved in the administration of the prison together with many of the inmates, including two women. The language of the story is realistic and raw and includes many racial epithets unacceptable today. It is clear that the book rejects racially offensive views offered by several characters just as it rejects the cruelty of the old prison.
The central characters in the book are two inmates convicted of murder, an African American named Harold Jackson and an Apache Indian Raymond San Carlos. The two men become bitter enemies when the meet in the prison due to the machinations of another prisoner, Frank Shelby, the kingpin among the inmates and the villain of the book. Jackson and Carlos are thrown together in a horrible pit, the snake den, in solitary confinement. They gradually become fast friends due in part to the well-meaning but bumbling attempts of the new temporary superintendent in Yuma's final days, Everett Manly. Manly, 60, had converted to religion as a young man and had had an undistinguished 40-year career as a fundamentalist minister. He knows next to nothing about prisons but he takes an interest in reform and in Jackson and Carlos. He makes awkward and laughable efforts to teach the two young men Christianity, but he ultimately gives the two inmates strength and purpose when he gives them the opportunity to learn to run. Manly is far from free of racism but he does show an interest in his inmate charges and works towards having them better their situation in life.
The book describes the hierarchy of prison life, with Shelby and his group intimidating the other inmates and the guards. Leonard shows the foul cells, the cruel hard labor of the inmates, the corrupt guards and administrators, the ever-present violence and sickness, and the inevitable sexual abuse occasioned by the presence of the two women inmates. The book builds to the moment of transfer to Florence and the plans of Shelby and his followers to escape during the train trip.
The book includes the sharp, realistic dialogue that would make Leonard famous together with the depictions of prison life. In places, the book becomes too cluttered with characters and sub-plots and lacks the sense of pacing that Leonard would master soon after writing this work. The book invites reflection on religion, as taught by Mr. Manly, and also includes a sharp portrayal and critique of racism and of the prison system. It also includes complex plotting and a sharp twist at the end of the story. "Four Lashes Less One" is worthy of inclusion by the LOA, and is a great deal more than a stereotyped prison melodrama.
Robin Friedman
January 20, 2019
"Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one"
- 2 Corinthians 11:24
"They had learned to do this in the past months, to detach themselves and be inside or outside the running man but not part of him for long minutes at a time."
- Elmore Leonard, Forty Lashes Less One
I remember finishing this, the fourth and last novel in Library of America's Westerns: Last Stand at Saber River / Hombre / Valdez Is Coming / Forty Lashes Less One / Stories thinking "THIS needs to be made into a movie by Quentin Tarantino". Well, I'll be sucking water out of a shotgun in the hot desert of AZ if Tarantino doesn't already own the rights to this book. It sounds, however, like he's thinking of making it into a TV series rather than a movie. OK Tarantino, you be you.
Anyway, the book is harsh, funny, absurd, and has two of my favorite protagonists in a Western novel ever. It isn't my favorite Elmore Leonard, but it is hard to think of a better scene than Raymond the Apache and Harold the Zulu warrior running after Frank Shelby and his gang with their spears. One of my favorite things about Leonard's Westerns is I KNOW all the places he writes about. I've driven through Ajo multiple times on my way to Mexico. I've spent more time than I planned in Yuma. His scenes all hit home with a nostalgic sadness. I also love that he doesn't shy away from the racist parts of the American West. He explores many ways blacks, Mexicans, and Apaches were treated. Which, sadly, seems a bit relevant today still.
- 2 Corinthians 11:24
"They had learned to do this in the past months, to detach themselves and be inside or outside the running man but not part of him for long minutes at a time."
- Elmore Leonard, Forty Lashes Less One
I remember finishing this, the fourth and last novel in Library of America's Westerns: Last Stand at Saber River / Hombre / Valdez Is Coming / Forty Lashes Less One / Stories thinking "THIS needs to be made into a movie by Quentin Tarantino". Well, I'll be sucking water out of a shotgun in the hot desert of AZ if Tarantino doesn't already own the rights to this book. It sounds, however, like he's thinking of making it into a TV series rather than a movie. OK Tarantino, you be you.
