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Description edit
Bestselling winner of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize, Lonesome Dove is an American classic. First published in 1985, Larry McMurtry's epic novel combined flawless writing with a storyline and setting that gripped the popular imagination, and ultimately resulted in a series of four novels and an... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters/People edit
- Captain Augustus 'Gus' McCrae: A retired Ranger who is living a peaceful life in the sleepy town of Lonesome Dove, Texas, after years of fighting the Comanches. When his old partner in the Rangers, Woodrow Call, decides to regroup the Hat Creek Outfit for a cattle drive to Montana, Gus reluctantly leaves his afternoons of drinking whiskey and evenings of visiting the gambling saloon and whorehouse for another exciting adventure on the range.
- Captain Woodrow F. Call: A former Ranger who is tough as nails. Pulling together old Ranger pals and new cowboy recruits, he gets a team together for a dangerous cattle drive from southern Texas to Montana.
- Lorena Wood: A young, beautiful woman trapped in the undesirable life of being the only "sporting" woman in Lonesome Dove. She falls for Jake Spoon's empty promise of taking her to San Francisco by way of Denver. Instead, she is on a dangerous journey through Indian country with a team of cowboys and cattle.
- Dish Boggett: A cowpoke and a poor gambles. He absolutely loves Lorena.
- Jake Spoon: A Ranger friend of Gus & Cal, he returns after accidentally shooting dentist in Ft Smith. He "loves" Lorena but leaves her on the trail to gamble.
- Deets: A black man who was a loyal friend and hard worker at the Hat Creek outfit.
- Newt: Young orphan boy taken in by Gus and Call after the death of his mother. He doesn't know it, but he is Call's son. He grows into a man on the journey from Texas to Wyoming.
- Po Campo: Po Campo is the philosophical Mexican cook who accompanies the Hat Creek boys north after Bolivar quits the drive. He tells fortune, advises the young men to avoid the whores and cooks a fabulous bird-egg pie using plover's eggs.
- Xavier: Xavier Wanz is the owner of the saloon. He is fastidious and woefully out of place in the dusty border town.
- Bolivar: "Bol" has been the cook for the Hat Creek outfit in Lonesome Dove for years. His wife and many daughters live in Mexico, but he finds his wife difficult to get along with.
- Ellie: Elmira, "Ellie" is July Johnson's new wife.
- July Johnson: Sheriff from Ft Smith Arkansas; he is tracking Jake when he learns that his wife left him. He feels responsible for Roscoe, Janey and Joe. He eventually falls for Clara but can't find the words to express himself.
- Maggie: Add a description of this character.
- Clara Allen: Gus' lost love. She married another man and moved to Nebraska. She's lost three sons to early deaths and is mother to Betsy and Sally. She still has a love for Gus.
- Wilbarger: Wilbarger is the cattleman who crosses paths several times with Call and/or McCrae. His blunt, western style shows a man who couldn't care less if he wins any popularity contests, but is still a man you would want on your side in any emergency.
- Blue Duck: The violent, amoral, renegade half-breed, Blue Duck is the son of Buffalo Hump from the earlier years of the Comanche. He is the leader of a band of other evil renegades and has been Call and McCrae's nemesis since the old days of the Rangers.
Quotes edit
-
“We don't rent pigs”
Gus McCrae -
“Deets had to grin at the mere thought of how excited Mr. Gus would get if he took off and rode the moon. For he thought of it like a ride, something he might ride for just a day or two when things were slow. Then, when the moon came back close to Lonesome Dove, he would step offand walk back home. It would surprise them all.”
Deets (thinking) -
“A man who wouldn't cheat for a poke don't want one bad enough”
Agustus McCrae -
““I lost three boys, Gus. I needed a friend.”“You ought to wrote me that, then,” he said. “I didn’t know.”Clara’s mouth tightened. “I hope I meet a man sometime in my life who can figure such things out,” she said. “I wrote you but I tore up the letters. I figured if you didn’t come of your own accord you wouldn’t be no good to me anyway.”“Well, you was married,” he said, not knowing why he bothered to argue.“I was never so married but what I could have managed a friend,” she said.”
