Comanche Moon

Rating:
Summary: Mc Murtry's sloppy writing
Review: Comanche Moon is a typical Mc Murtry novel. More or less entertaining but with a totally predictable plot, a disdain for historical facts and some sadomasochism added for seasoning the mediocre tale. As other McMurray books, this novel presents the same improbable white men characters, combined with murderous, ignorant and sadists Indians and the ever present detail of tortures that the author seems to particularly enjoy. Regarding inaccurate historical facts, many have been pointed out in prior reviews; let me add just another one. The Mexican bandit "Ahumado" is described as a Mayan Indian, a race unlikely to be found in the north border of Mexico in the mid 1800's. Mayans happen to live a few thousand miles down south in Yucatan and Guatemala. A slight blunder, but what the heck!, an Indian is an Indian no matter where he comes from!. The most surprising thing, however, is the number of readers that granted four and even five stars to this book. Some of them, they even took the trouble of writing lengthy and professional sounding reviews populated with magnificent words to praise the writing skills of McMurtry. Give me a break! I suppose this people will no hesitate to give an Oscar to Madonna for her acting!

Rating:
Summary: Sub-Par
Review: This book is haunted by being a middle volume. Mr. McMurtry's writing is excellent but the story really goes nowhere. It takes the Lonesome Dove characters and gives them some advevtures for their middle years. Woodrow Call and Augustus McCrae are full fledged Captains now. The time spance of the novel is too long and the stories are too disjointed. Characters are introduced and dropped. An example of this is Captain Scull, who is given much time in the first half of the book ( and is quite interesting in a Theodore Roosevelt sort of way) but is reduced to a caricature in the second half. This book was in dire need of some editting. I liked "Deadman's Walk" and I loved "Lonesome Dove". This book was best summed up by Woodrow Call's las line "It may be over but it wasn't fun".

Rating:
Summary: Reading Par excellence!
Review: I have read all of his epic west books. I laughed to tears, almost cried at the sad moments... the emotions were rampant. At the last page you take the book in your hands, caress it and then say "Wow, that was heady!" Larry fails to disappoint. Rest assured that he delivers first class material.. always. Definitely worth 5 (or more if allowed) stars!

Rating:
Summary: Easy reading
Review: This was the best book I've read by McMurtry, even better than Lonesome Dove.

Rating:
Summary: Excitement in Each Page!
Review: Gus and Call are now adults with experiences and memories both good and bad as they continue their exciting adventures as Texas Rangers determined to make the Texas frontier a safe place for settlers. There are daily challenges that test their strength, endurance, and will. The book takes us through the "highs-and-lows" of their lives and impresses us with how difficult it was to "tame the frontier." Many gripping and sometimes brutal moments.
Evelyn Horan- teacher/counselor/author

Jeannie, A Texas Frontier Girl, Books One - Four

Rating:
Summary: Bridging the gap between Lonesome Dove and Dead Man's Walk
Review: This was the best book in the series besides Lonesome Dove. Maybe because it saw the characters really evolving into what they would become in Lonesome Dove. It might deserve 5 stars, but I wouldn't feel right giving it the same rating as Lonesome Dove, as they are not in the same class.

McMurty has written a great series, but it might be hurt by the fact that the best book by far was the first. In any case, this was a good book and definitely worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Should be made into a film like the others!!
Review: Set between "Dead Man's Walk" & "Lonesome Dove", this one continues the adventures of Gus & Woodrow who are under the command of Captain Inish Scull, a highly decorated Texas Ranger that is a legend among the Comanches, & is pursuing Kicking Wolf, the notorious horse theif, after a series of attacks by the Comanches led by the aging but still powerful Buffalo Hump, Scull's horse is soon stolen by Kicking Wolf, who takes it to Mexico to Admundo, a Mexican Indian chief who loves to torture people in the most gruesome ways, & is un-rivaled in his tortures, even the Comanches fear him, Scull impressed with Kicking Wolf's attempt to go to Mexico, soon pursues him along with Famous Shoes(tracker) on foot, but not before leaving Gus & Woodrow in command & making them Captains before leaving, soon Gus & Woodrow along with Long Bill return to Austin where Gus learns that his true love Clara is about to be married, & Woodrow learns that Maggie, the whore that loves him, is pregnant with his child, we are soon introduced to Madamn Scull(Captain Scull's wife) who is intimidating to everyone around her, even the Governor fears her, & it is clear that Captain Scull would rather die at the hands of indians than return home to her, we are later introduced to Deets, Pea Eye, & Jake Spoon who join Gus & Woodrow in Austin, we also meet Blue Duck as Buffalo Hump's undisciplined teenage son that makes Buffalo Hump question his worthiness, once in Mexico, Kicking Wolf is roped & dragged by Admundo & soon after Scull is captured by Admundo after Famous Shoes abandons Scull at the border, Admundo not only cooks Scull's horse, but begins a series of tortures on Scull that Scull fights vigorously to survive in an attempt to agitate Admundo, who soon wonders if Scull is a witch, In Austin Gus & Woodrow along with the Rangers leave only to return again after Austin is raided by the Comanches, soon Gus & Woodrow are sent by the Governor to rescue Scull which they do, in Mexico in a dangerous setting, elsewhere Blue Duck conspires to kill Buffalo Hump. McMurtry gives these characters much depth & "Comanche Moon" is the only one of his four volume books not adapted to film, David Arquette who played Gus in "Dead Man's Walk" could return here if aged to look like Robert Duvall in "Lonesome Dove" as could Johnny Lee Miller who played Call in "Walk" if aged to look like Tommy Lee Jones in "Dove", Jennifer Garner who played Clara in "Walk" would also have to be aged to look like Angelica Huston in "Dove", Cuba Gooding Jr. could pass for Danny Glover's Deets in "Dove" as could Josh Hartnett as Jake Spoon, played by Robert Urich in "Dove", Scott Glenn would be perfect as Captain Scull, & mexican actor Danny Trejo as Admundo, even the actor who played Buffalo Hump in "Walk" could return here who was very good in "Walk" & Gretchen Mol who played Maggie in "Walk" could also return, whether this one is ever made into a film is anybody's guess, but McMurtry has once again given us a good & realistic story about the old west & does not worry about political correctness in this book, the horrors of the west is evident here, as the Comanches & the Rangers face off in a fierce battle for the Texas land territory, & the treatment of captive women by the Comanches is terrifying as is Admundo's tortures, but this book definately shapes Gus & Woodrow as we know them in "Dove", & is a great read!!!

