Lonesome Dove

Rating:
Summary: Huge western epic that shouldn't be missed
Review: Lonesome Dove is a classic western story that should not be missed by anyone who considers themself a fan of westerns. The epic novel tells the story of two former Texas Rangers, Captain Augustus McCrae and Captain Woodrow Call, who now live in a lonely border town called Lonesome Dove on the Rio Grande running the Hat Creek Outfit in the late 1870's. When one of their friends from the past comes to town preaching about the beauty of Montana, Call decides to build a herd and drive them there, hopefully to become the first cattle ranch in the unsettled territory. The novel follows the cattle drive all the way from Texas to Montana. As well, there is a subplot about a Arkansas sheriff that interweaves with the drive. This has always been one of my favorite books. Larry McMurty brings the Old West to life like very few authors are able to. As the Hat Creek Outfit and the herd run into trouble, it feels like the reader is involved. The herd runs into sandstorms, droughts, bandits, blizzards, grasshoppers, lightning storms, and possibly worst of all, Indians. This is a great story that should not be missed.

What makes this epic so special are the characters created by McMurty. Capt. Gus McCrae is a sarcastic, card-playing ladies man while Capt. Woodrow Call is a hard-working, no-nonsense man. The dialogue between the two provides some of the high points in the book. McMurty also creates a ton of supporting characters from Jake Spoon to Josh Deets, Clara Allen to Lorena, July Johnson to Dish Boggett, Newt Dobbs to Blue Duck. McMurty creates a very realistic portrayal of the Wild West. By the end of the novel, characters you have come to love are killed in some of the most moving parts of the story. It is heartbreaking to read some of these parts because you have come to care for these characters so much. Also, if you're a fan of the book, you have to check out the miniseries of the same name. It is one of the few movies that is as good as the book. For a can't miss western epic with great characters, a fantastic story, and plenty of action, check out Larry McMurty's Lonesome Dove!

Rating:
Summary: A must read, even if you are not a fan of Westerns!
Review: Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call, two former Texas Rangers and co-owners of the Hat Creek Cattle Company, are taking care of business in their small town of Lonesome Dove, Texas, when they receive a visit from friend and former Ranger, Jake Spoon. Jake has been north to the far off land of Montana and has returned telling very appealing tales of the beauty of this vast and as yet scarcely populated region. Gus and Call decide they will load up their crew and attempt to be the first ever to drive a herd of cattle to the area. It proves to be a daunting and very dangerous endeavor and along the way they will face incredible hardships: unrelenting heat, Indians, rushing rivers, snakes, violent storms, and grasshoppers as well as the unexpected and devastating deaths of some of the members of their crew.

This is the story of the unique relationship between Augustus and Woodrow, who in many aspects are two very different men but nonetheless close and abiding friends. There are some truly marvelous and colorful characters in the book as well as a great deal of humor. Gus is quite a character and you will find yourself frequently laughing out loud at some of his witty comments and philosophical offerings which are so in contrast to Call's more reticent ways. Look for one especially hilarious five page description of the sign that Gus makes to advertise the Hat Creek Cattle Company, its crew and services. It is uproariously funny!

This a western adventure on a very grand scale and at over eight hundred pages it is quite a lengthy read. But I guarantee you that at the end of the last page you will be wishing for more. It is a superb reading experience!


Rating:
Summary: Incredible
Review: I always loved McMurtry, although I never read his westerns, and I love the miniseries--I watch it every winter. But the book sat on my shelf for 20 years, daunting me by its size. I picked it up recently and I am thrilled that I did. This is truly an excellent book, not simply a genre title. The characters are all well developed, and Gus might be my favorite character in fiction. This is a book that will stay with you a long, long time.

Rating:
Summary: Classic western novel
Review: I had seen and loved the Mini series but never read the book. Now I wonder what I was waiting for! As good as the movie is the book is better (I know, that is usually the case). Though after reading the book I must say the movie is one of the best adaptions of a book I have seen. Back to the book though, Gus and Call are two of my favorite all time western characters, and this book tells such a great belivable story, it is hard to belive it is fiction.

Rating:
Summary: The Physics of the West
Review: I've lately been irritated with myself for not reading faster and more frequently and, almost to set a marathon for myself, I decided to tackle "Lonesome Dove," the Pulitzer Prize-winning, 942 page epic about a cattle drive from Texas to Montana in the years following the Civil War.

I'd read "Streets of Laredo" and "Commanche Moon" but for some reason -- maybe because I'd seen the miniseries -- I'd never read "Dove." But for three weeks, over Christmas and New Year's, I carried the book everywhere. The task undertaken in the novel, and the slow but steady progress of the characters, seemed to reflect my own endeavors.

It's quite a satisfying experience. The great McMurtry takes what could've been a closetful of cliches and turns them on end. Heroine Lorena isn't some Grace Kelly figure but a pragmatic manipulator who's likeable because McMurtry paints her honestly; the same goes for Clara, Jake, Dish, Po, Newt (though, admittedly, he winds up separated from the group a couple times too many) and even Blue Duck.

