Category: Blog

I liked this story. I was a little put off by the way the author put the dialogue together, when a character would be having discussion that was not at all realistic to the situation. It was the way the author presented background information – he had the character’s tell it as part of their dialogue. This is fine, except with the discussion isn’t at all realistic to the situation.

A bit of a mystery, a bit of an adventure story, and a bit of intrigue, wrapped around pretty good character development. That’s how I’d describe this book. I’d recommend it to folks who like political intrigue stories, to folks who enjoy good character development, and to folks who enjoy rooting for the underdog.

Before reading this, I saw a couple reviews from folks who seemed to think this story had a political agenda, and that seemed to reduce the value of the writing and the story to them. It seemed to me that the author presented a scenario, and presented background information on the scenario that gave many sides to the issue. If you like your politics and your dilemmas served up from just a single pre-judged perspective, without the benefit of seeing things from the other guy’s perspective, then I suppose this book would bother you. It does present the perspective of folks who we rarely get to hear from. Personally, I don’t like having my opinions and perspectives force-fed to me – I like heading many sides to a story so I can decide for myself. I liked that this book did that.

Having said that, for those who (like me) enjoyed the book, it appears from the author’s website that he decided to turn this idea into a series. I’ll read another one for sure, in hopes that the little annoying dialogue thing I mentioned earlier improves.

The short version of the review is that this book stands on its own as one I really enjoyed.

Now, there are some caveats I need to get through.

I like to read things in order. McMurtry wrote his Lonesome Dove “series” in somewhat reverse order, starting with Lonesome Dove, then writing the prequels (Comanche Moon and Dead Man’s Walk). I figured that reading them in the right chronological order (the reverse of how he wrote them) would have me reading his best work first since I would assume he would develop and improve as a writer.

I was wrong. I have no idea why McMurtry wrote the prequels to this story, and I’ll review those in another post. On this post I want to focus only on Lonesome Dove, the first of the three that he wrote, and the one I truly enjoyed.

McMurtry creates some truly memorable characters in Gus and Call. The two characters are built of many of the sorts of building blocks that most men want to be built of, but they also have some of the crumbling mortar holding those blocks together that we’ve all endured and developed in our flawed lives.

Call is the perfect picture of the man who hides everything he doesn’t really want to look at deep inside hard work and long hours. He is a wonderful image of that “lone wolf” that so many of us feel inside our heart. McMurtry does a great job of letting the weakness and flaws of those sorts of building blocks shine through brightly. For an introvert like myself, Call is a wonderful hero character.

Gus is the true “star”. He displays the easygoing and fun-loving spirit that most men with they could find within themselves. He loves whiskey and women, and never misses a chance for a card game and a tumble in the hay. He’s the perfect image of irresponsible fun most men wish they could get in closer touch with. With the upside that when the chips are down and the important work needs to get done, Gus is always there. He’s learned what’s really important in life, and that’s what he focuses on.

While there were a few places where the story felt a bit draggy, they were few and far between. I would absolutely recommend this to any man, and particularly to men of my age who grew up idolizing “The Western”. Women might enjoy it as well – his writing really is romantic in many respects. In fact, that’s probably what I really enjoy about it – the mix of adventure, introspection, and romance.

I like 4.5 stars, but don’t have an image for that, so I’ll go ahead and give it 5.

Larry McMurtry Website

Born to Run tells the story of a fella who goes to Mexico to learn more about a tribe of super-endurance runners. He meets some great characters, and along the way, helps to organize an ultra-endurance event where some of the best in America run with the folks who’ve been doing it for generations.

However, the real beauty of the book is the wonderful way McDougall weaves http://www.chrismcdougall.com/ story into the story of how he became a better runner, and how others have done the same.

In addition, there’s some really good little snippets in there about some truly amazing athletes.

I’m a cyclist not a runner, but have to say that after reading this book, I’m actually motivated to do a little running. I’ve always considered myself “too dense” to run – meaning I don’t want to mess with my joints with my heavy-boned jarring. However, the book is really targeted as guys like me – offering some hope that we can join in the fun as well.

Chris McDougall’s Website

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