overview of Lonesome Dove book series

Have you ever watched the miniseries Lonesome Dove, Streets of Laredo, Dead Man's Walk, or Comanche Moon? Did you know it had books to go with it? Let's dive into it. 

Courtesy of missmoss.co.za

Lonesome Dove is a miniseries and a novel. There are four novels in that series. They can be read as standalone novels or as a series. The series itself is about two Texas Rangers. It starts in 1840 and ends in 1890. This blog may be spoiler-heavy. If you wish to read these books blind, not knowing what is coming at all, don't read this blog until you are done reading the novels themselves. It will be a hot second, as they are thick books. 

Now that we all know that there are spoilers and the people who don't want them have left (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) we'll keep going. Again, spoilers ahead. 

The Writing Style

The writing style of Larry McMurtry is worth talking about. He can talk about gory events and rapes without me having to put down the book. This is worth noting. I am a sensitive soul and can't normally read that. The writing style makes it possible for me to read this storyline without having to vomit or otherwise be scarred for life. 

Yes, this book has a lot of death in it, as well as rape, sexual assault, attempted murder, suicide, and some torture. Yet, how can I read it? The writing style. When he describes a rape he describes the lighting, not the sexual act. He knows his readers will do the majority of the picture-making. He uses this to his advantage and uses lighting and minimal description to get his point across, without losing the serious nature of the scene. I couldn't read Game of Thrones, but I could read the entire series of Lonesome Dove. 

Sex is not focused on unless it is necessary and most of it is prostitution, rape, or married people. McMurtry doesn't really put focus on sex, yet sex is quite clearly on the minds of other characters. Sex scenes are a mere three sentences or one paragraph long. Sexual references? Yes, but not innuendo and jokes. Most women in the West are in prostitution or married, and women out in the West are few. To be real, most of the references are prostitution and rape (lots of it). There is one male rape in here, a man too tired to fend off a woman who sat on his manhood in the early hours of the morning. Most women are objectified by the society around them in this book series. They don't trust most men. Maria, a Mexican woman, holds her daughter at one point and hopes she will never know the darkness she knew. Sadly, I still find that action relevant. Most of the rape involves native american captives, as well. 

The Overall Storyline

As stated above, you can read these as a standalone novesl or a series. Chronologically, you read it in the order below. Beside every book title I will briefly describe the events that take place. 

Courtesy of Amazon - From the movie Dead Man's Walk

Dead Man's Walk (early 1840s) is the story of Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call joining the rangers. There is only one plotline to follow here. McCrae and Call first go on a trip with Major Chevallie and get chased around by Comanches. Part two follows a new leader who wants to take Santa Fe, then after things go south and several people deserted, their ex-pirate leader gives them up to Mexican officers. The next part is the whole group going across Dead Man's Walk - a portion of land with no resources. I can sum up the events of this book by saying everything is going badly except the last part. The book itself is good, but the rangers don't hit any of their objectives except the last one. The next part comes after they have crossed and are being held in a leper's colony. Here they come across Lady Carey, who asks for their help in escorting her and her son and servants home. This is the best part and you'll have to read it to understand why. I won't spoil it. 

Comanche Moon (1850s - 1860s) is the book where McCrae and Call get the title Captain, after their Captain had his horse stolen and left them in charge of taking everyone home. The basic plotline of this one goes in three directions. The first major event is Captain Skull's horse being stolen by a Comanche warrior who wants to present it to Ahumado (a dangerous man who likes to torture people). He then follows and learns the ways of a tracker. That tracker splits and doesn't come back before Skull reaches Ahumado. The second plotline is finding Captain Skull, who is now being tortured and kept by Ahumado. This prevents the rangers from effectively protecting the community from the third plotline of this book - the Comanche Raid that went across the west with reckless abandon (a last hurrah, if you will, for the Comanche who were fewer and fewer). Many subplots come up in between. I'll let you explore those. 

Courtesy of Zavvi

Lonesome Dove (mid-late 1870s)features Captains McCrae and Call running a ranch and taking cattle to Montana (from Texas) on a whim. That is the first plotline. The other plotline is Loreta (a prostitute) going west with Jake Spoon and getting taken by a long-time enemy of the Captains (Blue Duck) and rescued. This derails their cattle for only a brief while. The third plotline is the journey of July Johnson, who is going after Jake Spoon and trying to find his runaway wife (who is pregnant in secret and leaves the baby with another woman). All these plots cross like nobody's business the whole book. Again, subplots abound. 

Streets of Laredo (1890s) is the last book in the chronological series. I hate to inform you, but only Captain Call is alive by the end of the previous book. Call is now hunting bandits for the railroad, this time a Joey Garza who is infamous for being dangerous. That is our main plotline. The next one is the hunt for a man thought dead, Mox Mox the manburner, who does what his name suggests and targets children. Call ends up going after him, too. The third plot is Maria, mother of Joey Garza, doing her best to help her son who hates her guts. It was predicted she'd die at her son's hands. It comes true and her children go home with the remaining expedition members (Pea Eye Parker, Captain Call, and Loreta Parker). Call has one arm and one leg by the end of the book. Garza does die, but not at Call's hands. Call's career is dead. 

Something To Note

I will say this down here, in case you haven't noticed the content is not your kids' bedtime story. I would recommend this book for high school age or above. I truly think this shouldn't be in a young child's hands, and for more reasons than suicides, gore, torture, and death. I think a young child will not understand the books. I think you have to understand what is going on and be able to know what sex is to truly enjoy the plots of these books. They are not shy about sex. They don't censor. They are not in the kid's section of your library. I will admit that several paragraphs made me glad I wasn't eating lunch at that moment. 

That being said, I highly suggest reading this series. I love it. I don't expect everyone to have the same taste that I do, but I love it. I give all of them five stars. The characters grow throughout the books, which is great because static characters wouldn't work here. Our two main characters are especially great to follow, given their banter and friendship. By the end, you also see what became of several other characters in past books. I suggest reading them in chronological order to truly see all their character growth and every side character's growth. Some of them die in the course of the series or live only one or two books. I'm sad to say that Gus McCrae lives through three of the four books. 

Courtesy of myfavoritewesterns.com

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