Author -
“She stood for a moment in the kitchen doorway, a smile on her lips. Just seeing him made her feel keen. She was in the shadows and he had not seen her. Then she took a step or two and Augustus looked around. Their eyes met and he smiled.“Well, pretty as ever,” he said.To the huge astonishment of her girls, Clara walked straight off the porch and into the stranger’s arms. She had a look in her eyes that they had never seen, and she raised her face to the stranger and kissed him right on the mouth, an action so startling and so unexpected that both girls remembered the moment for the rest of their lives.”
Author -
“(Call) felt curious - not sick but suddenly empty - it was the way a kick in the stomach could make you feel. It was an odd thing, but true, that the death of an enemy could affect you as much almost as much as the death of a friend.”
Refers to Call -
“Gus just grinned. "Oh, you got the right," he said. "It's just that it's fearsome for a man to have a woman start thinking right in front of him. It always leads to trouble."”
Gus
Organizations edit
- Texas Rangers: The Texas Rangers are the second oldest state-level law enforcement agency in the United States. The Rangers have taken part in many of the most important events of Texas history and were involved in some of the best-known criminal cases in the history of the Old West, such as those of gunfighter John Wesley Hardin, bank robber Sam Bass, and outlaws Bonnie and Clyde. Scores of books have been written about the Rangers, from well researched works of nonfiction to pulp novels, making them significant participants in the mythology of the Wild West. During their long history, a distinct Ranger tradition has evolved; their cultural significance to Texians and later Texans is such that they are legally protected against disbandment.
First Sentence edit
When Augustus came out on the porch the blue pigs were eating a rattlesnake-not a very big one.
Series & Lists edit
This is book 1 of 4 in Lonesome Dove. (standard series)
Followed by Streets of Laredo.
This book is in Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read. (authoritative list)
This is book 87 of 95 in The Art of Manliness' Essential Man’s Library. (authoritative list)
This is book 1986 of 85 in Pulitzer Prize Winners - Fiction. (authoritative list)
This book is in Big Fat Books. (community list)
This is book 69 of 213 in Best English-Language Fiction of the 20th Century. (authoritative list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Larry McMurtry (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Country: USA
Publication Date: 1985
ISBN: 0671504207
Page Count: 843
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Country: USA
Publication Date: 1985
ISBN: 0671504207
Page Count: 843
Awards edit
- Pulitzer Prize (1986: Fiction)
- Spur Award (1985: Western Novel, #1)
- National Book Critics Circle Award (Finalist, 1985: Fiction)
- PEN/Faulkner Award (Finalist, 1986: Fiction)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: PS3563.A319 L6
- Dewey: 813.54
Subjects edit
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Links to Supplemental Material edit
- Wikipedia article: Lonesome Dove is a 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning western novel written by Larry McMurtry. It is the first published book of the Lonesome Dove series, but the third instalment in the series chronologically. The story focuses on the relationship of several retired Texas Rangers and their adventures driving a cattle herd from Texas to Montana.
- Book review from The Strongest Librarian: Lonesome Dove is a small town in Texas. It’s dusty. It is populated by cowboys, ranchers, their families, and the sorts of women who work upstairs in saloons. Gus McRae and Woodrow Call are retired Texas Rangers who spent a great deal of their careers fighting Indians. Loneseome is chronologically the third book in a series of four, although it was published first.
- Book review from Carnage and Culture: THE practice of trail-driving herds of beef cattle over long distances from ranch to railhead flourished for just a moment after the Civil War and before the widespread use of barbed wire. It was the tiniest fraction of our national experience and did not directly involve more than a few thousand people. But maybe more than anything else - more than wars, more than slavery, more than urbanization or immigration - it has animated a part of our imagination out of which flows a vital branch of popular culture. Cowboyana in the form of dime fiction and stage shows flourished even before the short era of the trail drives ended. It nourished movies and television when they were young. Even today, it seems to be everywhere: in clothing, in advertising, in political rhetoric.
Movie Connections edit
- Lonesome Dove (1989) (IMDb): TV mini-series staring Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Danny Glover, Diane Lane, Rick Schroder, Anjelica Huston, and Chris Cooper
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