Lonesome Dove/Vol 1 (Vol 1)

Rating:
Summary: Lonesome Dove- GREAT
Review: The movie was perfect (except for the Hallmark version that cut 2 hours out) but the book is even better. It'll make you laugh and tug a tear out of ya!

Rating:
Summary: TIMELESS, EPIC, GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL
Review: I first read Lonesome Dove in 1986; at the end, I cried so hard, I was literally sick with grief. When Lorena is mourning Gus, and talks about how everyone else will go on with their lives and forget him, but that she will remember him every time the sun rises and sets, my heart just breaks. Since then I have re-read the novel many times, always with exactly the same amount of awe and enjoyment. When I heard that Robert Duval was to be Gus in the miniseries, and Tommy Lee Jones Cap'n Call, I thought them miscast; but to my great surprise, they both turned out exquisite performances. The miniseries is one of my favorite movies of all times, and I've watched it half a dozen times. Timeless themes of friendship, loyalty, courage, duty and the sense of adventure that built this country permeate this novel, which to me is true perfection.

Rating:
Summary: Best Book Ever!
Review: This is THE great american novel, it has everything anyone could want in a book. I didn't want the book to end! As a matter of fact that was the only thing disappointing about the book, it ended. A definite must read!

Rating:
Summary: one of the best novels ever.
Review: A friend recommended Lonesome Dove to me about 10 years ago. It took me 2 tries before I got into it, the beginning was slow, but once the cattle drive got going I could hardly bear to put the book down. The characters are so believable and loveable and even despicable. The adventure and emotions are non-stop. Gus is my favorite literary character ever, I cried inconsolably and thought my heart would break at the end of the book when he said "It's been quite a party"-what a guy! This book has my highest recommendation, second only to The Grapes of Wrath.

Rating:
Summary: BEST OF THE WEST
Review: The Western in the latter part of the twentieth century has become almost a forgotten form. True there's been an ongoing pulp tradition in genre fiction reflecting the shoot-em ups of old, cowboys & Indians, and the like, but the days of the big screen Westerns out of Hollywood, the Western tv series on the little screen, the days when the Western informed our American mythos, have seemed to slip inexorably behind us. Until Larry McMurtry gave us LONESOME DOVE, that is. With this one big historical novel, McMurtry merged the Westerns of old again with serious literature, both historical and mainstream. Here is the story of two aging Texas rangers in the days when the frontiers of Texas are fading fast before the onslaught of civilization, caught, as in a time warp, in the sleepy border town of Lonesome Dove. They are bored, aimless men, drinking too much or working too much or just plain remembering (and trying to forget) too much. Augustus MacCrae, the drinker cum gambler cum whore-crazy old adventurer and his lifelong friend, ranger captain Woodrow Call, a man who drives himself and others too hard by half, jointly run a shoe-string ranching operation just outside of the little border town and both have gotten themselves into something of a rut. For Call the ranch and its horses are pretty much everything. For MacCrae they are barely anything at all. But the two friends stay together like old lovers for want of anywhere else to go or anything else to do. Until Call gets it into his head to make their fortunes by a big cattle drive up to the newly opened coutry of Montana. There things are still wild, he has heard, and the country still wide enough and empty enough for the taking. Room enough for two old adventurers who have had trouble adjusting to the world in Texas which their tough rangering over the years has brought an unforeseen and, perhaps, unwelcome peace. For, in fact, these men miss the old days, as folks do when they are getting on and have seen their best years fall behind them. And so to reclaim what they have lost, these two, or Call, more precisely, with Gus MaCrae tagging along, engineer one last cattle drive to the new country in the north. And thus begins an epic trek, equal to any of the great tales of the past, in which these two gauntly heroic figures and their motley crew of hangers-on undertake to reclaim the glorious past and to make a place for themselves in the uncertain future. This is a tale of heroic anti-heroes certainly, for Gus is a likeable enough cad who loves adventuring more than the people his life touches and Call is a man who is tragically out of touch with himself and those around him. Both have done terrible harm to the people, and especially the women, whose paths have crossed theirs over the years. And yet, these men are giant figures, men who stride purposefully over those obstacles which chance and the ill-will of others may throw in their way. The "road" north is fraught with sudden, senseless violence, with clumsy judgements and human treachery and yet neither Call nor Gus flinch from what they find, imposing their own harsh, if fair, sense of justice on a wild and lawless land. This is an American odyssey, a tale of searching and finding and losing, writ large against the landscape of the vanishing American west, a fitting epic to celebrate the strengths and tragic flaws which inform the American character no less than the spirit which defines our very humanity. It is a tale intended to shatter mythic stereotypes and yet one which succeeds in making them fresh and real again. It is a tale of pain and hardship and lost men and women who yet struggle valiantly to find and save themselves in a harsh world not of their own making. It is a uniquely American tale and a western in the grandest tradition. McMurtry deserves the accolades he has received for this book.

Rating:
Summary: A Truly Perfect American Novel
Review: This brilliantly written book captures your mind and heart and imagination with sweeping vistas and deeply crafted characters. Blue Duck, in my opinion, is one of the most horrific villans ever created. I loved this book and was disappointed when I turned the last page. I would definitely recommend this one to anyone who loves to pick up a novel and be lost in another world for hours on end.

Rating:
Summary: The most phenominal novel ever written!
Review: A wonderful depiction of life, taking the good with the bad. The characters are to fall in love with.

Rating:
Summary: No doubt one of the finest novels ever written............
Review: No doubt one of the finest novels ever written, Lonesome Dove is great reading in every sense. I was hooked from the beginning. This is the kind of novel that causes the reader to become involved with the characters in such a way that they seem real. Fine heros, terrible outlaws, this book has plenty of both and not to be overlooked is the tenderness of the story. The audio version of Lonesome Dove, as read by Lee Horseley , has to be one of the best ever. I have read and listened to this book and strongly recommend both versions.

Rating:
Summary: Lonesome Dove was based on 1968 movie Bandolero
Review: The Book Lonesome Dove was based on the 1968 movie Bandolero. The screewriter for Bandolero was McMurtry writing as James Lee Barrett. If you doubt me, read the book, watch the movie and note the characters named Dee Bishop, July Johnson and Roscoe Bookbinder (in both the movie and the book).

Rating:
Summary: This book was based on 1968 movie Bandolero
Review: The Book Lonesome Dove was based on the 1968 movie Bandolero. The screewriter for Bandolero was McMurtry writing as James Lee Barrett. If you doubt me, read the book, watch the movie and not the characters named Dee Bishop, July Johnson and Roscoe Bookbinder (in both the movie and the book).