Anyway, the book is harsh, funny, absurd, and has two of my favorite protagonists in a Western novel ever. It isn't my favorite Elmore Leonard, but it is hard to think of a better scene than Raymond the Apache and Harold the Zulu warrior running after Frank Shelby and his gang with their spears. One of my favorite things about Leonard's Westerns is I KNOW all the places he writes about. I've driven through Ajo multiple times on my way to Mexico. I've spent more time than I planned in Yuma. His scenes all hit home with a nostalgic sadness. I also love that he doesn't shy away from the racist parts of the American West. He explores many ways blacks, Mexicans, and Apaches were treated. Which, sadly, seems a bit relevant today still.
January 3, 2015
No one does gritty like Leonard. This is bleak, barren, & ugly - the perfect prison. He had me sweating & dry as a bone in Yuma prison's heat when it's cold & wet here. Excellently done, but brutal & depressing. It was a quick read, but I just didn't get to it with the holidays. I should have.
November 7, 2020
A really oddball western as an unworldly minister becomes a prison warden at the infamous Yuma prison. He decides to lift the moral character of a black man and an Indian by turning them into "warriors". The ending is classic Leonard and is not to be missed.
November 12, 2024
One of the most disappointing Leonard novels I have read. I actually considered just 2 stars but that felt too harsh. Yeah, I guess this is a Western novel, although the majority of the action takes place in and around a Yuma Territorial Prison, which is soon to be closed and all prisoners moved to a newer, more secure prison. The story flows around the prisoners and how they interact with each other, the guards, and the "interim warden". This novel really does not have any "good guys" which makes it a somewhat interesting read. However, the is little action that might be expected in a Western novel. Overall disappointing.
October 27, 2017
Leonard writes with a cinematic touch, characters that stand out, locations vividly described, and with a plot that just possibly could happen, but probably not. That’s the case here. Start with an old West prison – you can picture the dust blowing, the bland buildings, the bars in the windows, the frumpy guards in dirty and drab uniforms. Drop in a new minister turned warden from the East, a real fish out of water. One who wants to prove he knows a thing or two about redemption and rehabilitation from the Bible. So let’s see, which prisoners should he use for his “experiment”? How about the two that stand out because of being of different races than all of the rest – the black and Mexican/Indian prisoners. As this was happening about the time of the first modern Olympics (which I don’t recall Leonard mentioning for some reason), the warden thinks of long distance running here, and so we have the cinematic view of two prisoners running in the desert following a Ford. And of course, there are unintended benefits to this avocation to provide the good vs. bad action at the end of the story. It seems I’ve seen this before, perhaps parts in different movies.
I enjoyed reading this, but I found it wasn’t as interesting or believable as other Leonard cops and robbers stories that I’ve read recently. And I don’t recall the title “lashes” even showing up in the story. And even stranger, the picture on the box of multiple riders depicted something else that wasn’t in the story. What’s the deal with that? I did like the narration on the audiobook, which made the characters stand out.
I enjoyed reading this, but I found it wasn’t as interesting or believable as other Leonard cops and robbers stories that I’ve read recently. And I don’t recall the title “lashes” even showing up in the story. And even stranger, the picture on the box of multiple riders depicted something else that wasn’t in the story. What’s the deal with that? I did like the narration on the audiobook, which made the characters stand out.
August 28, 2021
I know what you're thinking. I thought it, too. Reverse mortgages are just a way for the bank to take your house. Wait. Wait.
I know what you're thinking. I thought it, too. This book is about a couple of tough hombres, real mean motor-scooters, who've had all they're gonna take from a sadistic warden with a perverted penchant for flagellation and, so, stage a successful escape, a violent warpath of ever-escalating revenge! NO!! It's a hilariously un-PC shaggydog story about the triumph of the human spirit across race divides and a compassionate, if comedic, argument for prison reform.
