Helpful Score: 1
What I wrote for Streets of Laredo. Applies to all in this series.
I started with Comanche Moon then Lonesome Dove, now Streets of Laredo. I knew it was the last book but I didn't want to end the series there, so will read Dead Man's Walk last because it is the beginning of Woodrow and Gus.
Of course, McMurtry is the best at putting life in prespective. What has struck me through the series is that not much, if anything, has changed through time. People still lie, cheat, steal, make unusual friendships, are unfathomly selfish, unconscious of their own and others inner workings, marry for the wrong reasons, are subject to Mother Nature's weather & animals, and generally are at the Mercy of Life and their decisions. Death can still come quickly when least expected to those least deserving or who cannot accept it or don't try to protect it. Your transportation can still fall on top of you (horse, car, airplane), disease, sniper fire or serial killer, hate killing, war...there's nothing new under the sun.
We, as a human race, know more now, but really have not learned more.
McMurtry's view of life, at least as told in these stories, is much like my own; cynical, but real.
Now I'm looking forward to Dead Man's Walk. I want it to end where it began.
I started with Comanche Moon then Lonesome Dove, now Streets of Laredo. I knew it was the last book but I didn't want to end the series there, so will read Dead Man's Walk last because it is the beginning of Woodrow and Gus.
Of course, McMurtry is the best at putting life in prespective. What has struck me through the series is that not much, if anything, has changed through time. People still lie, cheat, steal, make unusual friendships, are unfathomly selfish, unconscious of their own and others inner workings, marry for the wrong reasons, are subject to Mother Nature's weather & animals, and generally are at the Mercy of Life and their decisions. Death can still come quickly when least expected to those least deserving or who cannot accept it or don't try to protect it. Your transportation can still fall on top of you (horse, car, airplane), disease, sniper fire or serial killer, hate killing, war...there's nothing new under the sun.
We, as a human race, know more now, but really have not learned more.
McMurtry's view of life, at least as told in these stories, is much like my own; cynical, but real.
Now I'm looking forward to Dead Man's Walk. I want it to end where it began.
The last volume of the Lonesome Dove story.
Texas Rangers August McCrae and Woodrow F. Call now in their middle years are just beginning to deal with the enigmas of the adult heart. Gus with his great love, Clara Forsythe; and Call with Maggie Tilton, the young whore who loves him. Two proud but different men, they enlist with a Ranger Troop in pursuit of Buffalo Hump the great Commanche horse thief and a deadly Mexican bandit king with a penchant for torture.
Texas Rangers August McCrae and Woodrow F. Call now in their middle years are just beginning to deal with the enigmas of the adult heart. Gus with his great love, Clara Forsythe; and Call with Maggie Tilton, the young whore who loves him. Two proud but different men, they enlist with a Ranger Troop in pursuit of Buffalo Hump the great Commanche horse thief and a deadly Mexican bandit king with a penchant for torture.
Classic Mc Murtry only Lonesome Dove itself is better.
In this immediate prequel to "Lonesome Dove", Gus and Call have matured as Rangers, but are both unlucky in love. Uber-Comanche Buffalo Hump again menaces the frontier, but it is his last hurrah. Yet another quirky military expedition, this time led by the certifiably insane Inish Scull, takes the troop into danger, and the character of soon-to-be-important Blue Duck is introduced and developed.
Texas Rangers Gus and Woodrow are on more adventures. This is the ages right before the Original Lonesome Dove but after the Dead Man's Walk I think. I loved it.
I enjoyed all of this series of books.
Part of the Lonesome Dove series. Way better than the movie.
I read all three of the books in this trilogy and sometimes wonder why they are so popular. However, I have to admit being carried away with the story and was willing to accept the "unhappy endings" of so many of the characters.
What I cannot understand is the author's apparent fascination with the vicious brutality he inflicts on so many of his female and child characters. These events can be upsetting to even mature adults, so consider carefully before letting impressionable teenagers read these (or any of) McMurty's novels. We already have enough brutality in real life.
What I cannot understand is the author's apparent fascination with the vicious brutality he inflicts on so many of his female and child characters. These events can be upsetting to even mature adults, so consider carefully before letting impressionable teenagers read these (or any of) McMurty's novels. We already have enough brutality in real life.
Larry McMurtry is the most exasperating author I've ever read. Some of his early work ("The Last Picture Show", "Leaving Cheyenne", "Horseman, Pass By") is so good I have read it more than once, and watch the movies based on the books ("Last Picture Show", "Loving Molly", "Hud") over and over. "Lonesome Dove" was a classic, the only Western to ever win a Pulitzer Prize. However, he has also written some awful trash - three of his books ("Somebody's Darling", "Cadillac Jack" and "The Desert Rose") are often referred to as The Trash Trilogy.
McMurtry has written several sequels and prequels to "Lonesome Dove", and I've started all of them, but never finished a one, including this book. His sequels to "The Last Picture Show" were equally bad or worse. I conclude that McMurtry enjoys the results of writing (fame and money) more than the actual writing. Once he hits on a successful formula, he cranks out sequels to keep the income stream flowing with little regard for quality. The only worthwhile things he has written in thge last ten years are "Driving America's Highways" and the screenplay for the movie "Brokeback Mountain" based on Annie Proulx lovely novella. He won an Oscar for that, and deserved it.
McMurtry has written several sequels and prequels to "Lonesome Dove", and I've started all of them, but never finished a one, including this book. His sequels to "The Last Picture Show" were equally bad or worse. I conclude that McMurtry enjoys the results of writing (fame and money) more than the actual writing. Once he hits on a successful formula, he cranks out sequels to keep the income stream flowing with little regard for quality. The only worthwhile things he has written in thge last ten years are "Driving America's Highways" and the screenplay for the movie "Brokeback Mountain" based on Annie Proulx lovely novella. He won an Oscar for that, and deserved it.
