Dead Man's Walk

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: 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: He should have quit while he was ahead
Review: After enjoying the eventful and emotional journey from Texas to Montana and back, who could imagine that the very same author would pen such a banal work. McMurtry deliberately selected a proper starting point for Lonsome Dove. Pushing the line back even further was a mistake. He created a torturous journey for Woodrow and Gus, and for this reader as well.

Rating:
Summary: A rushed, contrived money-spinner.
Review: After the amazing Lonesome Dove and the rather good sequel, Streets of Laredo, McMurtry hits us with a book that simply doesn't make the grade. It reeks of his editor saying, "You have got to write another book this year, why don't you use those two rangers again?". The book starts quite well, with some gritty scenes but quickly goes downhill from there, ending with one of the most ridiculously contrived endings I have ever had the misfortune to read. Not even, McMurtry's often brilliant style can save this book. Symptoms of the book being rushed are everywhere (e.g. Saying that McCrae is Scottish when in Lonesome Dove they comment on Call's Scottish roots). All in all, a total disappointment.

Rating:
Summary: yes sir....the legend continues
Review: another great addition to the Lonesome Dove saga...tell the story before Lonesome Dove. A must read for the Lonesome Dove fan. A quick read compared to the first two

Rating:
Summary: yes sir....the legend continues
Review: another great addition to the Lonesome Dove saga...tells the story before Lonesome Dove. Gus and Call's adventures never lack for action and amusement. A must read for the Lonesome Dove fan. A quick read compared to the first two

Rating:
Summary: Depressing !
Review: By far, .......the MOST depressing book I've ever read! Couldn't there have been at least one or two good things to happen? Maybe I should have read Lonesome Dove first. Well, . . . I'm working on it now.

Rating:
Summary: Hack work - plot manipulation
Review: Call and McRae are two of the toughest characters the West has known when they git all growed up in Lonesome Dove. I expected their early adventures to chronicle how the skills of these young Neo-Rangers were honed at the hand of some sage Indian fighter or famous scout. WRON, WRONG, WRONG! The only reason those two lived through this book is that it is a prequel to Lonesome Dove and they have to be alive for that. In Dead Man's Walk they start out green - they go from one life threatening screw-up to the next, only surviving by luck, plot manipulation and literary necessity. And, the end up green. All that kept me turning the pages was the library due date and the hope that it might get better. I have not given up hope on Ole Larry Mac. This book leaves the lads several years and considerable experience short of the beginning of Lonesome Dove. I'm sure a couple of million dollars advance will produce part two of their early adventures

Rating:
Summary: If You Love McMurtry, You'll Want to Read This But ...
Review: Dead Man's Walk is a prequel to the Larry McMurtry's masterwork, Lonesome Dove. Written years after the first book was released, it introduces the unforgettable characters Gus McCrae, the talkative and energetic Texas Ranger and his strong and silent best friend, Woodrow Call as young men, decades before the events depicted in Lonesome Dove. This novel - like many of the McMurtry's books - is about a journey, as the young Rangers join an ill-fated expedition of adventurers who set out to conquer Santa Fe and the Mexican province of New Mexico. For the "green" young Rangers it is a journey of maturation and self-discovery. As they experience all manner of calamities and face abject terror, they discover their qualities and desires and the bonds of friendship that make men risk their lives and die for each other. And, thanks to the mythic character Buffalo Hump, a Comanche chief, there is plenty of death, horrible gruesome deaths. McMurtry does not sugarcoat his American Indians or stint on the bloodletting. The Comanches are seen as omnipotent and invincible and perhaps too imposing an enemy as the white settlers and their soldiers did ultimately vanquish them. Call, McCrae and the rag-tag group of miscreants and adventurers are faced with all manner of obstacles and the arid, seemingly endless Texas plains is a treacherous character in itself, a barren place where men venture at their peril and die badly. One of the great strengths of McMurtry's books is to inculcate a sense of place in the viewer, a feeling of what the desolate places in our country would have felt like to a man on horseback or on foot a century ago. Storms, flash floods, raging rivers and tornados stalk the characters like its implacable, inscrutable native inhabitants. Then, when they reach New Mexico the expedition is defeated by the Mexicans troops who visit their own kind of cruelty on the Texans, one that was inherited from the Spanish. Although the book is populated with fascinating characters, the death that is visited upon them is so bizarre and relentless that it eventually loses its power to shock and becomes routine. The body count is just too exaggerated. However, since millions of readers have discovered Lonesome Dove, many of them will want to learn the back-story of McCrae, Call and the events that shaped their memorable characters.






Rating:
Summary: Better than Streets of Laredo, nowhere near Lonesome Dove.
Review: Depressing at times, but in the end very uplifting. One of McMurtry's best, but I will always compare his books to the greatest book I've ever read, Lonesome Dove, and this prequel doesn't quite get there. You will find it hard to put this book down,though, and the ending is one of the most memorable endings imaginable.