The American classic novel

books:


	• Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry Pocket, 1988 - 960 pages average customer review:based on 388 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Review of Lonesome Dove

This is the second best book I have ever read next to "Gone with the Wind." An older guy I worked with knew I read a lot and told me this was his favorite book and recommended it to me. It sounded boring to me because I was not a fan of westerns. What could be so exciting about a cattle drive across the country? This book has lots of action, romance, suspense, sex and violence. The book has a lot of humor and it is also sad at times as well. I have to admit that I was very sad when the book ended because I wanted it to go on and on. The character development in this book is incredible. By the end of the book you have feelings for the characters. You love them, you hate them, sometimes you get mad at them. I loved the character of Gus so well that I am going to name my next dog after him. This is by far McMurtry's best book. "Streets of Laredo" is not a bad book at all but not in the league of "Lonesome Dove." There is a reason why this book won the Pulitzer Prize. It is a masterpiece and well deserving of that honor. If you are not a fan of western books like myself have no fear. You will get over that real quick and become enthralled and captivated by this book. Where else can you rent a pig?

for more information click here

My favorite all time Book!

I recently reread "Lonesome Dove" It was like comming back to an old friend. I read this classic of American literature 20 years ago, and I found it just as enjoyable the second time around. Gus, Woodrow, Jake, Pea eye, Lorena, are all good friends and it was great to spend sometime with them again. If you read only one western in your life it should be "Lonesome Dove."

for more information click here

long trips

It is difficult to find a "review" of Lonesome Dove here- what is posted falls mainly in the catagory of hagiography. In summary it is a good story well told by a master of the craft (writers must be born and not made- if McMurtry was born in 1936 and first published about 1960 he was a successful writer at 24).
Lonesome Dove is affecting because of two qualities- one disingenuous, the other writer's art. The first is the use of the quest format to capture the reader. Humans can't resist the heroic quest. It calls things they believe are best in them: unyielding idealism, selfless courage, willingness to accept change and confront the unknown. Characteristics that are almost never possessed by anyone anyone knows in real life. Here nearly every character is on a quest. The prominent include: moving cattle 2,000 miles for no good reason(when the mover has never moved a cow more than a few miles); reconnecting with a far away regretted lost love to whom the quester remains emotionally faithful; seeking a shinning city that might wash away the stain of past life; a quest in the direction opposite of the original (? a re-quest)to honor the dying "request" of the one person the quester loved. This book appears to try to answer the question: how many quests can one novel support?
The writer's art is found in the characterizations. McMurtry makes the reader care about most and believe in practically all of the characters. They tend to be representative and uni-dimensional but they are deep enough in their personalitites (something accomplished by liberal use of self doubt)to make it convincing. The main characters play off of each other by displaying contrasting but admirable and heroically absolute and consistent attributes (to call Gus McCrae inarticulate suggests someone didn't read the book- he may be the most "articulate" character in modern American fiction). Gus' job is to figure everything out and do nothing. Call's job is to figure nothing out and do everything. When they are fighting Indians however there is an unworldly competence in both. A male match made in heaven (there is a little of the old testament God of retribution vs. the new testament God of forgiveness in their relationship so it seems to have literally been made in heaven) but it is one that could only succeed either there or in the pages of a novel.
There is a lot of death- some of it gratuitous, a good deal involving innocent animals and much directed at sympathetic human characters. There are echos of Cormac McCarthy in it all- contrasting the randomness of the real world with the artifical meaning that defines the existential project of humans. That also seems a little contrived (as it is in McCarthy)- appealing to the emotions while denying it by suggesting something more profound.
One of the grace notes is McMurtry's handling of the emotional differences between the sexes. He seems to have found a real truth in depicting the frustration of women with men (if I were a romantic young man in my twenties I would avoid this book for 20 years or so). What do real women want?- well after a certain age ( probably varying from 25 to 50) mostly to be left alone by foolish men. Men, more romantic, idealistic, puerile, and less pragmatic, just become too much for women to bear after awhile. They may need them in one way or another but they would prefer they didn't.
All in all Lonesome Dove adds up to a rousing story, qualified, especially for women I suspect, by the frequent deaths of major characters. You may find yourself arguing outloud with Call or McCrae or Jake- a sure sign you are hooked. The story works because it uses the mythic American west as the back drop for multiple quests and because those who populate the world enclosed by the covers are people the reader believes, or hopes, could have existed beyond those covers.

for more information click here

The American classic novel

I can't believe that being a reader all my life I just now got around to reading this wonderful novel. I can only add my second to the overwhelming praise this book has received. Undoubtedly, the characters of Call and Gus are some of the most well drawn of any characters I've ever met in fiction. Written in an amazingly unpretentious style, not only are the characters exceptional, but there is plenty of food for thought about life and why we do the things we do and make the choices we make.

Many of the "serious" writers of fiction need to take a lesson from McMurtry. This proves a reader doesn't have to work hard to become greatly affected by good literature. This truly is an American classic.

Forget that it's a western, forget that its about a trail drive. It's a book about the human condition. Read it.

for more information click here

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, page 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

hot

not?

What's your opinion?

Write a review and share your thoughts!

recommendations

Books that I have Read More Than Once!
Steve Dancy's Favorite Western Books
Books You'll Get Attached To
Action Novels
My faves

search for books
lonesome dove, dove, lonesome

Impressum / about us