In terms of iconic characters, Gus and Call are basically the cut-up and the straight man, but they're also remarkably complex and I enjoyed the fact that, although the old Rangers didn't have a name for it then, the cattle drive is basically the result of their mid-life crises.

Ironically, the engine that drives "Dove" is the way the actions of men and women in an underpopulated land affect one another: Jake's actions affect July; July's affect Elmira and, in turn, Roscoe; and, most importantly, Call's decision to move the herd North affects everybody in the story. "I guess in New York there are so many people you don't notice the dying so much," says Clara. "Out here it shows more when people go...."

Of course, characters affect each other in every story but here the reactions are as clearly drawn as falling dominos, particularly in light of the novel's oft-repeated refrain, "Things would've been a lot better if we'd stayed in Texas."

"Dove" doesn't have the jolting brutality and arresting darkness of "Streets" or "Moon" (both of which I thought were great and beautifully downbeat) but it's brilliant and has some excellent moments (the fight between the bull and the bear; Gus' tussle with Blue Duck's thugs; a hanging and, much later, a funeral for one of my favorite characters that moved me more than anything I read all year. "Lonesome Dove" also has the wit and lyricism and episodic brilliance of a true classic.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book
Review: Larry McMurty created a true masterpiece when he wrote Lonesome Dove. This is the best book that I have ever read. From the bar fights over cards to the killing of horse thieves, this novel has every aspect of the old West in it. Detailed descriptions of each character, along with in depth descriptions of the work the do, brings this book alive while you are reading it. As the characters travel throughout the West on their many journeys they start to realize how they are all strangely linked in some unique way. This is how Larry McMurty helps you to understand the entire book, while leaving no questions left unanswered.
Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call are two ex Texas Rangers who have dreams of driving horses and cattle north from Texas all the way to Montana. However, they can't this task alone. They must find willing and capable men to work for them on the drive. The outfit of men must endure many hardships if they are going to reach their goal of Montana with their herd. You must read this great book to find out if they will make it to Montana alive with their entire herd.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: Lonesome Dove is a modern classic. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, the popularity of this book, the acclaim it has received and the cult status it has achieved with readers has tended to overshadow some of Larry McMurtry's other work and the attention to this one book has even become tiresome to the curmudgeonly Texas author. However, as a frequent reader of the prolific writer's fiction, I can attest to the fact that it is McMurtry's finest book and the one that gave readers his most memorable characters - the talkative, colorful Gus McCrae and the taciturn, deliberate Woodrow Call - aging former Texas Rangers who run a down-at-the-heels ranch near the Mexican border that they subsidize with cattle stolen on nocturnal raids across the border. The novel is about an epic cattle drive all the way from southern Texas to Montana. This famous "long drive" was actually a rare occurrence in the historic west as the expansion of the railroad system made long cattle drives unnecessary. While most cowboys who lived in the era of the cattle drives - which were driven by economic necessity in the years following the Civil War when there was a large market for beef in the north than could only be filled by the millions of head of cattle that had been left to breed on Texas pastures during the long years of conflict - went on a drive or two from Texas to Kansas as a rite of passage, a drive from the southern border of the country to its northern extreme would have been truly epic. In Lonesome Dove the drovers experience and overcome rainstorms and stampedes, treacherous crossings of swollen rivers, disloyal comrades, raiding Indians and a deviant, sadistic half-breed killer who stalks the cowboys and their retinue. While the leading characters, cantankerous old comrades, are the center of the story, the secondary figures in the drama are also beautifully written - Newt, Call's young son who is struggling to become a man, Lorena, the tenderhearted and beautiful young "soiled dove" and Jake, the charming former Ranger undone by his appetites. In contrast to some of McMurtry's other works, while death is always an uninvited guest, the drama is also leavened by a good dose of humor, much of it coming from a pair of snake eating Blue Pigs who become the novel's comic relief. And, there are plenty of violent ends as the author does not mind sacrificing his men and women to the needs of the fast-advancing plot and giving his readers an emotional tug. While cowboy work was hot, dirty and low paying work, revisionists forget that there was a romantic beauty to life on horseback, long nights of comradeship and a pride that cowhands took in doing a difficult job well. Larry McMurtry understands the incredible history of the American West and with its desolate beauty, unabashed romanticism and moments of stark terror, Lonesome Dove is an elegy to the waning days of the open range when bold men and strong women tried to settle the Great Plains.



Rating:
Summary: One of the truly great novels
Review: OK you already know the outline. Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call are two aging ex-Texas Rangers who decide to experience one last adventure before they get too old for such things. They gather up a herd of cattle, hire some help, and head for Montana, where they aim to become that state's first cattle ranchers. They start out from their sleepy south Texas town of Lonesome Dove, hence the book's title.

