Rating: 
Summary: Epic
Review: This really was a captivating book. It has everything: action, romance, adventure, friendship, beauty. The characters are wonderfully drawn and the story moves at a very swift pace. You will fall in love with these memorable personalities and this riveting tale. A must read. I only wish I could read it again for the first time. The great news is, once you are finished reading the book, you can watch the made for TV mini-series movie, one of the best adaptions I have ever seen. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Deserves Six Stars!
Review: Without a doubt in my mind this is the best book I have ever read! Five stars does not give justice to Larry McMurtry's epic classic. Now that I have finished reading it, I am left wanting more. In fact, it makes me want to start over and begin again. It would seem that with over 900 pages he would have said everything that needed to be expressed, but instead leaves the reader demanding more. It is written with such passion, and meticulous detail, it truly left me awe-struck. Wonderfully rich and vibrant characters which will jump from the page into your mind's eye. From now on this is the book that all others will be measured by. This one will be the one I tell everyone to pick up and enjoy. Such a marvelous adventure, my heart is still racing. I loved this book!
Rating:
Summary: A story to treasure
Review: "The older the violin, the sweeter the music," says Augustus McCrae, one of the most captivating characters in this magnificent book. "Lonesome Dove" is the kind of story that makes the reader want to race through it to experience the next adventure. But the writing is so precise and elegent that one wants also to read it at a slower pace, enjoying every word. If you hesitate to pick this book up because of its classification as a Western, do not let that dissuade you. It is simply a captivating account of a great American journey, with some of the most memorable characters and adventures literature has to offer. It allows the 21st century American rich access into all of the excitement, uncertainty, and loneliness experienced by some of the first settlers in the West and the Plains.
Rating:
Summary: I have never been so touched before...
Review: I first saw the T.V. miniseries on CBS as a fairly young child, and I fell in love then. Later, when I was 18, I read the book for the first time and fell even deeper in love. This is the best book out there even to those who don't usually enjoy westerns. I can honestly say that after reading almost 1000 pages, I still wasn't ready for it to end. It could go on for another thousand and still please me. But, all good things must come to an end. Read this. It will stay with you a very long time.
Rating:
Summary: The Great Western Epic
Review: The first time I read this novel I was in the middle of taking standardized tests in junior high. I found the tests quite boring, but fortunately I had this excellent book with me. Instead of actually taking the standized test, I quickly filled in each section with a straight line of "C" and got along with my reading. When the results came back, my score rated my intellegence only slightly higher than a monkey. Since then I have re-read the novel and I find it as compelling as I did in my youth. McMurtry has tremendous skill in creating characters that blend rough charisma with insightful wit. They are in constant peril, tested by the land, Indians and their will to survive. The scope of characters is large, but McMurtry develops many so that seem as real and compelling as a long time friend. His greatest gift, though, is his ability to tell a story. He carries you with Gus, Call and the other cowboys through the untamed western landscape in an epic story of friendship, honor, romance, the American Dream and the hardships of a bygone era. It has so many intricate twits, moments of delight and sorrow that I would consider it a crime if I did not take an opportunity to read it again.
Rating:
Summary: The Great American Novel
Review: Quite simply, this is the best book ever written. I read this book originally 3 years ago and have re-read it at least once a year since then. I laughed aloud at the musings of Gus and cried as many of the characters faced difficult circumstances. The story is deceptively simple: a crew of cowboys led by two ex-Texas Rangers lead a cattle herd from Texas to Montana. Other sub-plots abound, all of which could stand alone as a single book. Yet everything is combined in such as way as to present a coherent story of human struggle and triumph. I work for a Japanese company and one Japanese expatriate asked me to recommend a book I felt represented "America". I suggested this novel. He was mesmerized and said that after reading this book, he felt that he understood the history of this country and the character of the people. The development of the characters is unparalled in literature. Gus and Call, the two ex-Rangers are brought to life so vividly that you actually feel that you have spoken with them. Gus especially is wonderful. If I had to pick my favorite character in all of literature, it would be him. The sequels and prequels are also equally good. I keep hoping that the author will write another as these characters deserve to be kept alive. If you have not yet read this book, I envy you because of the experience that you will get by reading it for the first time.
