Lonesome Dove/Vol 1 (Vol 1)

Rating:
Summary: Best Western of all time
Review: This book ranks as #1 on my list of westerns and probably in the top 20 of all time. McMurtry develops a wide range of fascinating characters, and the dialog is awesome, particularly the character of Gus McRae. Don't let the fact that this book won a Pulitzer (Empire Falls? Old Man and the Sea?? ANYTHING by John Updike??? please.....) throw you off. It's a classic for its genre - think 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. Yes, it rates that high.

In all honesty, I probably would not have read this book if it wasn't the first McMurtry book that I read. After reading Lonesome Dove, I went back and read (or at least tried to) everything he had written. Nothing even comes close.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible
Review: I always loved McMurtry, although I never read his westerns, and I love the miniseries--I watch it every winter. But the book sat on my shelf for 20 years, daunting me by its size. I picked it up recently and I am thrilled that I did. This is truly an excellent book, not simply a genre title. The characters are all well developed, and Gus might be my favorite character in fiction. This is a book that will stay with you a long, long time.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: This is one of my favorite books with one of my all-time favorite characters in Gus.

Even if you think you don't like Westerns you should give this one a try, there's something in it for everyone.

Rating:
Summary: Stick with it till the cows start moving!
Review: This is hands down one of my favorite books. It's slow to start, but if you hang in there until they start moving the cows north you'll be hooked. Great characters, great multiple plots. I've read this one probably five times in the last ten years - and plan to reread it again and again.

Rating:
Summary: Classic western novel
Review: I had seen and loved the Mini series but never read the book. Now I wonder what I was waiting for! As good as the movie is the book is better (I know, that is usually the case). Though after reading the book I must say the movie is one of the best adaptions of a book I have seen. Back to the book though, Gus and Call are two of my favorite all time western characters, and this book tells such a great belivable story, it is hard to belive it is fiction.

Rating:
Summary: A must read, even if you are not a fan of Westerns!
Review: Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call, two former Texas Rangers and co-owners of the Hat Creek Cattle Company, are taking care of business in their small town of Lonesome Dove, Texas, when they receive a visit from friend and former Ranger, Jake Spoon. Jake has been north to the far off land of Montana and has returned telling very appealing tales of the beauty of this vast and as yet scarcely populated region. Gus and Call decide they will load up their crew and attempt to be the first ever to drive a herd of cattle to the area. It proves to be a daunting and very dangerous endeavor and along the way they will face incredible hardships: unrelenting heat, Indians, rushing rivers, snakes, violent storms, and grasshoppers as well as the unexpected and devastating deaths of some of the members of their crew.

This is the story of the unique relationship between Augustus and Woodrow, who in many aspects are two very different men but nonetheless close and abiding friends. There are some truly marvelous and colorful characters in the book as well as a great deal of humor. Gus is quite a character and you will find yourself frequently laughing out loud at some of his witty comments and philosophical offerings which are so in contrast to Call's more reticent ways. Look for one especially hilarious five page description of the sign that Gus makes to advertise the Hat Creek Cattle Company, its crew and services. It is uproariously funny!

This a western adventure on a very grand scale and at over eight hundred pages it is quite a lengthy read. But I guarantee you that at the end of the last page you will be wishing for more. It is a superb reading experience!


Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: Lonesome Dove is a modern classic. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, the popularity of this book, the acclaim it has received and the cult status it has achieved with readers has tended to overshadow some of Larry McMurtry's other work and the attention to this one book has even become tiresome to the curmudgeonly Texas author. However, as a frequent reader of the prolific writer's fiction, I can attest to the fact that it is McMurtry's finest book and the one that gave readers his most memorable characters - the talkative, colorful Gus McCrae and the taciturn, deliberate Woodrow Call - aging former Texas Rangers who run a down-at-the-heels ranch near the Mexican border that they subsidize with cattle stolen on nocturnal raids across the border. The novel is about an epic cattle drive all the way from southern Texas to Montana. This famous "long drive" was actually a rare occurrence in the historic west as the expansion of the railroad system made long cattle drives unnecessary. While most cowboys who lived in the era of the cattle drives - which were driven by economic necessity in the years following the Civil War when there was a large market for beef in the north than could only be filled by the millions of head of cattle that had been left to breed on Texas pastures during the long years of conflict - went on a drive or two from Texas to Kansas as a rite of passage, a drive from the southern border of the country to its northern extreme would have been truly epic. In Lonesome Dove the drovers experience and overcome rainstorms and stampedes, treacherous crossings of swollen rivers, disloyal comrades, raiding Indians and a deviant, sadistic half-breed killer who stalks the cowboys and their retinue. While the leading characters, cantankerous old comrades, are the center of the story, the secondary figures in the drama are also beautifully written - Newt, Call's young son who is struggling to become a man, Lorena, the tenderhearted and beautiful young "soiled dove" and Jake, the charming former Ranger undone by his appetites. In contrast to some of McMurtry's other works, while death is always an uninvited guest, the drama is also leavened by a good dose of humor, much of it coming from a pair of snake eating Blue Pigs who become the novel's comic relief. And, there are plenty of violent ends as the author does not mind sacrificing his men and women to the needs of the fast-advancing plot and giving his readers an emotional tug. While cowboy work was hot, dirty and low paying work, revisionists forget that there was a romantic beauty to life on horseback, long nights of comradeship and a pride that cowhands took in doing a difficult job well. Larry McMurtry understands the incredible history of the American West and with its desolate beauty, unabashed romanticism and moments of stark terror, Lonesome Dove is an elegy to the waning days of the open range when bold men and strong women tried to settle the Great Plains.



Rating:
Summary: Huge western epic that shouldn't be missed
Review: Lonesome Dove is a classic western story that should not be missed by anyone who considers themself a fan of westerns. The epic novel tells the story of two former Texas Rangers, Captain Augustus McCrae and Captain Woodrow Call, who now live in a lonely border town called Lonesome Dove on the Rio Grande running the Hat Creek Outfit in the late 1870's. When one of their friends from the past comes to town preaching about the beauty of Montana, Call decides to build a herd and drive them there, hopefully to become the first cattle ranch in the unsettled territory. The novel follows the cattle drive all the way from Texas to Montana. As well, there is a subplot about a Arkansas sheriff that interweaves with the drive. This has always been one of my favorite books. Larry McMurty brings the Old West to life like very few authors are able to. As the Hat Creek Outfit and the herd run into trouble, it feels like the reader is involved. The herd runs into sandstorms, droughts, bandits, blizzards, grasshoppers, lightning storms, and possibly worst of all, Indians. This is a great story that should not be missed.

What makes this epic so special are the characters created by McMurty. Capt. Gus McCrae is a sarcastic, card-playing ladies man while Capt. Woodrow Call is a hard-working, no-nonsense man. The dialogue between the two provides some of the high points in the book. McMurty also creates a ton of supporting characters from Jake Spoon to Josh Deets, Clara Allen to Lorena, July Johnson to Dish Boggett, Newt Dobbs to Blue Duck. McMurty creates a very realistic portrayal of the Wild West. By the end of the novel, characters you have come to love are killed in some of the most moving parts of the story. It is heartbreaking to read some of these parts because you have come to care for these characters so much. Also, if you're a fan of the book, you have to check out the miniseries of the same name. It is one of the few movies that is as good as the book. For a can't miss western epic with great characters, a fantastic story, and plenty of action, check out Larry McMurty's Lonesome Dove!