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4.58 AVERAGE
4.58 AVERAGE
Literally decades since I'd read this. Won't wait that long again.
I was taken aback when I started reading this cinderblock of a novel. If some novels start with a bang, this one leaps from the starting blocks with all the momentum of a feather in zero gravity.
Turns out "Lonesome Dove (the setting for the first scenes of the novel) is just about the most depressing crater of a no-future settlement you can imagine, and the cast of characters inspires, well, not much.
This is a subversive novel. Mostly. Yes, it has superhero Rangers who dive their horses into a band of Indians leaving a wake of bodies. And yes there are cattle crossings and brandings and so so so much whoring.
But it is remarkable how much character development that McMurtry can squeeze into a group of profoundly emotionally stunted men and hopeless women. It seems that the American frontier was not the last bastion of true freedom but a libertarian hellscape of unregulated Old Testament psychopathy.
These aren't Men. They are confused arrangements of matter, loosely bound by a combination of misplaced values, imperfect codes of behavior, and aborted socialization. Unaccommodated man is not a "poor, bare, forked animal," he is a selfish, violent, and more than a little sad.
I didn't know what to expect, but I was engrossed by the characters. I didn't give a rat for the plot - a mock-Homeric journey filled with just enough trials to keep the plot moving. I cared about how the characters were drawn. Gus and Call are truly magnificently flawed. Just terribly broken people that you stick with and root for because they are grand and perfect.
There is enough of the romantic American West here to spark that "oh to be alive when men were men" feeling, and it is marvelously tempered by precise depictions of men who really, and sadly, are just men.
And the women they, and the landscape, destroy.
Turns out "Lonesome Dove (the setting for the first scenes of the novel) is just about the most depressing crater of a no-future settlement you can imagine, and the cast of characters inspires, well, not much.
This is a subversive novel. Mostly. Yes, it has superhero Rangers who dive their horses into a band of Indians leaving a wake of bodies. And yes there are cattle crossings and brandings and so so so much whoring.
But it is remarkable how much character development that McMurtry can squeeze into a group of profoundly emotionally stunted men and hopeless women. It seems that the American frontier was not the last bastion of true freedom but a libertarian hellscape of unregulated Old Testament psychopathy.
These aren't Men. They are confused arrangements of matter, loosely bound by a combination of misplaced values, imperfect codes of behavior, and aborted socialization. Unaccommodated man is not a "poor, bare, forked animal," he is a selfish, violent, and more than a little sad.
I didn't know what to expect, but I was engrossed by the characters. I didn't give a rat for the plot - a mock-Homeric journey filled with just enough trials to keep the plot moving. I cared about how the characters were drawn. Gus and Call are truly magnificently flawed. Just terribly broken people that you stick with and root for because they are grand and perfect.
There is enough of the romantic American West here to spark that "oh to be alive when men were men" feeling, and it is marvelously tempered by precise depictions of men who really, and sadly, are just men.
And the women they, and the landscape, destroy.
adventurous
challenging
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Kidnapping, Murder
Minor: Hate crime, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Colonisation, War
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is my favorite book ever. I love almost all of the characters, and I love them all for different reasons. There are tragic incidents as well as funny ones. I'd be crying, and then not too much later, laughing. It's not only the story of a whole bunch of people journeying to Montana, but of people journeying to find themselves. Even, if not especially, the older ones, who still don't have all the answers.