Cowboys Dont Cry

            "Cowboys Don't Cry" is a novel about a teenager, Shane Morgan and father Josh, a formerly world champion bull rider. His father while driving drunk kills Shane's mom, this causes his reign as champion bull rider to fall. Without the money to support Shane he turn to a career as a Rodeo clown and a drunkard. Shane always is traveling from Rodeo to Rodeo, never staying in one place for more than a couple weeks at most. When Shane inherits a ranch in Cochrane from his Granddad, it is a total surprise. Only catch being they have to live there until Shane is 18 and old enough to take ownership. This means Shane is actually going to have a place to live for once in his life. This also means he will have to attend school for an extended period of time. This is where the story really begins to take off. .
             Before when they were on the road constantly there was sort of a distance between Shane and his Dad. There always seemed to be something that could be kept in between them to repress their true thoughts and feelings about each other. For starters now that his dad has to actually support Shane and help him maintain a house, his drinking problem becomes more apparent than ever. He continually goes out and gets absolutely blasted while Shane is left all by himself at home. Although Shane is very smart and doing well in school, his social life is very lacking. The first day he meets some kids who call his dad " a washed up drunk" and he gets into a serious fight. Later that night he ends up getting his mom's precious horse cut up in a barbed wire fence. He then meets this girl named Casey whose mom helps him fix the horse up. His dad has been secretly attending a rodeo and wins first place, but all this comes to end when he starts drinking again. This relationship he has with Casey sort of shows us how broken a relationship he has with his dad. It contrasts a nice a peaceful well of family to a broken alcoholic single father desperate for money situation.