You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
dilan11 's review for:
Lonesome Dove
by Larry McMurtry
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Characters are so well drawn. Not really my type of story but McMurty is a great writer.
I like it best when we are inside one of the heads of the characters - Call out alone under the stars or Newt thinking about his mother. Otherwise the constant bantering back and forth among the men is boring. Once in a while it is funny but really just too much. The book could have been 300 pages shorter if McMurty cut down on the adolescent joking.
I like the way that McMurty switches points of view. For example, on the first horse stealing adventure we are in the young Newt's pov which is the most uncomfortable because Newt is the most vulnerable. It is not omniscient in any of the moments (no all knowing narrator) but omniscient as a whole because we switch from POV to POV.
Clara is a wonderful character - by far my favorite. I wish she had been introduced sooner.
Clara is a wonderful character - by far my favorite. I wish she had been introduced sooner.
In the first few hundred pages of Lonesome Dove, I just want something to happen already. Everything bad has happened in the past and now I can't wait to see how they all react to the inevitable tragedy to come. SPOILER And tragedy does come in spades. By the end of the book every character is either dead or miserable. I do respect McMurty for not romanticizing life but I would have liked someone to have some resolution - Newt and Call as father and son would have been the best. SPOILER
I am glad that the settling of the West is not romanticized but there are some very graphic scenes of brutal violence which may well be accurate but my imagination did not need so many details. I am thinking of the scenes with the Suggs brothers.
When I examined McMurty's writing carefully, I am astonished at his skill. He finds just the right word, the right pace, the right amount of detail. It is not flowery literary language but it is not popular bestseller slop by any means. His language alone would have made this book close to 5 stars.
However I must point out his portrayal of Native Americans is quite disgusting. He did so well at portraying women's povs that I am sure McMurty could have portrayed Native Americans with more understanding. I understand that McMurty is a man of his time and place, but really the tiny bit of recognition that his characters are stealing land would have been the minimum required. This racism really requires me to strip a couple of stars from this book but his writing and his anti-romantic stance add a couple so I will rate it a 4. But I have to say I would not recommend this book to anyone who is not ready to go in and accept that besides being a beautiful account of the West it is also a brutally racist account.
When I examined McMurty's writing carefully, I am astonished at his skill. He finds just the right word, the right pace, the right amount of detail. It is not flowery literary language but it is not popular bestseller slop by any means. His language alone would have made this book close to 5 stars.
However I must point out his portrayal of Native Americans is quite disgusting. He did so well at portraying women's povs that I am sure McMurty could have portrayed Native Americans with more understanding. I understand that McMurty is a man of his time and place, but really the tiny bit of recognition that his characters are stealing land would have been the minimum required. This racism really requires me to strip a couple of stars from this book but his writing and his anti-romantic stance add a couple so I will rate it a 4. But I have to say I would not recommend this book to anyone who is not ready to go in and accept that besides being a beautiful account of the West it is also a brutally racist account.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism