Comanche Moon

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Summary: Terrific reading.
Review: Read Lonesome Dove twice. Always wondered after reading Streets of Laredo what would come next. He answered my question with Comanche Moon! Now I have to start all over again with Dead Man Walking, Lonesome Dove , Comanche Moon, and last but not least, Streets of Laredo. What fun!

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Summary: Not another "Lonesome Dove", but then again, what is?
Review: "Comanche Moon" is a very good read, second in chronological order in the series, and third in quality to my way of thinking. One thing that bothers me in all the 'Lonesome Dove' books is how in the world Gus and Woodrow ever earned their reputations as top-knotch Rangers? It must be because they survived so long, because they rarely are successful in ANY of their missions. The books are all competent in showing us frontier life as it was, lots of boredom broken up with a rare burst of violent conflict. I realize that the Real West wasn't all shoot-em-ups, but it would have been nice to see Gus and Woodrow go out on a mission and bring it to a successful conclusion once or twice, in order to allow us to see why they were so 'legendary.' Regardless, they are fascinating men in themselves, and "Comanche Moon" does fill in some gaps in their personal histories. I wish this book had been written earlier, though, because it seems as if McMurtry just got tired of those two characters and gave us a few pieces of gristle and little meat. If he'd have written this soon after "Dove", when he was still excited by the characters, we may have had another epic on our hands. I have a bone to pick with his adherence to history and realism, as he has characters firing repeating rifles long before it was possible, but these books are more character-driven anyway. All in all, this novel was not a major disappointment, and it held my interest all the way through. It was good to see the early developement of the other 'Dove' characters such as Newt, Jake Spoon, Deets, and Pea Eye, and blue pigs. We'll miss these characters, but perhaps it is best to put them to rest. Bob Johnson

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Summary: Too much time to cover in too small a space.
Review: I love Gus and Woodrow. They are without a doubt two of my favorite characters of all time. This is why I was somewhat let down by "Comanche Moon". True, "Dead Man's Walk" was far from a great book but at least it dedicated a whole book to such a small period of time in the lives of two such rich characters. In "Comanche Moon", I get the feeling that McMurtry was writing it just to get it out of the way. Now I'm not saying that he should write ONLY books featuring the characters from "Lonesome Dove", but come on. In the space of one book, he covered what seemed like ten or fifteen years. How can the readers be expected to grow more attached to the characters if we have to whip through their lives so fast. Whoosh, Maggie is pregnant. Whoosh, Newt's born. Woosh, Maggie dies. I was feeling like I was getting whiplash.

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Summary: Heart of Darkness 2
Review: This may be McMurtry's last chronicle of the old west. It is a fiction blessed by his compelling writing style, and cursed by his dark view of human nature. McMurtry intentionally details some of the most sadistic tortures to appear in popular fiction. These disquieting events make the reader subscribe to the cynical axiom, "the only good injun is a dead injun". At the same time one suspects that the "civilized" white population may have a veneer mask of its concern for a fellow man. McMurtry can probably never divorce himself from the production of stories. He has a gift of inventiveness, and the ability to tell the inventions in an appealing way. But the joy has left him. Better no more stories than a continuation of the exploration of darkness.

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Summary: Rating: Simon & Schuster = 0; Larry McMurtry = 10
Review: Doesn't a Pulitzer Prize winning author deserve a decently edited and proofread manuscript? Doesn't the reading public, who shells out the dough, deserve a book without typos, etc? Comanche Moon was a good yarn, but very disappointing. Shame on you, Simon & Schuster!

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Summary: The Cycle Is Complete.
Review: I my mind, a good book makes you sorry when you finish it. Sorry in the sense that you want to learn more. I wasn't sorry when I finished "Moon" because McMurtry did a good job in filling in a lot of questions naturally raised in Lonesome Dove. The list of rich characters grows deeper with this book and the reader can truly feel what the West must have been like. This book brings the whole series together and is a keeper. An ultimate male bonding adventure.

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Summary: Larry, did the Rangers ever do anything? Not in your books.
Review: I am a Texan who grew up on the Llano (near Lubbock). I have ridden horses all over the Great Plains including Palo Duro canyon. In Lonesome Dove, Larry captured the spirit of West Texas(a different state from East Texas and a different country from the other states.) and that was quite an accomplishment. In fact, most of the people who were enamored with the book were probably enamored with this spirt. It has rarely been captured in print or on film. It is beautiful and wild. I had a grandfather like Gus and he had a brother like Woodrow, both cowboys. The characters are stunningly real. My problem is not with the characters put on paper by this gifted writer. It is with their inactivity, and lack of competence. Throughout all four of the books, if one looks at what the Rangers actually accomplished, there is little to be found, much less celebrated. I wonder, in the real West, if the Rangers just usually rode out on the Plains, did stupid things, demonstrated incompetence, and rode back? If so, from whence does the myth arise? Larry tells us that the Rangers were competent, at least Inish, Gus and Woodrow, but they rarely did anything in his books to demonstrate they were a match for the Indians, the Mexicans or even the elements. If, in fact, Larry thinks they were bumbling fools, he should just say as much and not talk about the "famous rangers" while telling story after story demonstrating their total incompetence. What is the truth about these guys? God knows this "Walker, Texas Ranger" foolishness is nowhere near reality. I am in awe of the skill of the Comanches, for good reason, but Larry has never given us any reason to think his Ranger characters should even earn their crummy pay, much less end up in the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame in Waco or our heroic myths. Larry, West Texas is full of a lot of hot air(wind), and you may have left people thinking the Rangers are as well. A true injustice, Bible and Sword. Four books, and you are tired, but you have yet to tell the story of the Texas Rangers.

