I almost gave up. I was plodding along, almost 200 pages in and thought, “I don’t think I can do this.” I thought it was mildly interesting, but dry. 858 pages of horses, beans, whores and rangers? Penny and I were buddy reading at the time, and we went back and forth with our complaints. This is not the page burner we thought it would be. Every woman introduced seemed to be a “whore.” There was an exhausting number of references to biscuits and beans. And good LORD – what was with the pigs?
Then I brought the novel to work, as I was planning to tackle more of it during my lunch. A co-worker came into my office and immediately noted the book sitting on my desk. “That’s one of my favorite books,” he said. He and I talk books often, and I respect his recommendations. I looked at him agog, and said “seriously? This book?” And he told me that Augustus McCrae was one of the finest characters in literature. I just stared at him. “Keep reading,” he said. “Trust me.”
So, I kept reading.
What unfolded in front of my eyes was an adventure for the ages. I started to learn why this book won the Pulitzer. The characters reached across the text and grabbed me by the collar. I was completely hooked. With each page, I grew more attached to the cast, more enveloped in the terrain and more breathless with each scene. I laughed out loud, gasped, grinned and ugly-cried twice. More importantly, I recognized Augustus McCrae for what he was: a brave, fiercely loyal, dryly funny, incredibly wise, and endearing former Texas Ranger. He was a protagonist unlike any other. My co-worker was right. There’s only one Augustus McCrae.
And this is coming from someone who does not read Westerns.
Is the book an easy read? No. There are scenes that are difficult to get through. There’s violence. There are degrading conversations about women. There are troubling scenes with Native American tribes. Normally, I would rail against this type of content. But I started to understand that the narrative matched the terrain, and the book reflected the historical significance of the American West. And for every scene that made me wince, there were five that followed that exemplified love, friendship and reverence.
Not to mention that at 858 pages, this is a reading commitment.
But not only did I rate this novel 5 stars, not only was I bereft when the story came to a close, but I ran out and bought the next two in the series. And the poor library book that I’m reading right now is sweet, but it doesn’t stand a chance following Lonesome Dove. Sadly, my current read is a victim of a terrible book hangover.
Should you tackle this novel? Yes. Notwithstanding its Pulitzer status, it’s a gripping adventure and a remarkable character study. The scenes will play out for you in stunning detail and you’ll get so attached to Gus, Call, Lorie, Newt, Clara, Pea Eye and Deets that you’ll pine for them when they leave your company. For lack of a better word, this novel is epic. Lonesome Dove is now in my all-time Top 10 lifetime reads, and I predict that it will be my favorite novel of 2025.
On to Streets of Laredo.
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