Lonesome Dove

“Didn't like westerns until I read this book. Epic, heartbreaking, gripping, hilarious. Everybody should read it.”

“Wow. I finished Lonesome Dove yesterday and kind of don’t know what to do with myself now. Such a brutal, emotional, deep, funny, epic book. I found it really addictive to read and already imagine myself reading it again. I think it has some of the most moving writing about a woman/from a woman’s perspective by a man that I’ve ever read which surprised me from a western, but this entire book is surprising and totally blew me away. Anything could and does happen. I wanted to read something in the same caliber of greatness as East of Eden, my favorite book and a book I introduced to my dad who very much shared my love for it. He recently read Lonesome Dove and gave it to me for my birthday. It’s a really special book and definitely up there.”

“Finally read Lonesome Dove, which has been having a moment. Don't let the 800 pages deter you: it's page-turning, laugh-out-loud funny, heartbreaking, and profoundly human. It transcends the Western genre as a novel about kinship, mortality, and what it means to live a good life. Quite possibly the finest storytelling I've ever read 😭”

“This adventure is nothing short of extraordinary. Every word is perfect. I'll be recommending this for a long long time. Thanks to all the RL recommenders who put this on my radar @James Kylstra, @Louise Buckley, @Amanda, and so many others.”

“You can miss all the meetings when you’re riding with Gus and Call. Beautiful prose, epic story. I alternate between being deeply engaged and then daydreaming of my imaginary life as a cowboygirl.”

“My friend thrust this book into my hand after a surprisingly long night out. Took me two months to read but what a journey. This should be required reading for American students. Sorry I said it!! I didn’t have a clear picture of how this time and place might have been experienced by those who lived it and boy, is it harrowing and grim out there on the Great Plains. Fell in love with the characters.”

“What we’re gonna listen to driving from Houston to Santa Fe🤷 why not.”

“Best western novel ever written <3”

“Who didn’t want to be a cowboy growing up? This tickles that fantasy. Heart-wrenching, hilarious, an epic adventure. This book gets a lot of love and it’s totally justified.”

“Cowboys, Indians, but mostly all the little things that make life hard and so worth loving. The nuance of friendship, love and how to show it, regret. It’s loved for a reason. Read it.”

“I know recs for this book abound, but if you're on the fence I want to tell you that this book can be *so funny* and Clara Allen is the most relatable female character - competent warm interesting women make the world go round. Waiting for my husband to finish so we can watch the miniseries together.”

“Melancholic, no-nonsense Western epic. I was bereft for days when I finished it.”

“My first western. Not my usual taste but an incredible journey and a master class in writing distinct characters.”

“The great cowboy novel. Hard to put down. Maybe the most beautiful writing about/from a female character written by a man.”

“I have now joined the large group of people obsessed with this book. Go and get yourself a copy. Truly beautiful storytelling. The characters will stay with you”

“Never thought I’d feel this way about a book on cowboys but it’s my new fave.”

“Immersive Western and I don’t even like Westerns but I did love this”

“A friend recommended this to me and I thought there was no way a book this long and this western could be for me. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Push through the first 100 pages and you will be rewarded with a beautiful and epic story of bravery, friendship, and love. A long book that you’ll wish would keep going when you hit the last page.”

“Required reading for Clara Allen alone!”

“I wish I could start this Summer never having read this book so I could spend all day at the pool crying over this in absolute adoration of Larry McMurtry's Character development. This is the longest book I've allowed in a long time and it was an absolute joyride.”

“Lonesome Dove, Middlemarch, A Fine Balance, East of Eden, Angle of Repose, A Handmaid’s Tale, The Tiger (John Vaillant), Wolf Hall trilogy, One Hundred Years of Solitude, the Earthsea Cycle, Sula, the Neopolitan Novels (Elena Ferrante)”

“big surprise!”

“I work at a literary agency where this book has been revered for ages. I was so intimidated by a Western… not my bag… but when my Gen-Z colleague tackled it last year and loved it… I knew I could do it too. Once they were on the trail, I was hooked.”

“My favorite read this summer”

“an epic story that hooks you from the start”

“My husband recently asked what book I would most like to read again for the first time and I answered before he could finish the question. Lonesome Dove. (Not surprisingly the initial rec came from Cassie 20 years ago)”

“THE sweeping American western novel. I can’t tell you how immersive and entertaining it is. I laughed, I cried, I fell in love with Gus and Deets. It’s a book that stays with you.”

“Epic, earthy, fun. The narrator’s voice sounds like the main character’s. Wonderful so far.”