If you read the paperback, do yourself a favor and, without looking or reading, fold down the last page so as you can't read it until, indeed, it is your last page: the punchline is so worth it.
I've had this on my shelves since buying it at Books A Million in Florida in either October or November 2002. Glad I read it now: a true escape!!
I know what you're thinking. I thought it, too. This book is about a couple of tough hombres, real mean motor-scooters, who've had all they're gonna take from a sadistic warden with a perverted penchant for flagellation and, so, stage a successful escape, a violent warpath of ever-escalating revenge! NO!! It's a hilariously un-PC shaggydog story about the triumph of the human spirit across race divides and a compassionate, if comedic, argument for prison reform.
If you read the paperback, do yourself a favor and, without looking or reading, fold down the last page so as you can't read it until, indeed, it is your last page: the punchline is so worth it.
I've had this on my shelves since buying it at Books A Million in Florida in either October or November 2002. Glad I read it now: a true escape!!
November 14, 2018
One of the best books I've read in a while.
It's surprising, simple and so funny that I actualy found myself laughing most of the times.
The dialogue (obviously) is great and the ending is so, so good. It fits perfectly with the story and the characters.
I can recommend this book forever!
5 stars.
It's surprising, simple and so funny that I actualy found myself laughing most of the times.
The dialogue (obviously) is great and the ending is so, so good. It fits perfectly with the story and the characters.
I can recommend this book forever!
5 stars.
October 24, 2017
It's easy to see why Elmore Leonard was good at westerns. His characters ring true and that's especially true here. The naïve warden, the outcast protagonists and an antagonist that the reader naturally roots against. I enjoyed this one.
December 10, 2017
Another excellent novel from Leonard...the master.
July 13, 2023
inconceivably mid
May 14, 2012
I wish Elmore Leonard wrote more westerns. Absolutely nothing against his superb crime thrillers, but the western really brought out his inner Hemingway, terse and tough and worn to perfection like old saddle leather. “Forty Lashes” is a bit of a transition novel, taking place in the waning days of the Old West and published as Leonard was making the switch to urban action. It has more of the wiseass sense of humor that marks his later novels. Inside Yuma Prison, Harold Jackson and Raymond San Carlos, both serving time for murder, are outcasts among outcasts. Harold, a black man, and Raymond, an Indian, are set at each other’s throats by the Man and their own race hatred. When they realize they stand a better chance back to back than mano a mano, Leonard handles their change of attitude smoothly and naturally without any touchy-feely, "this is important" moments. I have only one more Leonard western left to read. I hope he has a few more left in him and that he'll have another one ready by the time I finish "Gunsights."
February 24, 2017
One crazy book, but that's what you expect from Elmore Leonard. Not my favorite from Elmore, an author I really like. It's a period book (very early 1900's) which takes place primarily in the famous prison in Yuma Arizona. Many, many characters, and none of them very good. The best of the bunch is a wannabe Pentecostal preacher temporarily acting warden of the prison, a half-bread Apache and a black man born in Georgia. The worst of the none so good is the prison's turn-key, the King prisoner who is planning an escape and a buxom woman prisoner who is really up to no good. You probably can guess the goings on, so be warned, the language is really ruff and the mingling of men prisoners with a woman prisoner is explicit. Can't recommend this book for anyone under the age of, say 60 :)
September 21, 2018
Most complex of this bunch of Leonard westerns I read. Harold Jackson and Raymond San Carlos sitting back and letting all the white people who screw with them hang themselves is certainly fun to read. This felt like it had most in common with the Leonard crime novels he became famous for, both with the prison setting and the various somewhat scuzzy characters. Very much understood why Tarantino was going to film this at one point.
December 29, 2011
There is an autumnal glow about this book, which in movie terms is more like "High Plains Drifter" than like "Silverado." Characters in this story are as hardboiled and believable as anything in Elmore Leonard's urban fiction, and a surprising tie-in to the travails of Paul the Apostle elevates this above the "horse opera" level well-trod by less ambitious writers in the western genre.