This book is so rich and long, with so many characters and subthemes, that a quick review can't do it justice. One of the earliest clues to the quality of the book came on page 112 (out of 945), with the phrase, "The Hat Creek outfit, seven strong, crossed the river..." At that point I realized that in a span of only 112 pages, McMurtry had established seven diverse and vividly recognizable characters. By that time, almost any sentence uttered by any of those seven people would have been sufficient for me to identify which character said it.

Moreover, within the first ten pages the book had thrown me almost bodily into the South Texas of the 19th century. So not only does the book create characters that seem like real people whom you know personally, it also places the reader temporarily into a different world. For the next 900 pages, I lived with McCrae, Call, and company 24/7, even when I wasn't reading the book.

Almost every person and every event in this long novel is thought-provoking. The book has a wealth of unforgettable people as well as a wealth of unforgettable lessons to teach. One noteworthy theme is that the two most practical and least romantic characters in the book are women (one of them Gus's old sweetheart Clara, the other a farmer woman whom deputy Roscoe encounters in his wanderings). One of the most memorable "characters" is the prairie itself: endless and uncaring, and a bitter challenge to even the bravest and strongest.

But the continuous thread running through the book is the unspoken camaraderie between Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call. The two men love each other with an intensity, loyalty, and depth rarely found between lovers or married couples. Toward the very end, Clara delivers a denunciation of that relationship, and her words are indeed thought-provoking. But I have a hard time believing that Clara was speaking for the author. The two men, and I suspect McMurtry himself, were of the type who believed that there was more to life than the practicalities of establishing a home. They went for the gusto with all their hearts. Regardless of what McMurtry may have written in any sequels, I can't believe that either of them ever regretted it.

Rating:
Summary: Happy Trails
Review: The Amazon reviews of this book range from "Lonesome Dud" to "American Tolstoy". I believe 'ol Leo painted on a somewhat bigger canvas but "Lonesome Dove" is a very enjoyable Western, not a dud at all.

No in media res foolishness for McMurtry, the technique here is to fire up a half-dozen parallel story lines and move from one to another every few pages to keep the reader from losing interest in any one of them (102 chapters). With all of them ending up in Ogallala Nebraska with everybody conveniently widowed at precisely the right moment to seem to ensure a happy ending; but the apogee is still to come at that point and enough loose ends are left to provide for a sequel.

A sequel!?? At 945 paperback pages it's a lot of reading and you have to get through most of it before you're ready to agree that the Pulitzer folks were right in their judgment. But if you have the stamina the story will carry you happily from Lonesome Dove (a flyspeck town in south Texas) on a cattle drive to Montana, with numerous stops, characters and adventures along the way. The Pulitzer was deserved.

Heroic men on horseback, evil drunken murderers fit only for the hanging they eventually get, beautiful compassionate women, Indians good bad and pitiful, whores, card sharps, innocent young cowpokes, the US Cavalry, grizzly bears, bad whiskey, big skies, dangerous rivers; you've got 'em all: Festus, Doc, Kitty, Matt, Roy, Dale, Trigger, Tonto, John Wayne, Gary Cooper and Ronald Reagan. Maybe a little Mel Brooks, too; a bit before Butch Cassidy's time.

The story centers around two Texas Rangers who are past their prime Rangering years. Part of the appeal for any similarly-aged readers is the fact that these men have had their share both of triumphs and life-altering failures with which they have to live the rest of their lives. There are many vignettes throughout that have a very strong odor of "Lord Jim", a haunting feeling I think we all begin to wrestle with when we are no longer children. The characters are very well developed and they become your friends (even the bad ones) as you lope along on horseback in the Old American West.

The reviewer who complains of political correctness is right. There are only two references to the Civil War, no mention of Reb or Yank at all, and Mark Twain is much truer to the race relations of the time. Nonetheless, it's not supposed to be historically accurate: it's supposed to be a great love story set on the frontier, which it is; and a good one. Dr. Zhivago is a closer comparison than War and Peace.

McMurtry paints his pictures beautifully, romantically; both the people and the country, the way Americans like to think of themselves and Gus McCrae is just the man to tell us about it: "... the Indians have had this land forever. To them it's precious because it's old. To us it's exciting because it's new."

"You've had a long ride for nothing, I guess", she said.
"Why, no," he said. "It's happiness to see you."

There's no sadder story than that of a man who lives his whole life without the woman he loves most in the world.

Rating:
Summary: Best Western of all time
Review: This book ranks as #1 on my list of westerns and probably in the top 20 of all time. McMurtry develops a wide range of fascinating characters, and the dialog is awesome, particularly the character of Gus McRae. Don't let the fact that this book won a Pulitzer (Empire Falls? Old Man and the Sea?? ANYTHING by John Updike??? please.....) throw you off. It's a classic for its genre - think 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. Yes, it rates that high.

In all honesty, I probably would not have read this book if it wasn't the first McMurtry book that I read. After reading Lonesome Dove, I went back and read (or at least tried to) everything he had written. Nothing even comes close.