Written in 1985 by Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove is the tale of Augustus and Call, two former Texas Rangers. The two men are enjoying their life in the dusty town of Lonesome Dove as horse sellers when an old friend, Jake Spoon, drops by. Jake is fleeing an accidental shooting he caused back in Arkansas after getting caught up with a couple of no-good men. Glad to be back with his friends, Jake waxes on and on about Montana and how green and empty it is, perfect for cows and ranchers. Call then decides they will go on a cow drive to Montana, much to the dismay of Gus, who’d rather sit on the porch with his jug.
This is a book with a huge ensemble cast—Lorena, Lonesome Dove’s solitary whore who decides to go along on the cow drive with Jake Spoon; Pea Eye, loyal and reliable but not too smart; Deets, a tracker from their Ranger days, and Newt Dobbs, a 17yr old orphan who just might be Call’s son. Many other memorable characters populate this book, most with the most interesting names.
This book explores the themes of friendship, unrequited love, loyalty, old age and death, and won the Pulitzer prize. There’s also a miniseries that is worth a watch, with Tommy Lee Jones as Call and Robert Duvall as Augustus.
I’ve read this book at least three times, but in May I chose to listen to the audiobook. Well, I actually put the book on hold back in March, probably, but apparently there were a bunch of other people on Libby interested in it, so I had to wait. I only had two weeks to get through the 37 hours (!) so I only read 12 books in May.
Narrator Lee Horsely did an outstanding job, in my opinion, although I did read some reviews that didn’t like that his breathing was audible at times. Horsely really captured Augustus’s personality and each character was easily identified throughout the book. I never found myself wondering who was speaking.
If you like audiobooks, I recommend Lonesome Dove, even if Westerns aren’t your thing.