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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love this book -- it has so much sadness, but there's nothing weak or self-pitying about any of the characters. They just carry on, even without a purpose in their lives.
Larry McMurtry is a genius at taking stuff that would be unspeakably horrible if it weren't so funny, and then making it really funny.
One obvious issue no one else has mentioned is the irony that this book was written long before the LONESOME DOVE novels, yet it deals with the Texas that rangers Call and McRae sacrificed so much to create. One of the themes of LONESEOME DOVE is Gus asking plaintively, "was it worth it?"
And of course, the answer is contained in this book. Because these characters are living such stunted, joyless lives that it seems very hard to believe that the buffalo, the Comanche, and the Mexicans all had to be sacrificed to make way for the town of Thalia. And more than that, you feel that somewhere Buffalo Hump and Kicking Wolf are actually laughing at these people. And that if a war party of ghost Comanche could come back and destroy the whole town it would be more of a mercy killing than anything else.
And none of that makes the book itself any less poignant. Just the opposite, in fact.
Larry McMurtry is a genius at taking stuff that would be unspeakably horrible if it weren't so funny, and then making it really funny.
One obvious issue no one else has mentioned is the irony that this book was written long before the LONESOME DOVE novels, yet it deals with the Texas that rangers Call and McRae sacrificed so much to create. One of the themes of LONESEOME DOVE is Gus asking plaintively, "was it worth it?"
And of course, the answer is contained in this book. Because these characters are living such stunted, joyless lives that it seems very hard to believe that the buffalo, the Comanche, and the Mexicans all had to be sacrificed to make way for the town of Thalia. And more than that, you feel that somewhere Buffalo Hump and Kicking Wolf are actually laughing at these people. And that if a war party of ghost Comanche could come back and destroy the whole town it would be more of a mercy killing than anything else.
And none of that makes the book itself any less poignant. Just the opposite, in fact.
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What could possibly justify the events in chapter 10? I have no desire to find out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Rape, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Ableism
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
Favorite quotes:
”Oh, don’t be so mealymouthed,” Lois shouted, “Why am I even talking to you? I just thought if you slept with Duane a few times you’d find out there really isnMt anything magic about him, and have yourself some fun to boot. Maybe then you’d realize that pretty things and pretty people are what you like in life and we can send you to a good school where you’ll marry some good-looking kid with the wherewithal to give you a pleasant life.” - p. 42
“Sam, how’s the best way to get rich?” Duane asked.
“To be born rich,” Sam said. “That’s much the best way. Why?”
“I want to get that way. I want to get at least as rich as Lester Marlow.””Well, of course,” Sam said, buttering a cracker. “You’re really too young to know what’s good for you, though. Once you got rich you’d have to spend all your time staying rich, and that’s hard thankless work. I tried it a while and quit, myself. If I can keep ten dollars ahead of the bills I’ll be doin’ all right.” - p. 52
About the middle of the afternoon he began to feel like he had to do something. He had the feeling again, the feeling that he was the only person in town. He got his gloves and his football jacket and got in the pickup, meaning to go on out and pump his leases, but no sooner had he started than he got scared. The gray pastures and the distant brown ridges looked too empty. He himself felt too empty. As empty as he felt and as empty as the country looked it was too risky going out into it—he might be blown around for days like a broomweed in the wind.
He turned around and drove back past the sign, but stopped again. From the road the town looked raw, scraped by the wind, as empty as the country. It didn’t look like the town it had been when he was in high school, in the days of Sam the Lion. - p. 216-17
“To be born rich,” Sam said. “That’s much the best way. Why?”
“I want to get that way. I want to get at least as rich as Lester Marlow.””Well, of course,” Sam said, buttering a cracker. “You’re really too young to know what’s good for you, though. Once you got rich you’d have to spend all your time staying rich, and that’s hard thankless work. I tried it a while and quit, myself. If I can keep ten dollars ahead of the bills I’ll be doin’ all right.” - p. 52
He turned around and drove back past the sign, but stopped again. From the road the town looked raw, scraped by the wind, as empty as the country. It didn’t look like the town it had been when he was in high school, in the days of Sam the Lion. - p. 216-17
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated