Lonesome Dove

Gus, Call, and their friends are on one epic road trip from a small dusty town in Texas on the Rio Grande to Montana north of the Yellowstone.  Along the way, they meet a whole cast of characters including a smalltown Arkansas sheriff and his deputy, Gus’ old flame, US Army soldiers, and warriors from the Camanche and Blood tribes.  It’s the 1870’s and the Hat Creek Outfit are driving cattle through dangerous, uncharted territory.

Lonesome Dove is the first book released in Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove series, but the third book chronologically.  This allows it to be a standalone book, but also gives me hope to spend more time with this amazing troupe.  Written originally as movie script, but later developed into a novel, the book won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.  This western has something for everyone – your standard western shootouts, romance, buddy trips, and coming of age rituals.

I give Lonesome Dove 5 out of 5 stars.  I enjoyed the storyline and the adventure these characters take as they travel through classic western towns.  I also found myself giggling at the colloquialisms around sexual interactions and some of the conversations between Gus and the other characters.  While I have never seen the movie or TV series versions of this story, I could see every scene in my mind!

I would recommend this novel to mature audiences who love westerns, historical fiction, and general fiction.  With a good bit of discussion of prostitution and sex, this book is best for audiences over 16.  I would also caution against this book for younger readers because of discussions about scalping, rape, physical fights, and other aggressions.  Given those heavy topics, this book was still a light and easy read.

I chose Lonesome Dove for The Booklist Queen reading prompt “a western”.  When I think of westerns, my mind goes to the older TV shows I used to watch on reruns like Bonanza.  This story is a classic in those same lines.  I chose to the audiobook version for this read and I’m glad I did.  The performer’s voices really helped bring this novel to life.  In an interesting twist, I found myself visualizing characters from Yellowstone for each of the main characters in Lonesome Dove – it was a bit confusing!  If you like the Duttons, I think you’ll love this book!

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What I’m Reading

• Current print book: The Help, Kathryn Stockett
• Current audio book: Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver
• Book I’m most looking forward to: Born a Crime, Trevor Noah