This will certainly be one of my top 10 reads of 2026.

“He felt vaguely that he would be leaving something behind, something that might have been precious to him, had he been able to know what it was.”

Picked this up as a university read to build my knowledge around Cormac McCarthy, as Butcher's Crossing apparently set the foundations for Blood Meridian. Dismantling the idea of the American Dream, stripped back prose and characters who go through extreme tribulations but don't say much... definitely sounds like a bit of McCarthy. Also, being published in 1960, this appears to be one of the early novels to turn against the typical ideas of the 'Golden West'.

Butcher's Crossing is masterful. It is about Will Andrews, as he leaves his urban, comfortable life where he feels no purpose to experience the alluring Wild West. He is drawn into funding a buffalo hunt, and sets out with three veterans of the land. He will be gone for a year, and he will never be the same.

“Young people," McDonald said contemptuously. "You always think there's something to find out."

Williams has the quality to seamlessly draw you along a tapestry of a story, one that feels calm and philosophical, yet simultaneously stripped back and personal. The characters are brilliant, even if you feel an aversion to many of them. There are some events here that made me feel sick, yet Williams does not approach them grotesquely or gratuitously. There is a respect in relaying the horrible facts of history, without going into too much detail. It is about a buffalo hunt, and a horrible waste of life that corrupts those engaged in it. It is also about experience, rather than time, stripping away the beautiful ignorance of youth, and the danger of placing your value and purpose in materialism.

This story will stay with me for a long time. It is so accessible, with an incredible depth that I am sure will reap rewards on reread upon reread upon reread. Rarely when I am reading a book I consciously think, "I need to cherish this. This is an amazing work of craft." I thought that throughout this read. It lived up to its expectations and exceeded it. Williams is more often praised for his work, Stoner, so I cannot wait to dive into that when I am finished with my university degree this Summer.

5/5 STARS