Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry; narrated by Lee Horsley | 2016; originally published 1985 | Phoenix Books | Audiobook $ 33.00

Two retired Texas Rangers, Captains Woodrow Call and Augustus ‘Gus’ McCrae, lead a cattle drive from the small town of Lonesome Dove to the unsettled Montana territories. On their grueling journey, they are joined by Joshua Deets, a Black scout and former Ranger, Jake Spoon, a fugitive, and Newt Dobbs, a 17-year-old boy who may have family ties to Call. Richly authentic, beautifully written, always dramatic, Lonesome Dove will make listeners laugh and weep, dream and remember.

I simply had to add a book of this genre to my list for Classics Club; I grew up in West Texas, and yet up ‘til this year had only read a total of one (1) real Western… unless you count Hank the Cowdog. This was beginning to feel like some kind of moral failing, for which I ought to have been punished by never again being allowed to clap along to “Deep in the Heart of Texas”.

Added to this was my great privilege in being allowed to work, albeit in a limited way, with some of the papers of the late great Larry McMurtry at the University of Houston during my classwork for my Master’s — a privilege for which I could not be wholly appreciative, never having read any of his works. And then, last year, he died. There’s nothing quite like an author’s death to induce new readers to pick up one of their books, I suppose.

To be honest, I was a bit intimidated by this book. In print, it’s about 960 pages. The audiobook I listened to was over thirty-six hours long; it took me a couple of months to finish. But it was worth it.

The characters are incredibly well-written, with distinct personalities and richly developed motivations. The narrative does not lack for action, of course — there’s all kinds of things you’d expect from a Western, from snakes to shoot-outs — but what made this book memorable for me was the characters themselves. The author provided a wild ride, but he also somehow made me care deeply about the people who were going through it. Well, at least some of them. A book’s no fun if everyone in it is a perfect little hero; stories need all sorts to be interesting.

I would recommend this audiobook to… well, just about anybody with a long commute or road trip coming up and a hankerin’ for some kind of adventure story. The narrator, Lee Horsley, did an absolutely perfect job of it. And if you’re not into audiobooks but you’d like a good big brick of a book to curl up with over the cold months ahead, you could do a lot worse than Lonesome Dove.

Links:

• National Endowment for the Humanities profile of Larry McMurtry
• Texas State Historical Association’s Handbook of Texas entry for Larry McMurtry
• Interview with Larry McMurtry from Texas Monthly
• Tribute to Larry McMurtry from Texas Highways Magazine
• Tribute to Larry McMurtry from Texas Standard

Publication information: McMurtry, Larry. Lonesome Dove. London, UK: Phoenix Books, 2016. Audiobook.
Source: Public library, via Hoopla.
Disclaimer: I am not compensated, monetarily or otherwise, for reviews of books or other products.