An American classic published by Larry McMurtry in 1985, Lonesome Dove is set in the West during the 1870s, at the end of the cattle drive era in the United States. It’s a story of love, heartbreak, camaraderie, loneliness, endurance, resourcefulness, as well as endemic violence, as the East pushes West on the wild frontier of America. Lonesome Dove grabs the reader andsits them on the saddle of a horse crossing the nearly 2000 miles of desert, plains, towns, and Indian territory from Texas to Montana. Before the journey begins, McMurtry places the reader on the crest of a hill with Captain Woodrow F. Call, former Texas Ranger, and co-owner of the “Hat Creek Cattle Company and Livery Emporium,” while he ponders his own life underneath the deep night sky. Once Lonesome Dove sits the reader onto a horse heading North, the only way to dismount is to finish the book.
Lonesome Dove is a story about two white heroes and their crew, who have conquered Indian land in Texas, and are uncovering the frontier of America. Because of this it is important to keep in mind who in the novel life is realistic for.
The wise, romantic, former Texas Ranger, always with a word to say, Augustus McCrae (Gus), is also the co-owner of the “Hat Creek Cattle Company and Livery Emporium,” along with Woodrow F. Call. McMurtry describes him as “a Stoic,” whose calling in life is to work hard. Their crew consists of a variety of interesting characters, including: Pea Eye Parker, a former Texas Ranger, reliable wrangler, and a man with a “simple heart.” There is Joshua Deets, a former Texas Ranger, former slave, skilled scout, and wearer of a fascinating and changing, colorful, self-quilted, pair of pants; Newt Dobbs, an innocent boy raised by Gus and Call because his mother Maggie, a prostitute, died when he was young, and Bolivar, the former Mexican bandit turned grumpy cook who occasionally crosses the border to visit his wife and children in Mexico. Life at the Hat Creek Cattle Company has become static with the persistent heat and work. The only real excitement is over the town’s only prostitute, Lorena Wood, a cold tempered and beautiful woman, who dreams of one day making it to San Francisco. However, everything changes when Jake Spoon rides back into town.
Jake Spoon, another former Texas Ranger, womanizer, and gambler, has been gone for 10 years and comes back to Lonesome Dove because he’s on the lam from killing a dentist in Arkansas. He covers up his return by telling of an unsettled land up North called Montana, a place free of settlers, but full of opportunities for cattle ranchers. The idea of journeying North grabs Call, though for a reason he can only explain through restlessness, and Augustus, along with the rest of Hat Creek Cattle Company, signs on to move to Montana.
Their journey begins in Lonesome Dove. However, new characters are introduced and new land is uncovered through the travel of the crew. For example, McMurtry inserts July Johnson, a naive sheriff from the town in Arkansas where Jake Spoon killed the dentist. Blue Duck, the son of a Comanche war chief and a Mexican captive, is feared across the West as a murderer and rapist. He’s possibly the most purely and intentionally evil character to ever grace a story, kidnaps Lorena. With Lorena in Blue Duck’s clutches, Gus chases after them, and so ensues the exploration of desert and the remnants of Indian territory. All along the way to Montana, through the hot and unrelenting deserts of Texas, the dangerous Indian territory of Oklahoma, the drenching plains of Kansas, the endless fields of Nebraska, and the unsettled territory of Wyoming and Montana, the world of the poor, illiterate, unbending, and strong men and women of the West is gradually and tactfully uncovered by McMurtry.
Lonesome Dove, a novel that feels so real, is weakened by its failure to address the painful realities of the Indians and women of the time. Lonesome Dove has one main Indian character, and he is so evil that he is less of a person and more of a force. Though there are interesting and important female characters, most women encountered in the novel are prostitutes. The novel is realistic to the points of view of Gus and Call, but it is important to keep in mind who is left out.
Nevertheless, it’s a glorious novel not just because of the story itself (though it is a grand journey), but because of how the characters deal with hardships, and their outlook on life. The novel transports the reader back to the West in the 1870s and into the spur-studded boots of the cowboys. The reader sees what they see, and feels what they feel. The evil of Blue Duck is so real and terrifying that you don’t want to turn the page to find out what happens, yet the pull that comes from Lonesome Dove forces you. The love Lorena has for Augustus, and Augustus’ coinciding and undiminished and unrequited love for Clara Allen, feels so real and painful that it hurts to read. The brute force in which Call controls the world around him feels so raw that it seems to be an aspiration for men. Yet, when you fall too far down a path of believing in Call, McMurtry pulls you back and reveals a greater truth; Call’s need for control and constant work causes him to neglect the feelings he and others have. McMurtry allows the reader to love and be devoted to the characters, but at the same time shows the reader the human limitations of these characters.
Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove is romantic and engrossing. He has created a story that is hot, serene, sad, beautiful, and grand.
