Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
BBM and Lonesome Dove
mariez:
--- Quote from: atz75 on March 19, 2009, 01:52:20 pm ---LOL. No, it didn't give me nightmares. I just thought it was very, very effective writing.
The whole topic of the different Native American populations and individual Native Americans discussed and depicted in both LD and now DMW is interesting and complex. Obviously, an individual character like Blue Duck (I don't really know enough about Buffalo Hump yet, to be able to speak too much about him), is really, really un-likable in his brutality and cruelty. But, as a more general subject, I tend to feel so, so sorry for the Native American tribes... in terms of their land being taken over, their populations being largely eradicated, etc. The scenario in LD describing the starving tribe that they stumble upon coinciding with Deets' death is just such a sad situation. I have very mixed feelings about the whole topic.
--- End quote ---
Yes, McMurtry tackles the plight of the Native Americans in a lot more detail in DMW and "Comanche Moon" than he did in LD. I think the fact that you have mixed feelings shows that he's doing his job well. He doesn't try to sugarcoat the brutality of individual Native Americans or tribes, but he also doesn't try to paper over the fact that the Native Americans were wronged in so many ways.
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: mariez on March 19, 2009, 02:07:54 pm ---Yes, McMurtry tackles the plight of the Native Americans in a lot more detail in DMW and "Comanche Moon" than he did in LD. I think the fact that you have mixed feelings shows that he's doing his job well. He doesn't try to sugarcoat the brutality of individual Native Americans or tribes, but he also doesn't try to paper over the fact that the Native Americans were wronged in so many ways.
--- End quote ---
To me, there's a way to see the settlers and Call, Gus, etc. as the trespassers and the dangerous figures when you think about the overall situation from the Native American perspective.
The cruelty of individual Native Americans like Blue Duck is horrifying... but the cruelty of settlers displacing and killing the Native American population is also horrifying in its own way. It makes the consideration of the stories McMurtry tells very complex and nuanced. And, you're right that he does a good job balancing a sense of the cruelty and brutality with a sense of the overall circumstances for the wider population of Native Americans and settlers.
belbbmfan:
I ordered Streets of Laredo yesterday. I can't wait to read more. I'm actually hesitating starting another book while I wait for this one to arrive. I tend to get disappointed by the book I read after reading a book that I found very enthralling. It raises the bar. I just need to find a really really good one to tie me over.
--- Quote from: atz75 on March 19, 2009, 01:17:59 pm ---
*spoilers*
OMG!! Last night I just read the whole episode in Dead Man's Walk in which Gus is stalked in the pitch dark by Buffalo Hump. Wow! That was so well-written. Talk about a pitch perfect way of making a reader truly experience and sense the fear that the character is experiencing. It's sections of writing like that that I truly love about McMurtry as an author.
:)
--- End quote ---
Oh gosh, and I already found some of the passages in LD difficult to read. I almost dreaded turning the page, wondering what would happen next (I'm thinking about the Lorena situation here). The suspense was sometimes killing me.
Brown Eyes:
That's great that you ordered Streets of Laredo! Whenever I think of that title, I think of Ennis humming the "Streets of Laredo" song before he encounters the bear.
That's the one book from the series that I've yet to order. I decided I wanted to read about Call and Gus in their younger years first before I tackled the Streets of Laredo last. So, after I read Dead Man's Walk, I'm going to read Comanche Moon.
belbbmfan:
'Streets of Laredo' arrived today! Yeehaw. :)
I've started reading it and once again, I'm having trouble putting it down. Right from the very first sentence I'm back in the world of Lonesome Dove. Well, not quite since this books starts 15 years later than where Lonesome Dove finished and lots of things have happened in that time.
I've already encountered a brokeism:
'See you for supper' :)
The book is dedicated to Diana and Sara Ossana.
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