Literature Network » Bret Harte

Wooden characters in a wasted West

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From: Chicago Sun-Times
Date: 19880703
Author:Sharon Barrett

The Corner of Rife and Pacific By Thomas Savage. Morrow. $17.95.

Readers will find a lot to like about Thomas Savage's latest novel. His descriptions of an early-in-the-century Montana town and the history of two of its more prominent families provide an interesting setting. What readers might not like, however, is the fact that this setting is peopled with so many stereotypes that even Bret Harte might wince.

There is, for example, "the real lady," played by Lizzie Metlen, the almost saintly mother of Zack Metlen. Lizzie, compassionate toward Indians and courteous even to whores, ...

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