Dead Man's Walk

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Prequel
Review: For me, Lonesome Dove is not my favorite of McMurtry's work. It is an excellent book, and I would rate it 5 stars, but I've always enjoyed The Last Picture Show series the most. That being said, Dead Man's Walk is an enjoyable read. It's not Lonesome Dove, but then, who would want to read the exact same story? For me, I like the variety. This story introduces us to some great characters. Gus and Call are fun, as always. People who wanted the story to be another Lonesome Dove -- for the author to be true to the characters -- another Lonesome Dove is not what has been written. They are young men in this story, and it give us an inkling of what helped shape them into the characters we read about later. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially fans of the Lonesome Dove series. It's definitely worth the money...

Rating:
Summary: Gus and Call without the humor
Review: Larry McMurtry's Dead Man's Walk, the original perquel to Lonesome Dove, features that book's main characters when they were just youngsters and had first joined the Texas Rangers. Like Lonesome Dove, it is a big book with a lot of characters and a lot of action, but it differs significantly in that there is very little humor and the character's stories don't mesh into any coherent plot line or ultimate resolution. It is in essence a picaresque novel that kind of wanders around - as do the characters in the story. While Call and Gus are shown to have the beginnings of the personalities that would endear them to Lonesome Dove readers, they are also shown as having little depth and no experience. They really are clueless. And pitted against the merciless indians they face it is a miracle that they survive. Of course they have to for the sake of the story but it isn't any talent or savvy on their own part that makes survival possible.

Despite its limitations, this is still a very interesting book. The action is quite satisfying even if the characters are not.

Rating:
Summary: Dead Man's Walk: or Fall
Review: "Now except for the two young rangers, his whole troop was drunk, the result of an incautious foray into Mexican territory the day before". This quote explains the troops readiness for being real rangers. Dead Man's Walk, by Larry McMurtry was written to give a realistic view of what explorers of the western frontiers could have encountered. The main characters of the book Gus and Call are great characters for their parts. The location where the story takes place creates great imagery in the readers mind. McMurtry used informal language to show the characters way of living. All these things tie together to make this a great book.
This book focuses on a troop of rangers, especially the protagonist Gus and Call, through out their journey to explore the western frontier. Along the way they encounter many hazards, such as cyclones, natural obstacles, and Indians. The antagonist in the story is a Comanche Indian named Buffalo Hump. These conflicts keep the story interesting and fun to read.
The setting in this novel varies from the desert plains to small rural towns. All of the places the troop comes to are realistic and make the story seem real. At one point in the novel the troops comes to the side of a big hill and has to fend off while trying to keep their horses from running off. Realistic scenes like this show up all throughout the book to enhance the storyline.
McMurtry puts a wide variety of characters in the book to describe the differences in a troops personality. Gus is a young man who is driven mainly by sex. This keeps him thinking all throughout the novel. Call is a more mature young man who tries to think of consequences before his actions. The greatest feared character is without a doubt Buffalo Hump. He keeps the troop aware throughout the book. The troop continuously talks of how to kill themselves if captured by him. The main aspects of these characters give them a certain place in the story.
The main goal of the troops in the story is to make it to California. The reason they joined the Rangers is because it was a cheaper and more sure way to get there. The unsurity of going with the Rangers was the battles and other hardships along the way. If the troops can make it to California, they hope to strike it rich off of all the gold there.
The type of language used in this book made it easy to understand the way of life the different Rangers had. Some of them were from up North and the way he talked represented that. Some of the other characters in the book had an accent that sounded like they came from the back of the backwoods. Some of them could turn three words into one and still make sense. Throughout, the mostly informal language in his book allows the reader to understand the mindset and background of the characters.
To sum it up, this book had many good elements in it. It definitely shows an example of the ways people lived and thought back then. For somebody who likes westerns, or action books, this would be a great book for them. After fighting many battles the ultimate battle comes up with Buffalo Hump. To find out how this awesome story ends, read Dead Man's Walk, by Larry McMurtry.

