This novel was chosen as one of the 25 best westerns of all-time by the Western Writers of America, Inc. I can see why. I was spellbound from the get-go. The story of John Russell is not only exciting, but thought-provoking. Leonard gives us a truly unique character through the first-person account of Carl Allen, a young man who found himself in a very tight spot with only the “Hombre” to help him find a way out.
This little, 190 page gem packs a huge punch. If you’re a fan of western novels, or even if you’re not, read it.
( )

Curiously, I decided to read one of Elmore Leonard's Westerns just days before his passing. A classic Western in Leonard's terse style. As he said, "Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip". (see Maria Popova's article at http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/08/21/elmore-leonard-10-rules-of-wri.... This was made into the movie with Paul Newman. ( )

Hombre by Elmore Leonard was a thoroughly entertaining book with dynamic characters and a unique plot line. There were times of sadness, as well as a few laugh-out-loud chuckles. I hope to watch the movie adaption soon to watch these characters come to live. ( )

Rightfully so, Elmore Leonard is best known for his crime fiction, but Leonard was not always a mystery writer. He began his career, in fact, as a writer of western novels and short stories, and he made significant contributions to that genre. And, just as with his crime novels, several of Leonard’s westerns were chosen by Hollywood producers to become major movies of the day. Hombre, written in 1961, was one of those so chosen, and in 1967 it became a feature film starring Paul Newman as “Hombre,” a white man who had been raised by his Apache kidnappers.

“Maybe he let us think a lot of things about him that weren’t true. But as Russell would say, that was up to us. He let people do or think what they wanted while he smoked a cigarette and thought it out calmly, without his feelings getting mixed up in it. Russell never changed the whole time, though I think everyone else did in some way. He did what he felt had to be done. Even if it meant dying. So maybe you don’t have to understand him. You just know him.”

As a boy, John Russell was taken from his family by Apaches who made him one of their own. Now, Russell so easily passes for Apache that the light color of his eyes is the only startling thing about his physical appearance. Russell continued to live with the tribe even when it was eventually forced onto the reservation, so for all practical purposes he considers himself to be Apache - not white. But now, John Russell, sporting a fresh haircut and dressed as a white man, is on a personal mission of his own, and he finds himself on a small stagecoach making its final run across that part of Arizona.

When the other passengers realize who John Russell really is, they want nothing to do with him — even to forcing him to ride atop the coach with its driver. The passengers include a young woman who has just been recaptured from the Apaches who had held and abused her for several weeks, another woman and her Indian Agent husband who has a secret of his own, and an intimidating cowboy who bullied his way into the stage at the last minute. Russell, who has little other choice, tolerates the abuse, but he’s listening to their words — and he’s taking notes.

But then everything changes.

Suddenly, the passengers are begrudgingly depending on John Russell to keep them alive. And John Russell is probably just as surprised as they are to find himself defending a bunch of people who hate him so much.

Bottom Line: Hombre is significant in the degree to which it exposes the exploitation and deadly abuse suffered by the Indian tribes at the hands of those who continually invaded their lands, and it is highly sympathetic to that point of view. It is also a novel about the foolishness and hypocrisy of any kind of racism that happens to have been written in the midst of America’s civil rights movement of the fifties and sixties — and the timing was no accident. This is a reminder of just how good and impactful a western novel can be, and I highly recommend it. ( )

Published in 1961, [Hombre] was Elmore Leonard's fifth western novel. During the following half-century, up until his death in 2013, Leonard would produce 40 additional novels (a few of them westerns, but most crime and thriller works), several film scripts, and countless short stories. Hombre was the first Leonard novel adapted for the big screen, directed by Martin Ritt and starring Paul Newman, Richard Boone, Fredric March, and Martin Balsam.

The title's "Hombre" is John Russell, a remote, laconic figure who arouses suspicion simply by existing. Raised by Apaches, he was adopted by a white man, James Russell, who named him and, upon his death, left him his ranch property. He and several others are anxious to leave Sweetmary and quickly hitch rides on a coach chartered by an Indian Agent and his wife. Passengers are forbidden to ride on top, beside the driver. But at the first rest stop, he's banished to the top by the other five passengers because they've decided he's a "half-breed", and he therefore can't ride inside with them.

Before the next stop is reached, the coach is held up by three thugs who work for one of the passengers. The four disarm the passengers (not knowing that Russell has a rifle in the center of his bedroll), relieve the Indian Agent of thousands of dollars, take or kill all the horses, take most of the water, grab the Agent's wife as a hostage, and ride off. It falls to Russell to extricate the passengers and driver from this pickle. All are unwilling participants, all expecting someone else to face the danger and lead them to safety.

This book read differently to me than other Leonard books. I think that's a result of its being an early work. Leonard's famous rules for writing are on display, but his application of them hasn't fully matured. I read a couple of reviews by readers who wanted character development, but didn't see it because of Leonard's subtlety. Actions speak louder than words, and the actions, and inactions, of the characters exposes them.

Both thumbs up.