Book Review:
Desert Gold


by Steve Raineault
Newport, New Hampshire


To think that such a simple thing as a novel could bridge the generation gap. My father and I have always been close. Yet he being born in 1931 and I in 1979 often meant that our tastes were a bit different. Then, one night, Dad and I were talking about books. I was 12 at the time, and my reading Dracula was a proud achievement. As we talked, he began to tell me the story of two men who had wandered into the desert. They developed a camaraderie -- then uncovered a fact to shock the heavens: the two were actually son-in-law and father-in-law. A fight over the daugher of the elder man ensued.

I recall the deep passion my father showed as he recollected this novel he'd read many years before. "That's an amazing story, Dad," I commented. He then told me that was merely the novel's prologue. The next day, at my request, he took from our cellar an old book with many years on its pages. The title was Desert Gold, the author Zane Grey. Thus my love for the romance of the West began as I spent summer vacation reading this book with Dad.

The complexity of the story is far and away too great to summarize in 200 words. All I can do is reflect on the wondrous beauty of this extraordinary novel. I recall fondly the image of Dick Gale rushing with clenched fist at the evil bandit Rojas. I remember the flight into the desert, the godsend of the Yaqui Indian to aid survival in the harsh land. I recall the love between George Thorne and Mercedes Castaneda, the suicide of Rojas to avoid receiving "gory Aztec knifework," the discovery of a long-buried secret, and the final words Dick whispers to his sweetheart as the novel ends: "Lluvia d'oro -- Shower of Gold."

Throughout the years this story has held me in its grip -- the humanity of honoring a woman, the mercilessness of the lust-driven madman, the vengeful quest of a crushed people, the mystical beauty of the desert landscape. Desert Gold is a pinnacle of American literature. No other book quite matches it in putting the internal emotions of such a variety of human beings to the test of Mother Nature. And through it all, a haunting secret symbolizes Grey's spirituality: the white man's God, the deities of the Indians, and the eternal hope of finding peace and love among the living and the dead alike.

Steve Raineault is a Member of ZGWS. He lives in Newport, New Hampshire.

This book review is the personal opinion of the writer.

Historical images of Zane Grey used with permission of Dr. Loren Grey and Zane Grey, Inc.