Grey also loved women who were not his wife, although he professed to love his wife the best and they stayed together until his death. Grey had a depressive illness and that proved a barrier to his writing. It is also about the curse of writing and how difficult it is to write. The last half (?) of the book is devoted to his pursuit of grander and bigger fish and his zeal to be listed in record books for catching the largest fish ever. Zane Grey loved to fish and he loved to break fishing records. But this is bedside reading, a diversion before shutting off the lamp. And Grey is a fascinating character, as much for his paradoxes and flaws as for his virtues. Pauly follows Grey from his boyhood to his death, cataloging his accomplishments and struggles and triumphs with an even-handed, scholarly voice that I ended up liking as much as not. While Pauly deals more frankly with the novelist's long roster of mistresses than anything else has before, his touch is so light that it is sometimes hard to tell whether Zane Grey got around to sealing the deal with certain of "His Women." Sex is referred to obliquely, as in Grey having "a romance" with a woman, or going "deeper" into their "relationship." Which is fine by me-I'm not dying to read about the romantic exploits of a middle-aged man with women young enough to be his daughter-but it also seems different from the book suggested by this title. Pauly researched the treasure troves of Grey's unpublished journals and letters and photos to produce his tome, putting together a meticulously factual account of the life of America's wealthiest writer that, often, bogs itself down in the minutiae of Grey's repetitive sport fishing career, which undoubtedly made better film than reading. The whole time, he extolled traditional values, condemned women for smoking in public, and railed harder against the free-spirited Jazz age than any villain from The Spoils Before Dying.īut do not be fooled by this book's prurient title-Pauly is more historian than tabloid dreamer, and the pages of footnotes finishing this book are both his badge of honor and an indication of his priorities. He bought over thirty boats in his lifetime, set a dozen world records, and slept with as many different women-all seemingly with the blessings and support of his wife/business manager. He was the classiest, most romantic inventor of a new Western genre that American literature ever had, and he did more to open up the desert west as a site of adventure and mystery than anyone before or since. Zane Grey made more money, caught bigger fish, and sold more books than Donald Trump ever could. Pauly has piqued my interest in the Zane Grey novel. The book details what is known of his childhood and early adulthood, how he came to travel west, the novels, the movies, the outdoor life. Pauly does a good job in presenting all of this. He emerged from childhood with emotional and financial needs. His flexibility is exemplified in transitions from dentistry to baseball, to roping mountain lions, to writing, to pioneering in the film industry, and inventing his own reel for sport fishing. Grey was clearly intelligent, remarkably handsome and athletic. She apparently took stock of her position and found fulfillment in raising children, business (a bank president!) and travel. The early letters of wife Dolly are almost too painful to read. Pauly says this was only knowable in the last 10 years. Grey's condemnations of "jazz age morals" certainly helped to build his image (or brand) and the hypocrisy was a well covered trail. Their lives with Grey belie their photos, which show these women as wholesome and modern for our times and theirs. Pauly spares the details, but the picture is clear. Was I surprised! I think his contemporary fans (as I envision them) would have been shocked. I think I dismissed "his women" as maybe something about his bachelor life or maybe some Annie Oakley types he met out west. Biography is my preferred genre, and the "adventures" part promised a good story. Having never read a Zane Grey novel, I don't know what led me to this book.
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