Lonesome Dove
Lonesome Dove
This past summer, I was given a copy of Lonesome Dove from my sister. It’s my parents’ book. They had read it many years ago and lent it out to friends. Those friends lent it out to their friends. It’s actually a bit of a miracle that it made it back to them.
It wasn’t in great condition when I got it. The back cover of the book was barely hanging on. It fell off completely shortly after I got it. I used it as a bookmark for a while.
My family all told me that it is such a great book and I would enjoy it. I felt like I was getting a homework assignment. I love to read, but I don’t like to be assigned a book to read. That’s why I have never joined a book club.
Western
Lonesome Dove is a western. This is not typically a genre I care for. At all. Cowboys, Indians, guns, and shootouts...yuck. Also, lots of animals dying, which I HATE.
It took me a really long time to read the whole book. It is well over 900 pages long and features a lot of discussion of dust. I had to be in the right mood to get into it. I took several breaks and read other books along the way. I just finished it at the end of January.
There were some characters that I enjoyed reading about, like Augustus “Gus” McCrae. There were other characters I didn’t care about at all, like Elmira and Blue Duck. If you have read Lonesome Dove, you would likely agree with me. If you like Blue Duck....yikes.
Accomplished
It was a bit of a sad ending. When I finished it, I felt accomplished. It was a good story, after all. Just not one I would typically read. If my family wasn’t telling me to read it, I wouldn’t have.
I need to watch the Lonesome Dove miniseries now. I think I will have to pay for it since I couldn’t find it on any of my streaming platforms.
I also see that there is a Lonesome Dove Museum (based on the miniseries) at the University of Texas. I informed my dad about it and he wants to go. Maybe when COVID calms down.
Dad
When I told my dad I finished reading Lonesome Dove, I suggested that he should read Harry Potter to call it even. He said “F*ck no”. I figured he wouldn’t be interested. When he saw the first Harry Potter movie, Mom asked him as we left the theater how he liked it. He said, “I could have done without all the magic shit”. To which my Mom replied, “Then it would just be a movie about kids going to school!”.
So, I guess my dad isn’t super into magic.
