BBM and Lonesome Dove

[belbbmfan]

We're back from a week skiing in the French Alps. I had taken Lonesome Dove with me and boy, what can I say? I couldn't ski for a couple of days because I had blisters on my feet, but I have to honest, I didn't regret it once I started reading. What a great book this is! I'm at page 435 right now, Gus has just gotten Lorie back. OMG, how terrible I felt reading what happened to her, poor woman.

I love the characters, and the often humorous way in which they are described. The dry humour is great. The writing is fantastic, very atmospheric, I can see it all happening in my head (including the really bad stuff  ).

It's extremely difficult to put down, I can't wait to finish it.

Thanks so much for the recommendation Amanda. 

[Brown Eyes]

We're back from a week skiing in the French Alps. I had taken Lonesome Dove with me and boy, what can I say? I couldn't ski for a couple of days because I had blisters on my feet, but I have to honest, I didn't regret it once I started reading. What a great book this is! I'm at page 435 right now, Gus has just gotten Lorie back. OMG, how terrible I felt reading what happened to her, poor woman.

I love the characters, and the often humorous way in which they are described. The dry humour is great. The writing is fantastic, very atmospheric, I can see it all happening in my head (including the really bad stuff  ).

It's extremely difficult to put down, I can't wait to finish it.

Thanks so much for the recommendation Amanda. 

 
Welcome back from your ski trip Friend!  Wow, the French Alps sound exciting... even though I don't ski, I'd love to see the Alps some day.  I hope you had a good time.

**possible spoilers in comments that follow**

And, I'm so glad you're enjoying the book!  Yes, I found it hard to put down too.  You're right that Lorena's situation really is so upsetting and brutal.  McMurtry describes her kidnapping with such realism.  And, Gus is so great and so sensitive towards her following the rescue.  I really like Lorena as a character, I feel so sorry for her on so many levels (and not just about the kidnapping, but also about her daily/normal circumstances)... a really great tragic character, and very much brutalized by her environment/circumstances for so long. 

Gus and Call are so amazingly different when it comes to women.  I find it a particularly distressing aspect of Call's character that he doesn't call women by their names, or is reluctant to do so.  I think it has a lot to do with Call's own fears, but it's very strange.  Gus, on the other hand, seems to have a true sympathy for the women he knows.

[Penthesilea]

We're back from a week skiing in the French Alps. I had taken Lonesome Dove with me and boy, what can I say? I couldn't ski for a couple of days because I had blisters on my feet, but I have to honest, I didn't regret it once I started reading. What a great book this is! I'm at page 435 right now, Gus has just gotten Lorie back. OMG, how terrible I felt reading what happened to her, poor woman.

I love the characters, and the often humorous way in which they are described. The dry humour is great. The writing is fantastic, very atmospheric, I can see it all happening in my head (including the really bad stuff  ).

It's extremely difficult to put down, I can't wait to finish it.

Thanks so much for the recommendation Amanda. 

OK, this seals it.
At first, I didn't have any intention to read the book. But the more people were raving about it, the more interested I got. Your rec sealed it for me Fabienne.

And welcome back!
I missed ya. I didn't know where in the hell you was  .

[belbbmfan]

(((chrissie)))   

What can I say? Read girl, read!!   

I love getting all caught up in a book like this. The characters really stay with you. I'm planning to read a big chunk again this evening.

And to think that I was daunted by the fact that it's 900+ pages. Now, I'm at the stage where I almost regret being half way through. My husband is curious too. I sometimes burst out laughing reading and it intrigues him. I'm sure he's going to love reading it too.

And I'm not to bothered by the fact that I should really look up certain words in the dictionary. I mostly get the gist of the sentence anyway. It really is a 'storyteller's book' if you know what I mean. I struggled more with Annie Proulx' style of writing (which is more impenetrable to a non English native, I think).

