Slim, the Guide: Voices from a Changing West

Jere D. Turner is co-ordinator of adult collections at the Regina Public
Library.

This collection of 13 sketches is about three generations of a family
that bears a striking resemblance to the author’s own family. The
characters include Slim; his wife, Ethel; their son, Casey; and Slim’s
grandson Buddy. Slim and Buddy are the narrators; between them they tell
tales of the many changes in the West from the early 20th century to the
present.

The collection’s main theme is how civilization has transformed the
West—mainly to the detriment of the people who were there first, the
land, and the wildlife. Some of the stories are interesting (for
example, in “Shoeing on the Sabbath,” Buddy and Slim discuss
Slim’s unconventional views on religion), but on the whole they seem
forced and the characters all too nice—even when they are up to no
good. This is a sanitized view of how the West has changed.