Name: Lonesome Dove
Rating: 4.540178571428571 (112 reviews)
ISBN: 9780671683900

Larry McMurtry

Lonesome Dove

A love story, an adventure, and an epic of the frontier, Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize— winning classic, Lonesome Dove, the third book in the Lonesome Dove tetralogy, is the grandest novel ever written about the last defiant wilderness of America. Journey to the dusty little Texas town of Lonesome Dove and meet an unforgettable assortment of heroes and outlaws, whores and ladies, Indians and settlers. Richly authentic, beautifully written, always dramatic, Lonesome Dove is a book to make us laugh, weep, dream, and remember.
(back cover)

Al Garbson

The Pulitzer Prize­–winning American classic of the American West that follows two aging Texas Rangers embarking on one last adventure. An epic of the frontier, Lonesome Dove is the grandest novel ever written about the last defiant wilderness of America. Journey to the dusty little Texas town of Lonesome Dove and meet an unforgettable assortment of heroes and outlaws, whores and ladies, Indians and settlers. Richly authentic, beautifully written, always dramatic, Lonesome Dove is a book to make us laugh, weep, dream, and remember.

Robeanu Andronie

Jem Sugnet

Although this is on the longer side of books in my library, it really read much shorter than the 900+ pages - I largely attribute that to great character development and engaging dialogue. 

Jason Horne

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read. A love story, an adventure, and an epic of the frontier, Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize–winning classic, Lonesome Dove, the third book in the Lonesome Dove tetralogy, is the grandest novel ever written about the last defiant wilderness of America. Journey to the dusty little Texas town of Lonesome Dove and meet an unforgettable assortment of heroes and outlaws, whores and ladies, Indians and settlers. Richly authentic, beautifully written, always dramatic, Lonesome Dove is a book to make us laugh, weep, dream, and remember.

A Novel

Sarah Erle

Would’ve liked a few less deaths, but that’s the life of a cowboy, baby!!

elissa

Lonesome Dove, Book 3 (chronologically)

Fraser Simons

I don’t I have anything unique to say about this. It lived up to the hype, and basically every review I’ve seen from people I follow is 5 stars, so I had high expectations. I also don’t particularly drift toward this era for historical fiction either. 

But as much as it’s a pretty granular accounting of what life was like for cowboys, it’s also a thorough character study and rumination on gender dynamics and the inability to comprehend the full context of any single life.

After all, we follow Gus and the band from before they had the notion to drive cattle from Texas to Montana (a staggering feet, truly), all the way through and beyond that endeavour. And in all that time, to be honest, I had been so sure that the painting I had been looking at, for that is how well drawn the characters are in this book, that I thought I had the measure of every single one of them. 

But of course as soon as we hear memories of Gus’s past—memories he recounts a few times at the fire with the boys—lived by others who shared them being told, it becomes clear that all people, especially Gus, are so multifaceted we fail to see certain moments as they really are. And when such things are fundamental to a person, that is truly the building blocks or the drive and the hopes of a person, and they involve someone else, well it’s almost terrifying how much can be internalized without ever getting the “full picture.”

Anyway, this book made me think about things like that. And the book starts you off with a notion and never really stops giving you something to chew on. That is exactly what I’m looking for from fiction. This is so rich you sink right into it. What’s more is the ending, which so many stories struggle with, is perfect, I think. Can’t say that of very many books at all.

Elizabeth Moore

Ten months after I met this book, and twelve years after first being told I absolutely had to read it, I have finally come to the end of Lonesome Dove. My "reading courtship" with Lonesome Dove start to finish being the longest one I've had with any book, I can't help but find it funny that this nearly year-long endeavor lined right up with the most sweeping epic I have ever read.

Every review you read will say the same, but the characters are what define this novel, which seems impossible in theory given how much material McMurtry had to work with in creating the striking worlds through which these characters travelled. If the characters were completely absent from the novel, Lonesome Dove would still be revered for how exquisitely and often rawly McMurtry depicted the sights of early Western America and the feelings they conjured, but he didn't stop there and instead introduces more characters that more readers care about and remember than any other book I am aware of.

Augustus McCrae and Captain Call are of course larger than life and empirically memorable, but I found myself drawn most to Josh Deets. I thought what was so interesting about Deets was that his dependability and kindness, and I might almost even say innocence, stayed a constant throughout his time in the book. While other characters were wildly changing for the better or the worse all around him, and while Hat Creek Outfit's tensions and moods changed constantly with their rapidly fluctuating surroundings, Deets was always a voice of reason and a kind presence. No one else kept that from start to finish, I don't think even McCrae, who stayed kind always but wasn't always straight with reason. Deet's character reminded me very much of the moon with which he was always so entranced – I always felt myself calmed to know that I could count on him to guide the outfit and shine a light on their travels. I missed him the most at the turn of the last page.

I also couldn't get over how honestly all of these characters were portrayed; for all of Deet's steadiness he was an irregularity in a crew full of good people suffering from all of the problems that afflict all us daily as humans. Larry McMurtry painted deeply flawed humans who were all in their own ways trying to make their lives right; some quests are as easy simple and linear as leaving a whoring life behind and trying to become a "respectable lady", some as nebulous as the desire to confront a mistake that has been buried so long that it's become truly impossible to dig to the root and right it. Blue Duck seemed to me the only case of pure evil (even the Shuggs band of brothers has some shades of remorse lining their group identity) and Blue Duck was written in a way that made him seem non-human – as if he weren't even a character but rather a dark force playing against the people in this story.

Although not every character reaches total redemption and forgiveness for their sins and failures, each one tries. That is the part of this book that meant the most to me and will stay with me the longest.

Recommend this book 100 times over to anyone who loves stories, people, and a good old fashioned adventure.

So this is a lot of book and I don't want to write a novel explaining why I really loved it.

The main thing that hooked me was the way he writes his characters. They feel real. I feel like I really traveled with Gus and Call throughout their past and up to the start of the novel. Laurie feels like someone I sat down and had a drink with as she confessed her life. Elmira, phew boy Elmira. And I cried. I really got affected when a death happened and you can imagine a lot of death can happen out on those trails. It is really crazy how attached I became to some of the story outcomes.

My biggest complaint was just the time it took for the ending. I was ready to wrap it up but I don't think the author felt the same. I guess I don't really blame him though, a goodbye to these characters feels like saying goodbye to a real person.

Jeni Enjaian

I honestly don't understand the appeal and I certainly don't understand how this book could have possibly won a Pulitzer price.

There's no overarching narrative arc. The story wanders from one point to another just like the characters with no apparent reason other than a whim journey from Texas to Montana. 

I did not connect with any of the characters. I did not feel in any way compelled to finish the book apart from the desire to cross it off my list.

It's 800+ pages of meandering, aimless prose that I do not recommend at all.

Janet Doré

Anyone who can get me to love a western has some talent! Although I have not been able to get through any other McMurtry books, this one was incredible.

Lonesome Dove

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