Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
BBM and Lonesome Dove
Front-Ranger:
You're right, as usual, my friend the wily black cat!
Of all the interwoven stories going on, I love the story of Roscoe the inept deputy the most. For a timid bumbler, he seems to wander into fortunate situations involving women who are able to help him a lot. Now he's paired up with Janey, a backwoods Athena, and they just managed to escape certain death at the hands of two outlaws.
I'm also enjoying seeing how the main characters split up and come together again, even though they travel a large territory. Larry McMurtry is such a master at the logistics of plot!!
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: Mrs Robinson on April 01, 2009, 02:03:58 pm ---You're right, as usual, my friend the wily black cat!
Of all the interwoven stories going on, I love the story of Roscoe the inept deputy the most. For a timid bumbler, he seems to wander into fortunate situations involving women who are able to help him a lot. Now he's paired up with Janey, a backwoods Athena, and they just managed to escape certain death at the hands of two outlaws.
I'm also enjoying seeing how the main characters split up and come together again, even though they travel a large territory. Larry McMurtry is such a master at the logistics of plot!!
--- End quote ---
I'm glad you're enjoying it Mrs. Robinson! :) I really like Roscoe and Janey too. Roscoe is so bumbling, but likeable... and Janey is such a strong little kid, resourceful, etc.!
You're absolutely right about how odd it is to think about people bumping into each other or crossing paths, etc. across such vast amounts of geography. Sometimes it feels like Larry's talking about people running into each other within the space of a small town or community rather than hundreds and thousands of miles. It's a trend that keeps happening throughout the book and in Dead Man's Walk too.
On a different note... last night in the bath tub as I was reading DMW (I read a lot in the bath tub)... I came up with a pretty concrete reason why I preferred the book Lonesome Dove to the mini-series (even though I enjoyed the mini series... it didn't have the same impact on me as the book). I think the access to the different characters' internal thoughts and first person observations, musings, fears, etc. in the book is so compelling. Seeing these different adventures in the first person through the eyes and thoughts of the different people was a vital part of LD and still is in DMW. I mean, in the book LD, experiencing the early part of the cattle drive through the eyes of Newt (experiencing his fears, and seeing things fresh through his relatively naive eyes... much like the reader is to some of the cowboy customs and activities, was really effective). In the mini-series, we're observing the characters from a distance, but we're not allowed the same access into their heads. It's just a slightly different experience of both the story and the characters.
Brown Eyes:
The other night I noticed another Brokieism embedded... well, this time in Dead Man's Walk.
**not really a spoiler of much significance. but a minor spoiler nonetheless**
There's a passage in the middle of the book where a large group of Rangers is trying to reach New Mexico from Austin, and most of the rangers are quite in experienced and very few know much about the territory they're crossing. At one point they encounter an enormous herd of buffalo. Most of them get excited about the idea of hunting. But the Captain leading the expedition gives a general order forbidding anyone from shooting a buffalo. And, one of the Rangers makes a comment very similar to Jack's observation about the sheep... "but there's thousands of them."
The general descriptions of the huge buffalo herd very much reminded me of the way the sheep were sometimes described (an even visualized in the film)... extending for a long, long distance, filling the field of vision, etc.
Brown Eyes:
So, the end is in sight for Dead Man's Walk for me. I have maybe about 100 pages left, and I'll start Comanche Moon after that.
I'm liking Dead Man's Walk but not as much as LD. There got to a point in the flow of this narrative a while back where it feels like McMurtry started almost going through a laundry list of "worst case scenarios". LOL, it really does just feel like one horrible situation after another. It's hard to believe that anyone could survive some of the circumstances they encounter on the "walk." I mean, I know that Call and Gus must survive this adventure (I keep reminding myself of this), but wow, the whole thing seems very grim. This book is responsible for giving me a nightmare! Which is a pretty unusual thing for me.
mariez:
--- Quote from: atz75 on April 13, 2009, 02:02:33 pm ---So, the end is in sight for Dead Man's Walk for me. I have maybe about 100 pages left, and I'll start Comanche Moon after that.
I'm liking Dead Man's Walk but not as much as LD. There got to a point in the flow of this narrative a while back where it feels like McMurtry started almost going through a laundry list of "worst case scenarios". LOL, it really does just feel like one horrible situation after another. It's hard to believe that anyone could survive some of the circumstances they encounter on the "walk." I mean, I know that Call and Gus must survive this adventure (I keep reminding myself of this), but wow, the whole thing seems very grim. This book is responsible for giving me a nightmare! Which is a pretty unusual thing for me.
--- End quote ---
Oh, no - so it actually did ending up giving you a nightmare! Was it one specific part? I agree with your assessment, Amanda. LD stands out as my favorite book in the series, although I did like the others. It's been a while since I've read it, but I believe the "worst case scenarios" continue right through the end. There was also a mini-series made of DMW. I wouldn't buy it - but it's worth watching (I borrowed a copy from my local library). Let us know when you complete the book and what you think of the ending. :)
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