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Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol
Graphic: Death, Rape, Violence, Kidnapping
Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence
Minor: Child death, Genocide, Gun violence, Misogyny, Death of parent
With many storylines that cross and intertwine, it still felt clear and easy to sort out who is who. The opening scene with the debate over the sign was one of my favorite parts of the book.
As kids we always played our pretend frontier skirmishes with indigenous folks winning the day in the end and ngl a bit of that rose up in my heart while reading. McMurtry does hint at some of the negative impacts of western expansion on both the decline of bison herds and occasional sympathetic encounter with displaced tribes, but it is more firmly seated in the western perspective. He doesn’t shy away from the uglier sides of the western story, whether from unpleasant events, perceptions, terms/names, etc.
If you can take a bit of trail grit in your coffee, pad your saddle and settle in for a long adventure.
Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Xenophobia
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, Pregnancy
This book was brutal. It plots along and ends in such a hollow place you can't even cry. I feel angry at it because I don't understand the point but that's just it. Sometimes you don't and I'm choked up now for all the tragedy and horror and pointlessness of it all. There was beauty in spots and the journey felt so alive at the end but each death was blunt and brutal and shocking. You couldn't love them for they were so flawed but how could you hate them? It felt like a journey of life with patches that felt stable and understandable torn into pieces in moments.
If I had more of an inkling I'd talk about the brutalist poetic prose or the moral complexity or the hostorical lens but I feel so emptied out by the story that I don't want to anymore. I was so hooked that I couldn't be bothered to stop and write and now here I am without the desire.
If that doesn't say something about Lonesome Doce I don't know what will.
P. S. The pigs were my favorite part
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Infidelity, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War
Minor: Ableism, Drug use
The book follows Texas rangers Call and Augustus as they decide to make money driving cattle to Montana, across risky terrain full of bandits, wild animals, rivers and dry plains. Larry McMurtry takes great care in fleshing out the contrasting personalities of the two main characters, as well as their moments of heroism and loss. The fight scenes, especially, were so well imagined, and make your heart race.
What held me back was how one-dimensional the secondary characters were, particularly how Native Americans and women were portrayed. Violent or starved, a whore or a mother. And I don't think this was done in any kind of pursuasive way, it was just convenient to stereotype, and serve as ornamental means to manhood.
Nevertheless, you'll enjoy this if you're in the mood for adventurous plots, a large cast of characters, and rooting for heroes. Please consider the content warnings, too.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
This book, and its characters, will live rent free in my head for the rest of my life. When I finished reading it a week ago I told my book club friends that I was going to need bereavement leave from work so that I could properly mourn both the end of this book, and the loss of so many characters in the story. When you first look at this 850 page book, it can seem overwhelming, let alone listening to 36 hours of an audiobook. And yet, every.single.day, when I got in my car to drive to work, I could not wait to find out what adventures (or misadventures) would my Lonesome Dove friends get into next. I laughed, I gasped, I got ANGRY, I cried. Larry McMurtry is a master storyteller. I'm now off to watch the mini-series so I can spend more time with my friends because I miss them so much.
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol
Minor: Genocide, Fire/Fire injury
On a reread, perhaps I would like this book more when I'm not in a slump. But I'm extremely doubtful I'll ever try a reread. Altogether, a good book, but SEVERELY overhyped and frustrating.
Graphic: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Blood