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Summary: The second-best installment of the Lonesome Dove Saga
Review: I was such a Lonesome Dove fan that I would probably read anything about the Old West from McMurtry...and I guess I have. This was a very enjoyable read for me as were all of this series. Of course, Lonesome Dove was the best, but I would rate this one second and "Walk" last...but all four were down my alley. The insight provided during the Comanche segments was right on target. Comanche reasoning and the way they looked at life seemed to be well captured by Mr. McMurtry

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Summary: Wanted: Woodrow Call and Gus McCrae?
Review: In January, I heard Larry McMurtry speak briefly about COMANCHE MOON and his prevailing emotion was relief -- relief that he had finally finished the beautiful monster he had created with LONESOME DOVE. In fact, the author openly expressed weariness with Woodrow Call and Augustus McCrae. While I can understand the unfortunate dilemma of a writer becoming enslaved by his own characters, as an ardent fan of McMurtry's work, I could not help but notice that his exhaustion with Call and McCrae comes through in COMANCHE MOON, the novel I had expected to take us through their most daring exploits. Indeed, COMANCHE MOON is not about Woodrow and Gus. Instead it is McMurtry's sad, revealing fictional depiction of the impact Western expansion had on Comanche warrior culture. Most of the novel is devoted to non-white characters: Buffalo Hump, Blue Duck, Kicking Wolf, Three Birds, Famous Shoes and Ahumado. What's great about COMANCHE MOON is McMurtry's ability to show his readers, ostensibly 20th Century white readers, the other side of those people our culture has deemed as the "other," the red and black-skinned villains lurking on the fringes of white civilization. What COMANCHE MOON reminds us of is that American progress transfigured such strong characters by placing them on "our" fringe and that their actions against our historical movement is the stuff of legend and tragedy. Ironically, Buffalo Hump emerges as the tragic hero of this novel. McMurtry paints him so vividly that by story's end we are more upset over his death, than by his massacre of the citizens of Austin. One clever technique McMurtry uses to pull this off is slightly shifting the point of view during attack scenes: an Indian shoots three arrows into Clara's parents impaling them to the floor of their store (later we learn it was Buffalo Hump); and it's nameless faceless Texans who charge into a Comanche camp killing several women (later we learn it was Call, McCrae, and some soldiers). Other new characters, Harvard scholar-cum Texas Ranger Inish Scull and his "slutty" southern wife Inez work well until they reach levels of excessive absurdity. Particularly disappointing considering McMurtry's gift for developing powerful female characters is Inez, a surprisingly one-dimensional woman who, after uttering an insightful observation to Woodrow Call that cuts to the core of his character, resumes her carefree existence as a frontier dominatrix. Her lack of evolution becomes silly and tedious. Also, tedious was the action in COMANCHE MOON, especially the Rangers' sojourns, which by and large prove uneventful. Perhaps McMurtry is trying to show that the allure of ranger life was just that, more fictional heroism than anything else, which would propel Gus at least to seek fulfillment in a whiskey jug in Lonesome Dove. But what of Call? His blind obedience to the governor's mandates produce little good for the commonwealth he seeks to protect. It has been stated many times that Call's relentless pursuit of outlaws is unmatched, but if you're looking for an example of that quality in COMANCHE MOON, you're bound for a let down. Basically, he and his partner (and Pea Eye, Jake Spoon and Deets) don't do much good in COMANCHE MOON. What's missing is at least one successful mission that would justify the admiration and respect flung at Call and McCrae by virtually every character they encounter in LONESOME DOVE. To claim disappointment over COMANCHE MOON is disappointing, but that's only because the legend of Woodrow and Gus as rangers in their prime McMurtry created in LONESOME DOVE in turn created certain expectations within the reader. What I didn't count on was McMurtry growing tired of the two characters we his fans can't seem to get enough of. So if you're a fan of McMurtry read COMANCHE MOON, but if you're a fan of Gus and Call you already read the book about them -- it was LONESOME DOVE.

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Summary: Gus is back!
Review: I particularly enjoy getting into Gus's mind with respect to his views on life and death. Gus has a way of putting all things into perspctive. It is a simple perspective, but right on target. McMurtry also has a unique gift for keeping all of the charachters in his stories tied together and contributing members to the total story-no matter how small the role. Once again, when you get to the end, you wish there were more adventures to follow with Gus and Woodrow.