Author: Larry McMurtry, narrated by Will Patton
Year published: 1985
Category: Adult fiction (historical)
Pages: 864 pages
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Location: (my 2025 Google Reading map): USA (TX, AR, OK, KS, NE, WY, MT, CO, NM)
Summary: Journey to the dusty little town of Lonesome Dove, where retired Texas Rangers Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call undertake a perilous cattle drive to the untamed plains of Montana. Along the way, they face danger, adventure, and an unforgettable cast of characters. Richly authentic and beautifully written, Lonesome Dove is a story of love, loss, and the unyielding spirit of the American West.
Review: I saw this on so many book blogs last year (all of them raving about it), so I decided I wanted to read it. But I needed motivation since it's so long. At the end of January, I had a dinner party with two friends, and we got talking about books. I floated the idea of doing a read-along, and they agreed. We agreed to read/listen to 3 chapters a week, so the 102 chapters were going to take us just over seven months! Within the first few days of listening, we had all gone past the first 3 chapters, and I ended up finishing it in two weeks.
McMurtry sure can create a scene! I felt like I was living in the house in Texas, on the ride to Montana, and trying to cross the rivers and various landscapes. His characters come alive through a third-person perspective, giving us insight into each character's thoughts and actions. The excellent narration by Will Patton surely added to my positive experience. His voice set the scene and brought the many characters to life.
Though it is occasionally long-winded, I like the characters (especially Gus), the descriptions of the role of women and how they were viewed, the use of guns (now I see the obsession with guns in the US comes from; it is in our frontier DNA), and life on the western frontier. At the halfway point, the story gets brutal for various reasons, and that was tough listening.
Actually, Gus deserves more time than just a passing mention. Despite the fact that he shoots a ton of people, I love his wisdom, his caring, his insightfulness, and his ability to understand both the young and old men in his "care." I especially like his attention to Lorena. Like most of the men, he pays her for sex, but he goes beyond that when she needs him. He literally rescues her, nurtures her, cares for her, and understands when he needs to back off and just support her.
This novel has it all: travel, violence and death (oh and some of those deaths hit me hard!), animals and people, rough weather, and icky bugs/reptiles, love, lust, and friendship. And, as a bonus for me the geography-lover, lots of states are covered, talked about, and described.
Challenges for which this counts:
- Cover Lover--An animal that is often ridden by humans (horses)
- Literary Escapes--Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, and New Mexico
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