And for the holiday, we had a great time Chrissi. It was relaxing, we even took a walk with snow shoes, something I had never done before. It was great fun, very strenuous, but the silence in the mountains when there's just a few people about is amazing.

[Penthesilea]

(((chrissie)))   

What can I say? Read girl, read!!   

I love getting all caught up in a book like this. The characters really stay with you. I'm planning to read a big chunk again this evening.

And to think that I was daunted by the fact that it's 900+ pages. Now, I'm at the stage where I almost regret being half way through. My husband is curious too. I sometimes burst out laughing reading and it intrigues him. I'm sure he's going to love reading it too.

And I'm not to bothered by the fact that I should really look up certain words in the dictionary. I mostly get the gist of the sentence anyway. It really is a 'storyteller's book' if you know what I mean. I struggled more with Annie Proulx' style of writing (which is more impenetrable to a non English native, I think).

And for the holiday, we had a great time Chrissi. It was relaxing, we even took a walk with snow shoes, something I had never done before. It was great fun, very strenuous, but the silence in the mountains when there's just a few people about is amazing.

Hey Fabienne! *waves* 

I ordered LD yesterday evening. Amazon said it would take three weeks to arrive . Maybe I'm lucky and it'll arrive sooner.
A really thick and fascinating book, one you can get lost in for hours, is what I really like, and it sound that's just what LD is.

I also won't bother to look up unknown words (mostly). It disrupts the natural flow of a story and the "getting lost" in it.

[Brown Eyes]

I'm here to report that I finished the mini series last night!  I really enjoyed it, and can't say frequently enough how much I enjoyed the performances of Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall.  I liked the book slightly better than the mini-series... but, really both were great.

Pretty soon I'll start reading Dead Man's Walk and report here about that too.  So, stay tuned!

[ifyoucantfixit]

   I am really glad you enjoyed it so much Amanda.  I sure did too. I am one of those people when I read a book,
or watch a series like that, if I love it.  I hate to see it end.  I want it to keep going and going... 

[mariez]

Fabienne, I'm glad to hear you're enjoying LD so much - it's easy to see why McMurty received a Pulitzer for it, isn't it? 

Chrissi, I'm exicted for you to get the book and start reading, too. 

Amanda, I couldn't agree more about the performances of Duvall and Jones - they were amazing in the roles.


SPOILER

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Near the end, when Call was at Gus's bedside - there is a moment when he just says, "Gus" that really touched me.   You could just feel how much Gus meant to him.     And I can't believe Duvall did not win an Emmy for his performance - he was outstanding.

Marie

[Brown Eyes]

*spoilers*

I agree that Call/ Tommy Lee Jones's performance during Gus's deathbed scene is outstanding, and Duvall's is all the way through.  I think that, in the mini-series in particular, Call becomes much more sympathetic (or at least I feel increasingly sorry for him) around the time of Gus's death and after.

Prior to Gus's death, I enjoyed Call for the banter and bickering with Gus, which I always founds charming and funny at points.  But, in the early stages of the story I don't particularly feel much for Call as a character on his own.  But, with Gus's death, I guess inevitably, Call's own character comes into better focus... and his emotional struggles/ emotional repressions become more and more poignant.  With Gus's death, Call's devotion to Gus becomes very clear, and, it's of course, very touching too.


I agree also about the idea that I was sad with LD (the book) ended.  I'm excited to read the two books that, in terms of narrative chronology, come before LD.  Because, I'm very curious about the partnership between Gus and Call in their younger days.

[Brown Eyes]

As part of "bump-fest" I thought I'd revive this thread a bit.

I've also been meaning to stop by and mention that I started reading Dead Man's Walk the other night.  I'm only about 30 pages into it so far.  And, yikes!  I have to say that so far it seems quite brutally realistic and graphic.  I know McMurtry had moments of that in LD too... but he seems to start this one off on some startling notes!

And, LOL, I notice the theme of Call trying to train a difficult mare has come back in this one.

I'm excited to learn more about how Call and Gus got started in their early years.