COMANCHE MOON : A Novel (Lonesome Dove/Larry Mcmurtry)

Rating:
Summary: Fades in comparison...
Review: I LOVE Lonesome Dove. I own the movie and watch it every couple of years and bawl like a baby every time. That always spawns a big reading spree of the whole series. I started with Dead Man's Walk figuring I'd read my way from start to finish in chronological order. I finished it and immediately devoured Comanche Moon, then dashed to Half Price Books for Lonesome Dove. Not even ten pages into Lonesome Dove it was glaringly obvious that either Mr. McMurtry didn't write the others, as I had always heard, or if he did it was under a quick deadline or extreme duress. The writing style is completely different, the wit is missing, the details first revealed in Lonesome Dove don't match (1.Maggie lived and died in Lonesome Dove, not Austin; 2.Gus was significantly older than Clara. He was married to his second wife when he met her; 3. He was married to wife #1 for 2 years, wife #2 for seven. They didn't both die within months of marriage as told in Comanche Moon. I could go ON and ON) and the historical FACTS are askew. Buffalo Hump was leading his people to a reservation in 1856 - not on a raid to the ocean. The raid was in 1840. And the hump on his back? I haven't found a reference to it yet in Texas History books. Oh, Comanche Moon is a decent read if you can ignore the facts and don't miss the lack of trademark McMurtry humor, but I'll stick with Lonesome Dove and skip the first two next time.

Rating:
Summary: Encompasses the spirit of the wild west.
Review: Like all of Larry McMurtry's books, "Comanche Moon" truly caprtures the spirit of the wild, wild west. Through his descriptive and often thrilling narrative, you can get a sense of what it really must have been like back then-from the vast and breathtaking landscape to the hardships that comprised every day life. At once you'll be touched by the innocent and sweet way that men act towards the women that they fancy, and horrified by the extreme cruelty and violence of which they are capable. And for anyone who has enjoyed "Dead Man's Walk," "Lonesome Dove," and "Streets of Laredo," "Comanche Moon" is a must read. This book fills in any and all gaps left in the other three novels. Picking up where "Dead Man's Walk" leaves off, this books takes us through the middle years of the character's lives. You learn what really happened with Gus and Clara. This is your chance to meet Maggie, Call's one and only love, and Newt's mother. If you want to truly know and understand these characters, this volume is a necessity. But whether you are an avid McMurtry fan, or this is your first experience with him, "Comanche Moon" is a first rate, highly enjoyble yarn.

Rating:
Summary: A real page turner.
Review: This book is wonderful. It's about the rise and fall of powerful leaders and the demise of the Indian way of life. My favorite part of the book is the end of Chapter 31 in Book III, when the great white snow owl flies near the face of Famous Shoes, the scout and tracker for the Rangers. Famous Shoes is more frightened than he's ever been before in his life because the white owl means death-the death of a great man. Gus's cheerful comment about the owl being a "right pretty" bird is priceless. I've read the end of that chapter quite a few times because it's so powerful...
"Famous Shoes realized then, when he heard Captain McCrae's casual and cheerful tone, that it was as he had always believed, which was that it was no use talking to white men about serious things. The owl of death, the most imposing and important bird he had ever seen, had flown right over the two captains' heads, and they merely thought it was a pretty bird. If he tried to persuade them that the bird had come out of the earth, where the death spirits lived, they would just think he was talking nonsense.
Captain Call was no more bothered by the owl than Captain McCrae, a fact which made Famous Shoes decide not to speak. He turned and led them west again, but this time he proceeded very carefully, expecting that Blue Duck might be laying his ambush somewhere not far ahead, in a hole that one would not notice until it was too late." A short time later the white owl was spotted by Buffalo Hump as he was preparing for his death.
The Indian characters were brought to life in this book. I was awed by them.
Who would have thought a western could be so much fun to read!