04 September 2012

Lonesome Dove

LARRY MCMURTRY

Hands down, no contest, no doubt about it, I'm pretty sure this book is going to be my favorite read for 2012.

It took me a long time to read this massive (800+ pages of tiny print) book. I set it down twice to read other books instead, once for a month, and then for two months. Not because I didn't like it, but because there were just other books I wanted and/or needed to read. But when I picked this back up and started in on my third session of reading, at some point I became utterly spellbound. Completely transfixed.

McMurtry makes you see what he is describing, in your head, plain as day. There are lots of characters, and the book seamlessly weaves their stories together or around each other. Sometimes in the middle of a page the point of view will suddenly change from one character to another, but it always flows naturally and is never jarring.

It's been a couple of weeks since I finished the book, and I miss it. I miss Gus and the Captain, and Lorena, and pretty much everybody else. I think about the characters and wonder what happened after the last chapter. I didn't want the book to end. I'm almost tempted to pick it up and start over at page one.

This is not a novel. This is literature.

(I received this book through BookCrossing.)

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