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Summary: BEST BOOK EVER!!!!!!!
Review: I loved this book. It is the best one i have ever read. McMurty is at his best. I loved the way the characters felt like they were in the room with you. It was funny, heart-wrenching, and adventerous all at the same time. I am only 13 and have already read all of his westerns. READ IT!!!!!!!!!
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Summary: Lonesome Dove is the BEST!
Review: I would have to say that of all the westerns that i have ever read Lonesome Dove made a place in my heart. I love this book with everything i have in me. I have read this book 4 times now and i love it even more everytime i read it. I am here to say READ THIS BOOK!!!! you will LOVE it!
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Summary: A new world is never far from the old one, and yet...
Review: This book really is an epic, but an epic of what ? Maybe an epic of human feelings, an epic of humanity, an epic of the building of a new world by mostly uprooted people from another old and unidentified world, most of the time. The heroes are people who fled from their families, who did not have any family, who do not have clearly cut and declared parents, who fled from a country that they did not like anymore, who fled from the cities of the east or the fledgeling cities of the west, who fled from saloons and card playing, who fled from women, who fled from sheriffs, who fled from the law and law-abiding customs. A new world is born from these materials. But the book is also a lot deeper at another level. It shows how Texas rangers established some peace where they operated. It shows how sheriffs establish some peace where they operate. But it shows that this new world, mostly lawless, is a paradise for all those who want to make a living out of adventure, be they law-abiding and they become the cowboys who can discover new lands and build new life stolen from nature, and also mostly from Indians or Mexicans, or be they outlaws, Indians or whites alike, who only find their pleasure in stealing, killing, trafficking, raping, torturing, hurting, shooting, etc. And yet it is from the constant confrontation of these two kinds of people that a new world can be born. What kind of a new world ? Read the book to have an answer. The book is an epic in the shape of a long journey from south to north with several thousand cattle and several dozen horses. A journey that renders possible any kind of encounters and agressions, of any kind of discoveries of unkown places. But this long journey is punctuated with deaths, killings, assaults and self-defense, solitude in the plains and agoraphobia in the cities, drinking, gambling and whoring around in this nascent world, as old in many of its procedures and processes as any old world on earth. And yet the whole journey is crowned off by the return journey of the leader of the first trip back to the starting point to find out that several problems they had had to deal with have been solved, but also that several people they had left behind had turned sour and maybe just crazy, because leaving is maybe easy for those who leave but it is a lot harder for those who stay behind. Emotions in any one of all the chapters, fear, love, sadness, nostalgia, homesickness, regret, repentance even, when confronted with what they leave behind, what they have not chosen to do, what they encounter that casts death all around, and yet joy, pleasure, exhilaration, enthusiasm even at the novelty of what they discover. Picaresque is the word that best suits this novel, and it is so good that you cannot even rush through it. It is a slow reader and this slowness multiplies the pleasure of it.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
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Summary: A gift to readers. Amazing. Powerful. Funny. Eloquent.
Review: This book is a joy to read. Buy it and get ready for one of the best experiences you'll ever have.
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Summary: This book has it all.....
Review: Generally, I'm a fan of romantic fiction, but I gave this a shot based on a recommendation from a friend. Truly did not regret it. At first I thought it was too long, but once I started I couldn't stop. It sucks you in and makes you feel like you're on that cattle drive. The fate of some of the characters makes you think you've lost someone you actually know.
If you read only one book this year, make it be this one.
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Summary: A Superlative Epic that Needed a Sharp Editor
Review: I have just finished reading the 857 page hardback edition of Lonesome Dove, and I agree with all the reviewers who have assigned it five stars. I do, however, concur with the reader who noted that the novel has a sluggish beginning and an unsatisfactory ending. Even though the story was thoroughly engaging, it was almost as if Mr. McMurtry didn't quite know where to end the tale. I found the ending not quite right in an aesthetic sense. A sharp editor would have been an invaluable asset to this shaggy dog of a novel. Chunks of narrative could have been deleted throughout, and it still would have been one of the most finely crafted Western novels ever written and certainly worthy of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for literature.
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Summary: An American Masterpiece
Review: We're not all delusional--this book deserves 5 stars, if not more. Though it seemed extremely daunting at close to 1000 pages, this was one of the fastest reads I've ever had. I was so engrossed--and I'm not even a big fan of Westerns. I wished the novel were even longer. The characters are what make it. I felt like I knew every one of them. McMurtry makes every one special, every one human. McMurtry's voice is crystal clear, vivid, and full of passion. This epic has no equal.
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Summary: One of the best novels ever written
Review: Cookie-cutter characters, rudimentary story lines, and laughable stereotypes have always dominated tales of the western frontier. Readers always knew good guys from bad, who was going to die, and who would ride off into the sunset with the girl. However, there have been a few exceptions. The novel Lonesome Dove takes a simple straightforward story, a cattle drive from Texas to Montana, and turns that story into a sweeping epic. Lonesome Dove uses superior character development, grand adventure scenes, and a marvelous story to accomplish this.
Character development in Lonesome Dove utilizes the same archetypes most westerns use, but adds enormous depth and realism. Characters seem larger than life, but are not defined entirely by stereotype. Using deceptively simple prose, Larry McMurtry creates people who are deeply affecting. The archetypes of the gambler, the whore, the lawmen, and the cowboy are all present, yet they remain genuine, full of flaws and sorrow, happiness and love. For example, when Woodrow Call, the former Texas Ranger who eventually organizes the cattle drive, is introduced, he is pictured as a prototypical tough cowboy; all work and no nonsense. Through the course of the story, the reason for his harshness is revealed through flashbacks and by the end, when he is faced with a life altering choice, readers understand why he chose his path. Characters like this are what elevate Lonesome Dove above typical western fiction.
Grand adventure scenes abound in Lonesome Dove. From lightning storms that drench the landscape with rain and hail to deadly encounters with grizzly bears and native people, these scenes place the characters in extraordinary situations and truly test their mettle. Even the mundane becomes remarkable. A trip to the market to garner supplies for the remainder of the journey becomes an all out battle with townsfolk over a few misplaced words. These cinematic sequences leap off the page and completely involve the reader in the action
The story in Lonesome Dove is remarkable. Involving over fifty essential characters across nearly the entire western frontier, the story branches everywhere, but still remains cohesive. It starts out as a very simple narrative but quickly becomes an expansive epic that scrutinizes human relationships and human resilience in times of intense hardship. Through this story the author forces the reader to analyze existence and to ask this question: Is life simply about accomplishment, or is it something more? The story is cathartic and emotionally draining, yet exuberant, and the reader finishes hungry for more.
Lonesome Dove is a story draped in western lore and myth. It is always dramatic, humorous, visionary, and exciting. Through remarkably genuine, skillfully rendered characters and exciting adventure scenes, the novel tells its allegorical tale. It is one of the greatest westerns ever written and is a classic of American literature.
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Summary: Must read
Review: A true romance of the old west and of the people that lived through it. Never have I read a book that brought such incredible characters to life like McMurtry has done. You will not be able to put this book down until the end even if you're not into the old west type of books. This is a book that everyone should read.
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Summary: They don't rent pigs....
Review: A true epic masterpiece.
An average of 5 stars in 245 reviews does not tell a lie.
A pig renter would never get a rating like that!
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