Rating:
Summary: A great read.
Review: How could Mr. McMurtry improve this book so that it could ever live up to the standards of his novel Lonesome Dove? He just couldn't. That's why I gave this book four stars. Not because it was a lesser novel, just that Lonesome Dove was so great NOTHING could/will ever be able to compete. I loved Comanche Moon. It's so completely gritty and raw, I was on the edge of my seat always with Gus and Call. Mr. McMurtry's description, his talent for the written word will run the gammut of all your emotions in one breath. Oh this book is a deffinite must read. You'll miss out on alot if you don't.

Rating:
Summary: Could have been a lot worse
Review: How many books, where this is is the fourth in a series, retain this much quality? Especially for books that are this long (over 700 pages). After reading the first three, I had been hoping for a book in the series that showed Gus and Call in their prime. While it does have a few themes that I wish Larry McMurtry would not dwell on so much, I was very satisfied with the novel.

The first negative I have is McMurtry's obsession with torture. I'm currently reading a non-fiction book called "Trail of Tears", which tells of the fall of the Cherokee nation. "Trail of Tears" does indeed confirm that violence and torture were indeed big parts of Indian society. And they probably had their share of sadists to took what was common sport to them, and stretched it to extremes. It's just that McMurtry has used this theme a lot of times before, and I wish he had gone in another direction.

And it's not the huge amount of death that takes place here as much as it points to the futility of life that McMurtry portrays. For all the adventure of "Lonesome Dove", we find out in "Streets of Laredo" that the whole cattle operation turns out to be a bust. And in "Streets of Laredo", for all that Call did to protect people in his life, it's later years were spent in virtual poverty. I would have liked to have seen at least once in the series where they do something great that gets proper historical recognition.

That aside, even though the book is 700 pages, one realizes while reading it that once it's done, there will probably be no more Gus and Call. Yes, I've read of the historical innacuracies, and how the timelines of the book are not quite in sync. I'll leave these worries to the pickier of the readers, and concentrate on the chemistry between the characters. McMurtry captured lightening in a bottle when he wrote "Lonesome Dove", and we readers can be greatful he took it to the lengths he did.

In this novel, we get to see how the characters from "Lonesome Dove" got to where they were at the start of "Dove". While the coordination of the stories should have been tighter, it did take a lot of work to tell a story where you basically know who's going to live or die while making it interesting. We get to know where Pea, Deets, and Spoon fit in the mix from the beginning. For this I thank Mr. McMutry, and which there were someway to fit in a fifth story. As this will probably not happen, read this one slowly to enjoy it.

I put this one a close third in the series. Of course, "Lonesome Dove" is first, but I really liked how he portrayed Call as an old man in "Streets of Laredo" I would put this one right behind "Street", with "Dead Men Walking" taking a distance fourth.

I would have liked to have seen at least once in the series

Rating:
Summary: Excellent. McMurty Finishes Series On A High Note
Review: Comanche Moon, the prequel to Pulitzer Prize winning Lonesome Dove, finishes McMurty's Western series on an excellent note. In this, he recovers from "Dead Man's Walk," which I rated a good book, but not on a par with the others in his four book classic of the American West.

Here are Woodrow Call and Agustus McCrae, two Texas Rangers, becoming the personalities they will inhabit in Lonesome Dove (the first book of the series, though the third in time). These two start out as veteran Rangers, having earned their spurs during the hard years portrayed in "Dead Man's Walk."

Adventure and luck make them co-captains of the Rangers. This book starts with their expedition under the ever fascinating Captain Inish Scull. When Scull's wanderlust gets the best of him, he departs his ranger force in the middle of Indian Country, giving field promotions to Call and Gus.

This book focus on wonderful characters: Bufalo Hump, Kicking Wolf and Famous Shoes - two Comanche and a Kickapoo indian; Captain Scull and his ever amorous wife Inez; the women in our protagonists lives - Maggie the kindly prostitute and Carla the only human being able to corral McCrae's practiced insolence; Ahumado, the tortuous Mayan who has raised human suffering to a wicked art form. Also, several of the characters who provide wonderful support in Lonesome Dove arrive: Pea Eye, Deets, Jake Spoon and Blue Duck.

This book ranges over multiple plot lines as the author shifts focus form person to person. McMurty develops the indian characters to a high degree in this book -- they are interesting and sympathetic beings with histories, fears, weaknesses and beliefs -- just like the cowboys and sherrifs who populate the rest of the book.

"Comanche Moon" is an epic tale that never tires or bores. It is wide ranging and covers about twenty years in three major divisionis (or "books" as the author refers to them). Something interesting happens frequently, but there are chapters that develop characters or just take the story a little further with nary an arrow, shot, death or narrow escape (differnt from "Dead Man's Walk," which almost had a serial quality in the relentless action or cliff hanger appearing dutifully at the end of each chapter).

This book excites but also paints a great character sketch of McMutry's West as it exists in his Texas. A great work of literature and a great read.