It's a common trope in fiction: a final confrontation between the central hero of a story and its central villain. It's an important trope in Westerns, both on the page and screen -- Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" is just one famous example. And we see it in works of fiction that are too many to count: … Continue reading Hero, meet your villain; or, never mind
Comanche Moon
I almost skipped reading "Comanche Moon" because of some critical reviews – and it does have a lot of flaws, which I’ll get into. In the end I decided to read it because it brings back Famous Shoes, the Kickapoo tracker who was practically the best single thing about “Streets of Laredo.” And there is … Continue reading Comanche Moon
Dead Man’s Walk
They say that “Streets of Laredo”, the sequel to "Lonesome Dove,: suffers from not having Gus McCrae, who didn't survive the first book. They also say that because fans wanted to see Gus again, Larry McMurtry wrote his prequels to “Lonesome Dove”, in which we get to see both Gus and Call in their youth: … Continue reading Dead Man’s Walk
Unforgiven in Lonesome Dove
I first saw the "Lonesome Dove" miniseries in 1993, about four years after it had first been shown on television. Essentially a six-hour movie, it was widely credited with resurrecting not only the TV miniseries format but also the genre of the Western, which had been thought of as dead for some years. In fact, … Continue reading Unforgiven in Lonesome Dove
Theology and morality in Laredo
“Streets of Laredo”, the sequel to "Lonesome Dove," is so filled with cruelty and death that paradoxically, it doesn’t feel ultra-realistic; it feels theological and moral – and the environment feels otherworldly. Larry McMurtry once said that with “Lonesome Dove,” he had thought to create a “poor man’s Inferno”, but “Laredo” is where he actually … Continue reading Theology and morality in Laredo
Streets of Laredo
About 10 years ago I saw the television adaptation of Larry McMurtry's novel, "Streets of Laredo," his sequel to "Lonesome Dove." I had recently become a father, and that may have colored my judgment a bit, but I found "Laredo" to be, among many things, most memorably a story about parenthood. Motherhood, in this case. … Continue reading Streets of Laredo
Lonesome Dove book vs movie
I first saw the TV miniseries adaptation of "Lonesome Dove" in the early 90s, about four years after it premiered. I didn't read the novel until this summer. The movie was and probably always will be one of my favorites, but after reading the novel I'm finding some important differences between the two, that I'd … Continue reading Lonesome Dove book vs movie
McMurtry and Cervantes
Larry McMurtry published “Streets of Laredo”, his sequel to “Lonesome Dove”, in summer 1993. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution then ran a piece by Michael Skube, who compared “Lonesome Dove” to “Don Quixote”: Living briefly off the luster of its predecessor, a sequel establishes its own grounds as art or it diminishes the work from which … Continue reading McMurtry and Cervantes
Don Quixote and Lonesome Dove
I've recently finished Larry's McMurtry's western, "Lonesome Dove," a magnificent novel that I cannot get off my mind. I've been doing a little research about the book, and apparently McMurtry was partly inspired by "Don Quixote." In his 2008 memoir, he wrote: [E]arly on, I read some version of Don Quixote and pondered the grave … Continue reading Don Quixote and Lonesome Dove
Bible quotes in Little House books
A while ago I compiled a list of Bible-and-book quotes in the Little House TV series. I've now done essentially the same thing for the Little House novels. I've included the principal 8 Little House novels of Laura Ingalls Wilder, plus the posthumously published ninth novel, "The First Four Years", and her recently published memoir, … Continue reading Bible quotes in Little House books
