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Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry 9780671504205 Books

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Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry 9780671504205 Books

The Story:
This book is a masterpiece. It's captivating and, frankly, quite remarkable. It's more than a western. It's more than a novel. It's a wonderfully thought-out story about America in an almost mythical time with so much depth and so many layers that reward readers over and over again. The story, in fact, has so much depth and so many layers, that it would be easy for a reader to miss the one consistent, central theme of the story. Thus the reader must work attentively through it just as the cowboys must, lest they find themselves lost looking for the Powder River in a mighty dust storm. The story is powerful both because it is wonderfully fantastic and because it is frighteningly real. The essence of much of our world can be related or explained by the narrative in an enduring way.

The Characters:
McMurtry does a wonderful time with all of his characters. Main characters, supporting characters, passing throw-away extras -- all of them. He doesn't waste time (yours or his) with any conversation or internal monologue that doesn't give insight through forming or developing that character as the story evolves. You'll see every situation from multiple points of view. You'll be shown honesty and delusion, naivety and wisdom, love and dependence, hate and despair. It can be heart-breaking. At times, I'm certain, it's supposed to be (if you're paying attention). You will both know and be bewildered by these characters, just like the people in your life.

Other:
The book is not the typical western. It at no point has the processed and canned feel of a writer following a formula.

So, to those who don't think they'll like it because they didn't like other westerns: Don't worry. It's different. Read it.

And to those who like westerns: Don't worry. This is better than probably any you've read. Read it.


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Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry 9780671504205 Books Reviews

Among my favorite novels, I have read Lonesone Dove at least 5 times over the course of the past 20 years. It is a remarkable work. When it first came out I had remember seeing it on shelves and based on the cover artwork, dismissing it as a Louis L'Amour type pulp novel. One of many mistakes made at that age. It was first recommended to me by a friend I met while serving in the Marines. My friend was and still is- a soulful, thinking fellow for whom I had the deepest respect. When I asked him "What is it about?", his response was unexpected. He did not say "Texas Rangers" or "a cattle drive". He said "old friends", and it put a hook in me that those other two descriptions wouldn't have. It is indeed about two old friends, "two of the most famous Texas Rangers that ever lived" in the words of one of its many entertaining characters, but I agree with my buddy's assessment. It is set in a cattle drive, but it is about the deep bonds of two old friends, that are very different people, but good friends nonetheless. My buddy and I have often compared our own friendship to that of Gus and WF Call. Of course, he gets to be Gus and admittedly, I am much more like Woodrow Call than Augustus McRae.

Books to me are friends. And Lonesome Dove is one of my oldest friends that I return to again and again. Along with Les Miserables, and Gates of Fire, just to give you an idea what I consider to be a fine novel worthy of the title "Old Friend". I highly recommend Lonesome Dove to you who have not read it. And for those that have already as well.
Larry McMurtry’s “Lonesome Dove,” the epic tale of two grumpy old men rambling around rugged territory from Texas to Montana with their herd of cattle, has long been considered one of the finest novels ever written. My reading group selected it as our classic read so I dove into it again, probably for the fourth time.

“Lonesome Dove” is long and majestic, more than just an oater. It’s full of characters that struggle through the trouble in their lives, always with the prospect of betrayal in one form or another. They survive in a hot and dusty climate with intermittent episodes of stormy weather, driving rain, frigid cold, and inundating mud, all the while suffocating in poverty.

They live in ramshackle towns or thrown-together shacks that are filthy and filled with squalor. They are surrounded by people with bad intentions and miserable drunks who spend most of their time vomiting off second-story balconies. The baddies are despicable, the respectables aren’t much better, and the author carefully portrays them all with so much skill and realism that the reader can literally smell their rankness (and that includes the ladies). Stereotypes abound, but the author reduces their triteness with a lyricism that resonates off the page.

Augustus McCrae and Woodrow McCall, the two reprobates I mentioned earlier, ex-Texas Rangers who are restless in their dust-filled lives, decide to embark on a cattle drive to the markets of Montana, each with his own agenda and determination. It’s an odyssey as full of adventure as any I’ve ever read. Every one of the large cast of characters is searching for something; a warm, dry place to sleep, a runaway wife, a poke on a floozy’s bed, a card game, some horses or cattle to steal, a crazy Indian to kill, a husband who never comes home, a faraway place to find peace, someone to yip at, and on and on.

The vast array of characters has sameness in their makeup. Wranglers, ex-lawmen, women with checkered pasts, renegade Indians, belabored housewives, inexperienced but robust kids, plucky Mexican laborers, and stumbling drunks They are all tough and all have stories, told in a vernacular that’s handled perfectly by the author who deals with stubbornness, determination, grit, and even manifestations of love. Lives are full of broken promises, bitter separation, and disappointment. The ending in itself is literary genius.

This is probably one of my favorite books. I thought it was wonderful in the 1980s when I first read it and its allure has recaptured me every time I’ve read it since. If you haven’t read it (most people either have or have seen the screen version), you really should. It’s a rare exhibit of a great writer’s skill.

Schuyler T Wallace
Author of TIN LIZARD TALES
The Story
This book is a masterpiece. It's captivating and, frankly, quite remarkable. It's more than a western. It's more than a novel. It's a wonderfully thought-out story about America in an almost mythical time with so much depth and so many layers that reward readers over and over again. The story, in fact, has so much depth and so many layers, that it would be easy for a reader to miss the one consistent, central theme of the story. Thus the reader must work attentively through it just as the cowboys must, lest they find themselves lost looking for the Powder River in a mighty dust storm. The story is powerful both because it is wonderfully fantastic and because it is frighteningly real. The essence of much of our world can be related or explained by the narrative in an enduring way.

The Characters
McMurtry does a wonderful time with all of his characters. Main characters, supporting characters, passing throw-away extras -- all of them. He doesn't waste time (yours or his) with any conversation or internal monologue that doesn't give insight through forming or developing that character as the story evolves. You'll see every situation from multiple points of view. You'll be shown honesty and delusion, naivety and wisdom, love and dependence, hate and despair. It can be heart-breaking. At times, I'm certain, it's supposed to be (if you're paying attention). You will both know and be bewildered by these characters, just like the people in your life.

Other
The book is not the typical western. It at no point has the processed and canned feel of a writer following a formula.

So, to those who don't think they'll like it because they didn't like other westerns Don't worry. It's different. Read it.

And to those who like westerns Don't worry. This is better than probably any you've read. Read it.