Worth Reading: Lovesome Dove
If You Read One Western, Read This
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
(Amazon affiliate link)
Why it’s worth your time
The Western is one of my favorite genres. Adventure. Courage. Cowboys and Indians. Does it get any better?
Maybe I love them most because they remind me of being a kid on Saturday, sitting on the couch next to my Dad, watching John Wayne “fix their wagons,” as my Dad used to say when he’d give someone what they deserved.
Then there was the four-part Lonesome Dove miniseries that came out in 1989, starring Robert Duvall as Captain Augustus McCrae and Tommy Lee Jones as Captain Woodrow Call. Classic performances. I still remember the slow-motion scene of Sean O’Brien losing his life to the water moccasins in the Nueces River. Cheesy now. Terrifying then. And that was nothing compared to the terror of Blue Duck!
As much as I recommend the show, the book is better. The book is always better.
Here’s the bottom line: McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove is, unequivocally, the greatest Western ever written. I’m not sure there is a close second. I can’t imagine how there could ever be one.
The book is filled with unforgettable characters, laugh-out-loud humor, and deep emotion that make you feel like a companion on the cattle drive from Texas to Montana. Those aren’t just cowboys on the trail. They are your friends. It’s a book that feels real.
The story is as wide as the Western frontier itself. It’s long, but it never drags. Even the first 200 pages—slow in the estimation of some readers—build the characters so well that by the end of the nearly 900 pages, you still haven’t lived in their world long enough. (No wonder McMurtry wrote a sequel and two prequels.)
Lonesome Dove is worth reading not because of the story (as great as it is) but because of the characters. It’s hard to think of a book that creates a more human feel.
What it’s about
Two former Texas Rangers, Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call, inspired by their old friend Jake Spoon, decide to drive a herd of cattle from Texas to Montana. Before they go, they must gather a herd, say goodbye to their long-time home, Lonesome Dove, and prepare for the adventure before them. Of all the dangerous things they’d done together, the cattle drive proves more costly and demanding than anyone expects.
Why it matters
It’s not just an adventure story. It’s a deeply human story. One of friendship, aging, and bravery, and of love, loss, and regret. There is no romanticism in these pages of a West with White hats and Black hats. There are only Gray hats, a mix of right and wrong in each character. Imagined as they may be, the characters feel as real as they can be.
In their stories, we find our stories. We all carry a sense of duty, a free spirit longing for change, a deep desire for love, and the sorrow of regret and failure. Inside us all is a whore trying to find new life, an aging leader wondering why anyone follows, a thrill-seeking youngster ready for an adventure, a stubborn heart unwilling to let go.
This book matters not because of the story it tells but because of the humans who tell it—the humans who are it.
Who it’s for
If you like Westerns, generally, but especially from the pens of Cormac McCarthy, Louis L’Amour (with more depth), or Charles Portis.
If you enjoy character-driven stories, long journeys, and slow-building emotional payoff.
If you’re looking for a book you can get completely lost in, and think about long after it’s over.
Final thought
Lonesome Dove is about as complete a book as I have ever read.
⭐️ Worth your time: Yes
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