Rating:
Summary: Read this book before Lonesome Dove
Review: Lonesome Dove got all the attention and won the Pulitzer Prize - deservedly so - but then McMurtry wrote two prequels and one sequel. Each book could be read and enjoyed separately or out of sequence, but for anyone new to this fine series, why not read them in the proper order? In Lonesome Dove, the two main characters, Gus and Call, are experienced and mature, and their circumstances and the time they live in are relatively safe (from Indians). The two prequels, Dead Man's Walk and Comanche Moon, are nitty-gritty adventure stories that respect the Indians and the Mexicans. The Texas Rangers are realistically portrayed in all their inexperience and naivete, fear, courage, sense of determination and adventure. Nothing is held back, and while the violence might be too gruesome for some, it is never gratuitous. I admit that the ending to Dead Man's Walk is almost too fantastic, but I defy anyone not to enjoy it. I disagree with other reviewers; McMurtry had his heart in all four of the books in this series. For a special treat, I would recommend listening to the audio version of these stories.

Rating:
Summary: McMurtry's Heart Wasn't in This One
Review: While this is a story that has its moments, somehow it isn't up to the standard one expects of Larry McMurtry. I get the impression that this was one he thought he ought to write, rather than being one he wanted to write. The story has too many loose ends, and too many characters that are just there so that they can die before the end of the story - hence the title. Skip this one and go straight to Lonesome Dove.

Rating:
Summary: Not even close...
Review: McMurtry didn't even try very hard to show us the young Rangers. The characters are flat, and some of the dialogue is witless. Save your money.

Rating:
Summary: Great Tale of Gus's and Call's Early Adventures!
Review: Exciting, interesting and great read setting the tone for the characters and personalities of two young Texas rangers who will become our friends as we follow them as maturing adults in later books. Realistic adventures and gripping moments!
Evelyn Horan - teacher/counselor/author
Jeannie, A Texas Frontier Girl, Books One - Four

Rating:
Summary: Good Story
Review: This was a good story. After reading Lonesome Dove, it was interesting to read about some of the background that led up to it.

I really enjoyed this story. The only thing that might have made it any better would be if I didn't know that Gus and Call had to survive the Walk because they were in Lonesome Dove.

While this is still not in the same class as Lonesome Dove, it was definitely worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Desert Survival and Obligatory Violence
Review: I enjoyed reading most of Dead Man's Walk because it gives you the sense that you are out in the deserts of west Texas before it was settled, and are subject to all that that wilderness has in store for you. Generally, the rangers or their commanders make mistakes from which there is no turning back.

But, by the end of the book, with the exception of the dramatic and ultimately funny scene in which a leperous woman puts the fear back into an Indian chief, I had decided that there is just too much unnecessary violence in this book. The worst is the part in which the rangers are designated as the entertainment for a Spanish commander and his party, in which one of my favorite characters needlessly dies.

Fiction these days seems to be written with a possible film contract in mind. This author will not get my attention again.

Rating:
Summary: Styronsl
Review: I have read 10 westerns by Larry McMurtry and all have the rich of the west and most true to life that I have encountered. In reading "Lonesome Dove" first, I have always wondered where Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call were from and, if any, of their early years. As true, as in the best, "Lonesome Dove", I have enjoyed the early saga of Gus and Woodrow; the lives they shared and that of being the early law as Texas Rangers. The raw courage of early lawmen were shown in their continuing to settle parts of the open range and the Westward movement. Their encounters of Buffalo Hump to Blue Duck only shows the courage to hunt and bring to order the lawless. In continued reading of Gus and Woodrow, and their meetings of Clara and Maggie, Woodrow fathering Newt, and Gus to never find out of his daughter, Augustina. In comparison to other Western wrighters, none can hold up to the interest and riviting adventures, as portrayed by Larry McMurtry, in that of Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call. "Deadman's Walk" can only get 5 Stars, as that is the top of the chart!