August 3, 2014
This is probably Elmore Leonard's most Spaghetti Western novel yet. It is a very odd idea or premise, but yet Leonard's confident style, his blunt writing, makes this story work. And, of course, the ending is very Leonardish, which I very much like. Leonard isn't scared of taking very odd and creative chances.
July 10, 2012
If you like Leonard's crime fiction, you will like this book as well. While classified as a western, it is more about racial prejudice and hypocritical religious figures than cowboys. A enjoyable read.
February 28, 2018
This was a swing and a miss for Leonard. His two main characters just don't feel real and the plot seems too outlandish to be taken seriously. Add to that the quasi-moralistic undertones and you wind up with a pretty poor showing, particularly after Valdez Is Coming.
February 10, 2019
Started slowly, but good old E.L. twists and turns and grubby characters made it a winner.
September 18, 2019
Elmore Leonard - Quaranta frustate meno una
Nella prigione di Yuma arrivano nuovi personaggi, uno è il sovrintendente della prigione il signor Everett Manly che è un pastore impreparato al mondo carcerario e messo in quel ruolo solo temporaneamente, l'altro è un detenuto di colore, ex soldato e assassino, il suo nome è Harold Jackson. Nel carcere il potere è in mano a Frank Shelby, veterano della vita da galera, che amministra la sua detenzione corrompendo le guardie e usando i detenuti a seconda delle sue esigenze di potere, o il suo odio raziale. Shelby ordinerà all'apache Raymond San Carlos, discriminato per la sua razza, di mettersi contro il negro Harold. L'odio tra i due cresce, senza che essi sappiano di essere le vittime del folle Shelby. Quando la situazione sta degenerando, arriva l'intervento del sovrintendente che motiverà i due uomini attraverso qualcosa che non hanno mai considerato. Gli parlerà delle loro origini, creando una sorta di empatia e gli trasmetterà un senso di fierezza che li renderà governabili. Un grande cambiamento sta per avvenire, non solo nell'animo di Harold e Raymond, ma anche in prigione. Infatti tutti i detenuti dovranno essere trasferiti nella nuova struttura carceraria, più moderna e grande, si prospetta una magnifica occasione per un tentativo di eavasione. Infatti è quello che accadrà, Shelby e i suoi fidati uomini evadono, ma arriverà una particolare proposta di Jachson e Raymond che stringeranno un'alleanza per riacciuffare i fuggitivi, un modo per regolare i conti dopo tutte le vessazioni subite. La loro sete di vendetta sarà determinata e brutale, anche perchè se riusciranno a catturare i fuggitivi, verranno premiati dalla speranza di non marcire in galera. Questa è per loro la sola e unica possibile ricompensa da una vita che non ha più niente da offrire, fallire significherebbe non perdere nulla.
Il racconto è scorrevole, i pochi passaggi un pò balbettanti sono quelli della lettura della bibbia che il sovrintendente espone ai detenuti. La natura umana è descritta intimamente, le bassezze delle coscienze stupiscono sempre, soprattutto quando le privazioni della vita cambiano gli animi delle persone.
