Rating: 
Summary: Loathsome Dove - NO WAY!
Review: You cannot really compare Lonesome Dove to Tolstoy or any other non-American writer. The book is meant to relate the American frontier experience. It is primarily populated with characters having little formal education. The writing may seem "bland", but it is meant to resemble the education of the people in the story. There is no real formal government in this area, such as existed in Europe at this time. It is a land where vigilantes make their own rules and many people do not obey the rules at all. In some ways, it is much more simple than the rest of the "civilized" world and in other ways it is much more complicated. McMurtry writes from the perspective of the frontiersmen, in order to take us into that world with him. Most frontiersmen were not great talkers, but this does not mean that they were dull or half-witted. They were plain spoken people who usually kept their innermost feelings hidden. The frontier was a hostile place and deep-rooted sentiments were often seen as a weakness that could be exploited. You must read into the lines and find a deeper meaning in what is not said than in what is said. "The Last of the Mohicans," and other great novels of an earlier American frontier deal with these same issues.I feel that Lonesome Dove does an outstanding job of telling the story of those who cannot afford to feel, but sometimes cannot help it. Others think so as well, or it would not have won a Pulitzer Prize.
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Summary: How can someone NOT like this book?
Review: I admit it; I loved this book. It is my favorite of all the Larry McMurtry books, and let's face it, he has written some great books. Woodrow Call and Augustus McCrae are indelibly etched upon my mind for eternity. Call is among the most complex characters ever drawn, although it takes some amount of perserverance to learn that. I was amused that he found little use for women, and he didn't understand why men found them so difficult to resist. I loved McMurtry's description of him; he seemed like the kind of person one could count on, no matter what. He is steady, strong, silent ... a true man's man, I think. McCrae is the exact opposite of Call. He is loud, at times obnoxious, can't find a reason NOT to have a woman around, and also completely loveable. I enjoyed his almost constant chatter and his "learned man" attitude towards absolutely everything. I laughed myself to tears reading about Gus's sign. His loyalty is evident, particularly to his two pigs. I thought him a most interesting character. Add in Lorena, Newt, Deets, Pea Eye, the other cowboys, and Jake Spoon, and you have a heck of a story. There is no other western I've ever read that can compare to this, whether fiction or non-fiction. I highly recommend it, particularly if you are like I am, and enjoy a good Texas yarn now and again!
Rating:
Summary: Exceptional Book
Review: I particularly like the hardcover editon. The print is large, and the pages are rough-cut. This book is huge, the plot - epic. It really is the best Western I've ever read. I think the fact that it won the Pulitzer, speaks for itself. Highly entertaining -- Gus McCrae is almost a sort of Guru. He make be lazy, but he knows how to make the most out of life...
Rating:
Summary: A Tale of the Real West
Review: I would want to take this book with me if I were stranded on a deserted island. This book is gusty, bawdy, exciting, romantic and sometimes outright hilarious. I felt I was right there in the middle of the dust storms, cattle drives, saloons and prairies and I fell in love with the main characters. This is a book that I felt sad when it ended.
Rating: 
Summary: Loathsome dove
Review: People say this is a fantastic book but I couldn 't be more disappointed ! What attracted me in the first place , besides the rant reviews , was reading the excerpt , the delicious first page : the arid place , the blue pigs ... but that was the only page I liked . The characters are poorly drawn , there is no magic , no wit , no humor , no poetry , and it 's not even "the-sometimes-juicy-cheap-western-cliché " . There is a lot of violence , the plot is commonplace and dull , the writing is bland ! If you read other Pulitzer prize recipients such as Annie Proulx 's " The Shipping News " you 'll find great writing , magic , poetry . It 's mesmerizing , it teases you , it's sometimes witty , it challenges and astonishes the reader at times . Not Lonesome Dove . I should have known : the title alone sounds bad to me ... I do though , recommend other great writers : Gabriel Garcia Marquez and his magic ( Love in the Time of Cholera ) , Jhumpa Lahiri 's " Interpreter of Maladies " , Toni Morrison 's " Beloved " ( a lousy movie but great book ) , Carl Hiaasen 's sick wit ( Tourist Season ) , Noah Gordon 's " The Physician " , Amy Tan 's " The Joy Luck Club " , the wonderful-outstanding-precious " The Milagro Beanfield War " by John Nichols . Now ... comparing Larry Mc Murty to Tolstoy ? Excuse ME !
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Summary: Derek,s Review of Lonesome Dove
Review: Lonesome Dove is a great Western Book. It makes you think you are expierencing the west as it was. It introduces many great characters that are so unique in there own way. I love watching western moivies and this is as good as any western moivie I have ever seen. The book has all the things that make up the typical west setting. It has cowboys and cattle drives, It had towns and women, It has romance and broken hearts. But the best of all it has gun fights and indian fights. I recommend thios book if you like the western setting.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: A wonderful western thriller. This book caught your attention and keep it through out the whole book. This western based story was about two famous Texas Rangers and there life. It started out in the town of Lonesome Dove. The law men Call and Gus deciede to take a herd of cattle to Montana and see the last unsettled land in the United States. This book is action packed and has many very good points. If you start it it will be one of the best books you have read. I know it was for me
Rating:
Summary: Lonesome Dove
Review: Exilerating! wonderfully written. Lonesome Dove posseses all the pasion and hope exibited in life. The charactors seemed to come alive as I read. Larry McMurtry was able to take us to their world where we could feel their happiness and their pain. Eventhough the book was over 900 pages long and fell into the western genre it was inthrawling. Many times throughout the book I was unable to put it down. Larry McMurtry wrote this book in a way real to life.
Rating: 
Summary: The Best
Review: Lonesome Dove was a very good book. It was a very discriptive use of words in the story. I think that Lonesome Dove is a book that first when you start to read it you can't stop. It was very discriptive in the part where they were tarring out the guy. He was very good with his choice of words. McMurtry's introduction of charactors was very good. He did not introduce a charator and write about him and then after a while drop them like a rock. He would write and then he would send them somewhere but he would always bring them back in a very good way. Not just have them drop in from no where. A good example of this would be Jake Spoon. McMurtry would write about him then he would bring him into the story. McMurtry would write things about the charators and use discriptive words. He would make you feel anger towards them or you would feel sorry towards them. Its just a good book I suggest that you read it.
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Summary: My Reveiw of a Great Book
Review: This is a really well written novel of the western genre. Not only did you get to know the characters, but you also got to be the characters through McMurtry's simple yet profound discriptions. When Lorie is taken away by Blue Duck, you feel her pain after riding endlessly for hours and also her humiliation after wetting her self in front the psycotic man. Then when Jake Spoon offers to kick his own horse, you begin to have an overwelming sorrow towards Jake and his friends.
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