Rating:
Summary: A Stunning One Hit Wonder
Review: After watching the mini-series (probably the best television EVER), I picked up a copy of the book. I admit, it took me a long time to get into the story, as the beginning is very long. But once I did, I was mesmerized, reading most of the 945 pages in one day. If you are a fan of the American West, this book will floor you! I highly recommend it! However, I would try this McMurtry book first. I've made attempts at his other pieces, but found them flat and boring.
Rating:
Summary: An epic portrayal of the American West.
Review: Alot can be said in 843 pages of text. Fortunately for English students everywhere this isn't 843 pages of The Great Gatsby or The Scarlet Letter. Lonesome Dove is 843 pages of gun slinging, whiskey drinking, bar brawling, hair scalping, whore chasing, bandit hanging, western action. Though the book does contains a great amount of action, suspense and violence to keep the reader compelled to read on, it has other elements that make it a great novel as well. In most novels characters are painted by merely describing what they look like and how they talk funny. Lonesome Dove is not like most novels however, McMurtry actually describes each character in immense detail, by telling the reader what it is that they are thinking or even what their philosophy on life is. McMurtry describes characters in such detail that the reader feels as if they were living inside that characters mind. The reader feels along with the character, be it being scared to death of a giant Indian that haunts your sleep or envisioning an enormouse horde of grasshoppers surrounding everything you see, only to be thinking of what Call will do to you after he finds out how you have failed him. By letting the reader experience everything first hand, Lonesome Dove transforms a boring book on the American West into an exciting book that becomes hard to put down, even if for 843 pages. While abundant in Lonesome Dove, death is not something without an effect on the reader. Almost every death in the book is either ironic or unexpected, and gives the reader a monumental sense of loss as though they are one of the Hat Creek Outfit losing a good friend.In fact great men are often killed by young boys in a matter of irony. Elements of nature that don't even pop into one's mind as even being considered as a servant of death kill men and strike fear into others. By giving the reader this great attachment with characters, McMurtry makes death an emotional struggle for the reader. In some books a character will die and it has no effect whatsoever on the reader at all. In Lonesome Dove on the other hand, a death makes the reader want to read on to see that the Hatcreek Outfit kills him to seek revenge for this character, or to even cheer at an "evil" character's death. Lonesome Dove is filled with detailed descriptions of dynamic characters, beautiful surrounding terrain and tense situations of character's struggles to survive the West. McMurtry wrote this book to re-enlighten the idea of the American West in the minds of readers, and he succeeded in doing just that and then some. While some of the content, such as the torture of men by Indians and certain situations involving prostitution may not be the content that some people may look for in a book, I highly recommened this to anyone willing to read through the 843 pages.
Rating: 
Summary: Longwinded Lonesome Dove Lacks Story
Review: This book takes more than 100 pages to begin - that's where I gave up. McMurtry spends excessive effort in character building, to the exclusion of plot development, yet the characters still seemed rather two dimensional. A long western, winner of the prestigious Pulitzer prize, this book gave false hope of a several days' immersion in good read. Quite a disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: One of the great "serious" entertainments
Review: Lonesome Dove is that rare thing, a serious novel that is, inall its parts, fabuloulsy entertaining. Larry McMurtry sets himselfthe seemingly impossible task of summing up the entire western genre in one book, and succeeds brilliantly. This novel has every stock western character and plot device: cattle drives, rattlesnakes, Mexican bandits, Texas Rangers, renegade Indians, gamblers, whores (with hearts of gold), riverboat men, wagon trains, sod busters, gun fights, fist fights, hangin', burnin' and much, much more. The book is brilliantly written with both humor and intelligence, causing the reader to care deeply about the fate of the main characters even while laughing out loud at the dialogue. This is the masterpiece of McMurtry's long and distinguished career. No one, not even him, is going to top this as the ultimate western. For those who haven't read it, I can't recommend it highly enough.
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