Nella prigione di Yuma arrivano nuovi personaggi, uno è il sovrintendente della prigione il signor Everett Manly che è un pastore impreparato al mondo carcerario e messo in quel ruolo solo temporaneamente, l'altro è un detenuto di colore, ex soldato e assassino, il suo nome è Harold Jackson. Nel carcere il potere è in mano a Frank Shelby, veterano della vita da galera, che amministra la sua detenzione corrompendo le guardie e usando i detenuti a seconda delle sue esigenze di potere, o il suo odio raziale. Shelby ordinerà all'apache Raymond San Carlos, discriminato per la sua razza, di mettersi contro il negro Harold. L'odio tra i due cresce, senza che essi sappiano di essere le vittime del folle Shelby. Quando la situazione sta degenerando, arriva l'intervento del sovrintendente che motiverà i due uomini attraverso qualcosa che non hanno mai considerato. Gli parlerà delle loro origini, creando una sorta di empatia e gli trasmetterà un senso di fierezza che li renderà governabili. Un grande cambiamento sta per avvenire, non solo nell'animo di Harold e Raymond, ma anche in prigione. Infatti tutti i detenuti dovranno essere trasferiti nella nuova struttura carceraria, più moderna e grande, si prospetta una magnifica occasione per un tentativo di eavasione. Infatti è quello che accadrà, Shelby e i suoi fidati uomini evadono, ma arriverà una particolare proposta di Jachson e Raymond che stringeranno un'alleanza per riacciuffare i fuggitivi, un modo per regolare i conti dopo tutte le vessazioni subite. La loro sete di vendetta sarà determinata e brutale, anche perchè se riusciranno a catturare i fuggitivi, verranno premiati dalla speranza di non marcire in galera. Questa è per loro la sola e unica possibile ricompensa da una vita che non ha più niente da offrire, fallire significherebbe non perdere nulla.
Il racconto è scorrevole, i pochi passaggi un pò balbettanti sono quelli della lettura della bibbia che il sovrintendente espone ai detenuti. La natura umana è descritta intimamente, le bassezze delle coscienze stupiscono sempre, soprattutto quando le privazioni della vita cambiano gli animi delle persone.
January 17, 2024
Elmore Leonard is one of my favorite authors, but I hadn’t read any of his older westerns. Since this was set at the Yuma Territorial prison, a location I’ve been to numerous times as a kid with my parents, it enhanced my enjoyment. At first, he was heavier on description than usual, but then the whole got rolling and he masterfully wove everything together.
September 25, 2023
It had a great start, a very slow middle, and a great ending. I was leaning toward 3 stars, but decided 4 were more appropriate.
May 20, 2022
I haven't read many of Leonard's westerns so I figured I'd have a squiz at the one Quentin Tarantino was considering adapting.
It's solid, but not a stylish or absorbing as some of his crime output. Felt more like a novella or long short story. Still, a decent enough read.
It's solid, but not a stylish or absorbing as some of his crime output. Felt more like a novella or long short story. Still, a decent enough read.
October 14, 2016
I am not so erudite that can review a book without comparing it to other work.
But I can't compare this novel to other Elmore Leonard books -it's my first Leonard- and I can't compare it to other Westerns -it's my first one too.
I can only compare it to other other much-hyped novels from famous writers and I can only say, Not Bad.
I expected a little more in places and I didn't expect a few of the plot twists. I loved the ending, though.
Let's call it a 3 1/2 star which means: I'm glad I read it but I may not re-read it.
But I can't compare this novel to other Elmore Leonard books -it's my first Leonard- and I can't compare it to other Westerns -it's my first one too.
I can only compare it to other other much-hyped novels from famous writers and I can only say, Not Bad.
I expected a little more in places and I didn't expect a few of the plot twists. I loved the ending, though.
Let's call it a 3 1/2 star which means: I'm glad I read it but I may not re-read it.
September 16, 2023
Liked the book Elmore Leonard writes great westerns beside crime novels He always writes interesting characters in to his books.
November 17, 2023
99%
"Fuck you, captain."
Forty Lashes Less One is probably my 2nd favorite novel I've read this year. Every word is sleek. This is so concise-- the comedy, the brutality, the action, and the heart work so perfectly in tandem that I have to assume Leonard was a master of his craft. This my first of his works and I think I'll be reading all of his westerns in the near future.
Pure buttery bliss.
"Fuck you, captain."
Forty Lashes Less One is probably my 2nd favorite novel I've read this year. Every word is sleek. This is so concise-- the comedy, the brutality, the action, and the heart work so perfectly in tandem that I have to assume Leonard was a master of his craft. This my first of his works and I think I'll be reading all of his westerns in the near future.
Pure buttery bliss.
August 10, 2018
Forty Lashes Less One (1972) By the time Elmore Leonard published this western, the market for them was drying up, and, in fact, this would be his last western published until 1979’s Gunsights.
