Story Rating 8.0 out of a possible 10.0

Book review by: CA age: 58 Review submitted on 02/25/2009 at 11:21:25

Illustrations Rating 7.0 out of a possible 10.0

CA writes the following about Hugh Glass, Mountain Man: Left for Dead :

HUGH GLASSES JOURNEY When people see a book cover that has a mountain man with a gun and a great big white bear on it the think that the book is probably going to be about the man hunting down the bear and his dealings with the bear. The saying goes don’t always judge a book by its cover, well its true in this instance. The book by Robert M. McClung is full of adventures and such that makes you want to keep flipping the pages to find out what is going to happen next in the story. The main character is Hugh Glass a veteran in the trapping business. He is old in age but still can do his job and pull his weight in the line of work. He smokes pipe tobacco and chews tobacco too. He and many others work for the Rocky Mountain Fur Company trapping animals and getting their furs for trade and sell. The main conflicts begin when Glass is told to go out and kill a deer for all the guys to eat for the night. He is by a creek bed and spots a white bear cub, it sees him and charges him. He gets a shot off at the cub and puts it down, that gets the attention of the momma bear and she charges him too, he shoots her but she keeps coming and he pulls a knife on the bear and starts stabbing her, he is fighting for his life the others come when they hear the ruckus. They shoot and kill the bear but Glass is totally mangled and barely hanging on to his life. Hugh Glass is on his deathbed. He is barley breathing and all cut up by the bear; he also lost a lot of blood. They think he doesn’t have much time to live. The expedition they are on is going to Yellowstone for a trapping job; they have to make it there as soon as possible. The main boss asks for two volunteers to stay with Glass until he dies, then give him a proper burial, then catch up to the group. The two that had volunteered to take care of Glass were growing impatient; Indians were on the prowl and would kill them all and take their scalps. One of the men, Fitzgerald was the most scared and impatient of the two. At this point he is trying his best to persuade the other boy, Jim Bridger to “skin out” and leave him there to save their own “hides”. The book shows in detail how a man left for dead, survives, and gets himself back into better physical condition, to seek justice and revenge even through any obstacles in his way. He did so only to find himself abandoned, without weapons or equipment, suffering from a broken leg, the cuts on his back exposing bare ribs, and all his wounds infected.No one is left to care for Glass; he rids himself of all illness and makes a ok recovery to get to the nearest fort and off to his revenge for those two. The book is fast paced, exciting, interesting and fun to read. The novel has a bit of mountain man language in it, which is also fun to read. I would recommend it to anyone who likes action and adventure in a book, once you start reading it you will want to read and turn the pages as fast as you can.

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