The Pulitzer Prize­–winning American classic of the American West that follows two aging Texas Rangers embarking on one last adventure. An epic of the frontier, Lonesome Dove is the grandest novel ever written about the last defiant wilderness of America.

Journey to the dusty little Texas town of Lonesome Dove and meet an unforgettable assortment of heroes and outlaws, whores and ladies, Indians and settlers. Set in the late 19th century, Lonesome Dove is an adventurous story of a cattle drive from Texas to Montana. The narrative centers around two friends: Augustus McCrae, a reluctant rancher who has a way with women, and W. F. Call, whose talent for leadership conceals a secret sorrow. For Gus, Call, and the others who join the journey, the cattle drive is not only a daring and, perhaps, foolhardy endeavor, it comes to represent American dreams of the West.

Richly authentic, beautifully written, always dramatic, Lonesome Dove is a book to make us laugh, weep, dream, and remember.

I received a gifted copy of this book courtesy of the publisher. All thoughts are my own.

I remember my dad being completely obsessed with the TV miniseries based on this book when I was a kid. I never paid it much attention back then, mostly because anything my parents like, I didn’t (yay petulant teen). I’d also heard nothing but amazing things about the book itself over the years, but for whatever reason I never actually picked it up, but then I was gifted a fortieth anniversary copy from the publisher last year and decided to give it a go. I ended up really enjoying it, but holy cow is this thing long. We’re talking almost 900 pages!

The story is set in the late 1870s, right as the era of the open range is winding down. Gus and Call are two aging, retired Texas Rangers running a livery in the dusty, broke down town of Lonesome Dove, TX. Gus is talkative, lazy, and a bit of a romantic who’d rather play cards and drink good whiskey than do actual work. Call is the opposite, stern and quiet and driven entirely by duty. When their old ranger friend Jake Spoon shows back up with stories about the untouched territory of Montana, Call gets fixated on the idea of driving a massive cattle herd all the way from Texas to Montana to start the territory’s first ranch. From there the book becomes this sprawling 1,500 mile journey across the Great Plains, following Gus and Call’s crew alongside several other characters whose paths weave in and out of the main drive, including a prostitute trying to get to San Francisco, a timid sheriff hunting for his runaway wife, and a genuinely terrifying bandit who crosses paths with the group more than once. Along the way there’s horse thieves, brutal weather, deadly encounters, and terrible loss of life.

I really liked a lot of the characters in this book and there were several moments that made me laugh out loud. I got genuinely attached to a handful of people by the end. Gus and Call’s friendship especially is the heart of the whole book. The commitment and connection these two had runs deep and I want to read the other books in the series (especially the prequels) just to go deeper into it.

Here’s my honest issue though, and this is entirely on me, not the book. I’m a fast reader, and I also have ADHD, so once I hit around the 350 page mark of pretty much anything, my brain starts wandering toward what I want to read next. For the back half of this book, I found myself zoning out here and there, not because the story lost me, but because my brain was demanding something new regardless of how good what I was reading actually was. It also didn’t help that I have a stack of ARCs waiting on me and I could feel the clock ticking the whole time I was reading this one.

Looking back, I think I would have gotten more out of this book if I’d let myself split it up. It’s structured in parts, so I easily could have read something else between each part and come back fresh instead of pushing straight through. Lesson learned for next time, especially since I’d like to eventually read the rest of the series, including the prequels, and get more time with these characters.

If you love sprawling Western epics with real character depth and don’t mind committing to something genuinely massive, this is absolutely worth the investment. Just maybe pace yourself better than I did.

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