This has most of the Leonard trademarks: crisp dialogue, violence, and rotating third person points of view attached to various characters. There’s a spontaneity inherent in his style, a sense I get as a reader that he and I are getting to know the characters at the same time. Oh, yeah, one other Leonard trademark is evident here: a fabulous sense of time and place clearly buoyed by research. In this case, he fully imagines the era where the end of the Yuma territorial prison is being closed. The prison scenes are believable.
And while it is a historical western, it also has a feel of the era in which it was written. Remember this was the era of the black liberation movement, the American Indian Movement, and Blaxploitation westerns were on the screen. So his lead characters are two lifelong jailbirds: Harold, a black Spanish American war veteran and Raymond, an Apache, who face both institutional racism at Yuma Territorial prison, and from a convict gang of typically vivid Leonard scumbags. Oh yeah, another reminder of the sixties and seventies is the prison’s temporary superintendent, the Reverend Mr. Everett Manly, a liberal progressive who wants to save Raymond and Harold by putting them in touch with their Zulu and Apache roots. Okay, that Pan African slant is probably an anachronism.
And there are characters, as in most of us books, that are neither all good nor all bad. 8/10/18 W294
This has most of the Leonard trademarks: crisp dialogue, violence, and rotating third person points of view attached to various characters. There’s a spontaneity inherent in his style, a sense I get as a reader that he and I are getting to know the characters at the same time. Oh, yeah, one other Leonard trademark is evident here: a fabulous sense of time and place clearly buoyed by research. In this case, he fully imagines the era where the end of the Yuma territorial prison is being closed. The prison scenes are believable.
And while it is a historical western, it also has a feel of the era in which it was written. Remember this was the era of the black liberation movement, the American Indian Movement, and Blaxploitation westerns were on the screen. So his lead characters are two lifelong jailbirds: Harold, a black Spanish American war veteran and Raymond, an Apache, who face both institutional racism at Yuma Territorial prison, and from a convict gang of typically vivid Leonard scumbags. Oh yeah, another reminder of the sixties and seventies is the prison’s temporary superintendent, the Reverend Mr. Everett Manly, a liberal progressive who wants to save Raymond and Harold by putting them in touch with their Zulu and Apache roots. Okay, that Pan African slant is probably an anachronism.
And there are characters, as in most of us books, that are neither all good nor all bad. 8/10/18 W294
September 5, 2014
Surprisingly funny Western that takes place mostly within the walls of Yuma prison in the early part of the 20th century. Harold is the only black inmate at the soon-to-be-closed Yuma, and Raymond is the only Indian, which makes them the targets of derision. Shelby, a prisoner with connections, makes their lives hell, until the new warden, Mr. Manly, takes a special interest in the pair and decides to elevate their confidence in the hopes he can bring them to Jesus. Harold and Raymond eventually form a bond, based on their desire to be like the warriors of their ancestry. When Shelby and his cohorts plan an escape, Manly relies on the misfits to bring the fugitives to justice.
I loved how the central characters were nothing like your standard Western heroes-- like pretty much every character in the book, they aren't too bright and they aren't too heroic. But there's something very likable about both of them.
There's a scene about mid-way through FORTY LASHES LESS ONE that was pure Leonard humor, where Warden Manly is trying to explain some finer points of the Bible to the boys, who are clearly not getting it. It's presented in the sort of dead-pan way that Leonard would later become famous for, and reminded me once again why his dialogue is so enviable.
The very last paragraph made me laugh out loud.
I loved how the central characters were nothing like your standard Western heroes-- like pretty much every character in the book, they aren't too bright and they aren't too heroic. But there's something very likable about both of them.
There's a scene about mid-way through FORTY LASHES LESS ONE that was pure Leonard humor, where Warden Manly is trying to explain some finer points of the Bible to the boys, who are clearly not getting it. It's presented in the sort of dead-pan way that Leonard would later become famous for, and reminded me once again why his dialogue is so enviable.
The very last paragraph made me laugh out loud.
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