I'm like Newt ( )

His best book by far ( )

Absolutely incredible. As always westerns have a very simple plot, it's the characters and their movement through it that makes the story, and I'll be damned if this isn't one of the greatest ever told. Two old ex Texas rangers, in 1880, with a poverty ridden cattle ranch in Lonesome Dove near the Rio Grande decide to go thousands of miles north to Montana, with a bunch of cattle stolen from the mexicans and their companions and workers of their ranch, convinced by another ex Texas ranger Jake Spoon. Through that journey a lot of characters get introduce. The book decamps from the main plot to bring in even more people. a lot of them important, as the main characters stumble upon them. Woodrow Call and Gus Mcrae, the core of the book, are a great potrait of male friendship, their chemistry is magnetic. The main crew goes through grief, guilt, shame, loss, unrequited love, longing, death, coming of age, just everything. A lot of the characters could have their own book, it's that deep. The book is funny, moving, entertaining as hell, and half way through it gets so real and brutal you can't believe it. There's even a grizzly bear fighting a bull. Just read it!!!

There is a theme going on, I think. Everytime a character has an opportunity to stay somewhere where they're gonna be comfortable, or well enough, and they don't, they end up suffering injury or death. Like when Roscoe is being persuaded by a lonely woman to stay with her, he doesn't and goes looking for July he ends up killed by Blue Duck, or the little girl that follows him, she could have stayed with some woman in some town, but follows Roscoe and Blue Duck gets her aswell.
When Elmira is weak and sick she decides to leave town and not come back to hers, so July can't go look for her, she dies off-camera to some Indians.
Lorena is kidnapped by Blue Duck and gets raped and battered, and she could've stayed with Xavier in Lonesome Dove
When Lorena tells Jake Spoon to stay with her and not go gambling, he doesn't and ends up hunged.
When the main crew reaches Clara, in Nebraska, she offers them to stay there and they refuse. Deets and Gus die.
Pea Eye gets into horrible hardship going scouting with Gus.
When Call is offered by Clara to bury Gus there and he keeps going to Texas, he gets injured.
But when July Johnson decides to stay instead of looking for her wife, he lives. Or Dish Boggett, he comes back to Nebraska and stays trying to get Lorena. Lorena herself stops at Nebraska and finally has some peace and a welcoming family. Bolivar comes back halfway through and lives aswell.

Is McMurtry trying to tell us not to lengthen our destinies too far? ( )

What a phenomenal read, enormous and brilliant, witty and heartbreaking, a mamoth tale that touches the reader's emotions on so many levels. This is a book that honestly did not appeal to me in the slightest but 100 pages in I was hooked, invested, facinated and brought back in time to the Wild West of the 1870s and the adventures of a bunch of unforgettable and unique characters. I can definatley see why this is a Pulitzer Prize Winner.

The story focuses on a the relationship amount a bunch of Texas Rangers and takes the reader on an epic cattle drive from The Rio Grande to the highlands of Montana in the closing years of the Wild West days, A triumphant portrayal of the American West as it really was.

I came across this book on a " What Should I read next" Podcast by Anne Bogel, It was reviewed on several of her shows as one of those books you just have to read. When I realised that the novel was close to 850 pages and was a Western I put it on the top shelf and decided it could not possibly be worth the time and commitment. However January can be a long month and when my husband was looking for a good book to read and something that would hold his interest I reached for Lomesome Dove and we decided it was to become our January reading challenge and what a remarkable surprise this book turned out to be for both of us.
Western Novels are totally out of my confort zone however I do like a challenge and this book reminded me of [b:The Pillars of the Earth|5043|The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)|Ken Follett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1576956100l/5043._SY75_.jpg|3359698] in the sense that it is an epic monumental novel, with a wonderful sense of time and place, the most amazing and extremely well formed characters that you grow to love and root for and a book that suprises the reader in so many ways.
The prose is simple yet effective, the descriptions of the countryside and are vivid and transporting, uplifting and inspiring. This is a story of heroism, love, honour, loyalty and betrayal.

I gave this one 5 stars because it, educated me, made me laugh out loud, made me fall head over heels in love with Agustas McCrae and I couldn't wait to come home from work every evening to spend time with the boys and gals from Lonesome Dove.

I think there should be a list on goodreads for Books that you would never dream of reading but will end up absolutely loving

I read this in paperback and also purchased an audio copy as well and I can highly recommend the audio as very well paced and narrated. ( )

This time, it is all about the characters in Lonesome Dove. Romantic entanglings and broken hearts. Unlike Dead Man's Walk and Comanche Moon, the action moves at a gentler pace from Texas to Montana. Noticeably, there is less violence in Lonesome Dove (the town and the book) from the very beginning. McMurtry brings his characters alive whether they are important to the story or not. People like Dillard Brawley, Lonesome Dove's barber, is missing a leg due to a centipede bite. Hopping around on one leg while he cuts hair doesn't bother him one bit. True, he is a minor character but he is developed as if he will be impactful throughout the entire story (which he isn't, but do not forget about him.)
Back to the people who are important. Call and Gus are now retired from being captains with the Texas Rangers. Bored without wives, children, or families of any kind, they take a journey to the unknown land of Wyoming to start a cattle ranch. Gone are the violent Indian scalpings that were so prevalent in The Long Walk and Comanche Moon. The buffalo herds have all but vanished. Revenge is doled out on a much smaller scale. The first real violence comes when an former prostitute named Lorena is kidnapped by Blue Duck (remember him?). Lorena is sold to the Kiowas who rape and torture her repeatedly. Rest assured, this is nothing compared to the violence in the previous novels.
For fans of Clare, she is back! Her life has changed quite a bit since she ran the general store in Austin, but rest assured, she is still as feisty. She still remains one of my favorite characters. ( )