By reputation...

[Amor de Cosmos]

A couple of people who's word on fiction I trust, reckon Lonesome Dove is the finest post-war novel they've read (one added "American" as a secondary qualfier.) Is it that good? I've never read anything else by McMurtry so have nothing to judge by, except the TV series from the 80s, which was enjoyable I recall, but can't remember much else about it.

[San Bernardhinault]

I read it probably 15 years ago. And loved it. And I'm not really normally a fan of Westerns; but I think it might be more west Americana than "western" in the traditional sense. Anyway, what I remember is that it was really good and super easy to read.

[Lang Spoon]

Blood Meridian I remember as being Fuckin Immense, Western as High Literature, though maybe being slightly less callow nowadays the extreme unremitting violence would be far less palatable, whatever about the paragraph free Shakespearean/brutal prose. I really enjoyed the Lonesome Dove mini series but, and I've a feeling I might enjoy McMurtry more than McCarthy these days.

[Amor de Cosmos]

I bought a copy of Lonesome Dove. I had no idea it was in fact four books running to a total of over 2,500pp. Don't expect any kind of review until sometime in the 2030s.

[ursus arctos]

I think that he is one of the best essayists that this country has produced in my lifetime, but have never been able to bring myself to try his fiction.

[San Bernardhinault]

I guess I only read book one...

[tee rex]

Like Star Wars, the first one becomes a later one (third) when it really isn't. Forget prequels unless you have a lot of rainy days to fill, Lonesome Dove is the one published first. It has a story arc and ending that work.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Darn, I'm already fifty pages into the first one. Don't think I can quit now.

[San Bernardhinault]

By "First one", do you mean the one that's actually titled Lonesome Dove? If so, you probably can quit after that one.

[Amor de Cosmos]

No the first in the series is Dead Man's Walk, it deals with the two principal characters' youth as Texas Rangers. The second is The Streets of Laredo, then comes Lonesome Dove, which was the first published. The final installment is Comanche Moon. All the books have been televised.

[Nefertiti2]

A couple of people who's word on fiction I trust, reckon Lonesome Dove is the finest post-war novel they've read (one added "American" as a secondary qualfier.) Is it that good? I've never read anything else by McMurtry so have nothing to judge by, except the TV series from the 80s, which was enjoyable I recall, but can't remember much else about it.

Lonesome Dove is amazing. I once carried it in a bar in Texas and someone said to me "I envy you reading that for the first time",. He was right. and it is the first.

Essays. would heartliy recommend Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen

[Amor de Cosmos]

I've heard good things about that too. I'm also intrigued by his "Houston Series," as I'm a little bit familiar with the city now.

[ursus arctos]

Benjamin at the Dairy Queen is a kind of sequel to In a Narrow Grave, which collects his earlier Texas essays and which I very much enjoyed.

The man can flat out write.

[Amor de Cosmos]

I finished the first chronological book in the series Dead Man's Walk. A few things struck me. First, the story is extremely simple, an army of Texas rangers set out to invade Santa Fe which they believe is paved with gold and silver. Second, over the length of the book the army is decimated. They're two hundred in number to begin, and end with four or five, depending on who you count. Basically that's it. It's a testament to the quality of writing that I kept going page after page in an almost compulsive fashion when, aside from people dying in varied and creative ways, not a lot really happens. In some ways it's an extremely old fashioned book: Good Guys (white) Bad Guys (red) in-between Guys (brown.) I doubt the portrayal of Comanches as uniformly really, really, evil with no redeeming qualities at all would pass muster with most critics these days. On the other-hand though there are only three female characters, they're hands down the most intelligent and practical in the book. Then there's the last few chapters which are so surreal they could almost come from another book altogether. It's good, better than good even, but I was exhausted at the end and needed to bathe my brain in PG Wodehouse for awhile.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Comanche Moon is more incident filled and varied than Dead Man's Walk. Much of it takes the PoV of the Comanches as well-rounded individuals rather than merely a shadowy malevolence. Killing is what they do, what they have always done, to animals, whites, Mexicans other natives. It's their way, and continues to be so as they decline, first from disease secondly from incursions on to their lands and consequent disappearance of the Buffalo. The choices they make in response make up a good deal of Comanche Moon Again, published today, it would probably be accused of cultural appropriation (a criticism I frankly have little time for.) There are moments that raise a tear or two but McMurtry's story is remarkably generous and even-handed. It's utterly lacking in sentiment but not in humour, though the latter is often both subtle and gentle. Lonesome Dove, the incipient township, makes a brief appearance for the first time and that keystone novel is up next.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Occasionally you come across a book that doesn't feel as if it's being read at all. It's as if you and the author are sitting in a small room in comfortable armchairs in front of a woodfire, and he/she is telling you the story. All you have to do is listen, and you never want it to end. Lonesome Dove is that kind of experience. Packed with incidents and characters that tumble off the page but never collide with each other, we follow the "Hat Creek outfit" on a cattle-drive from Southern Texas to the, almost mythical, Montana. No one is quite sure why they're going, but go they must. McMurtry laces the adventure with descriptions and images, some of which, I know, will stay with me forever. A storm where lightning flashes between the horns of the cattle. A man being attacked by a nest of snakes while crossing a river. If Comanche Moon veered in emphasis towards the native people of Texas, Lonesome Dove does the same towards women. La Signora, not a fan of Western fiction by any stretch, has devoured this series. According to Wiki, McMurtry has been applauded for his female portrayals, and based on this book I understand why. Most of the men in the series are broken, incomplete in some way, or profoundly inexperienced and lost. The women on the other hand consciously get by. They do what they must. Frequently with resignation but rarely with complaint, otherwise the prospect of insanity looms. There's no predictability here. People die, or disappear, but never who, or how, you might think. White hat or black hat, all are subject to the whims of men or fortune.

[San Bernardhinault]

Yeah. The random deaths, as much as anything, are what stick with me. It gave the book an incredible unpredictability, and also struck home the fragility of life in the American west.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Absolutely. It does mean though that if you're a reader that invests heavily in characters you're in for an emotional roller coaster.

BTW, if you're about to read Lonesome Dove, the book not the series, don't read McMurtry's prologue. I've no idea why but he gives away what happens to one of his characters. Odd.

[tee rex]

Glad you enjoyed it. Still one of my favourites of the past few years (date of my reading, not the writing).

[Amor de Cosmos]

There's a gentle poignancy to The Streets of Laredo the other books in the series lack. It isn't only that the remnants of the Hat Creek outfit are aging, it's mainly how the consequences lead to a profound role reversal at the books conclusion. It's a tale that follows naturally from Lonesome Dove but has a smaller cast. It lacks the dry wit of early volumes, not that it's especially dark (though the book does feature two of the nastiest villains in the series, which is a high bar,) only that, as written, the remaining characters don't have the wherewithal to provide it. McMurtry was apparently going through a period of deep depression during the writing, following the death of his first wife. It shows, especially in his portrayals of the female characters. If you read and enjoyed Lonesome Dove itself, but don't want to commit to all the other three stories, this is the one you should choose.