Discover Well-Read Black Girl Books and the projects reshaping publishing →

Book Summary and Reviews of Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

Lonesome Dove

A Novel (Lonesome Dove, 3)

by Larry McMurtry

  • Readers' Rating (3):
  • Published:
  • Nov 2000, 864 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

The Pulitzer Prize­–winning classic of the American West that follows two aging Texas Rangers embarking on one last adventure. An epic of the frontier and rich with complex characters, Lonesome Dove is the grandest novel ever written about the last defiant wilderness.

Journey to the dusty little Texas town of Lonesome Dove and meet an unforgettable assortment of heroes and outlaws, whores and ladies, Indians and settlers. Richly authentic, beautifully written, always dramatic, Lonesome Dove is a book to make us laugh, weep, dream, and remember.

Please be aware that this discussion may contain spoilers!

See what our members are saying about this book in our Community Forum.

Did you read any books in 2025 that are widely considered classics? If so, which ones and why?
My reading list was really light on classic reads this year. The only two that might be considered more well-known, as well as "modern," classics were Lonesome Dove (Larry McMurtry) and Foundation (Isaac Asimov) . My other classic reads were more obscure: Spain in our Hearts . Pablo Neruda The Qu...
-Gabi_J


What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (11/13/2025)
I'm still reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry-1/3 through its 950 pages, and wanted to say it is as wonderful and amazingly good as everybody's been telling me for decades! And I say this as some...
-Judith_G


What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (10/23/2025)
The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman, Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber and Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry.
-Gabi_J


What's your favorite book series?
The Lonesome Dove series by Larry McMurtry and the Longmire books by Craig Johnson
-Leslie_R


Think about your favorite genre. To you, which author is the master of that genre?
My favorite fiction genre is by far historical fiction. There are so many great authors writing historical fiction, but I'd have to say my all-time number one is Larry McMurtry. Nothing will ever top Lonesome Dove as my favorite book of all time. Willa Cather's writing is beautiful. I enjoy liter...
-Lana_Maskus


What are you reading this week? (5/15/2025)
I just finished The Correspondent by Virginia Evans and it is wonderful! This novel in letters follows the life of elderly Sybil Van Antwerp as she tries to make sense of her past, and navigate her future. She writes letters to EVERYONE, including some of her favorite authors. One of my favorite ...
-Evonne_Benedict


Which literary death was the hardest for you to come to terms with?
...nting pair, grieves herself to death at his grave in Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. I cried for days afterward. The death of Gus McCrae in Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry broke my heart when I read the book. I remember exactly where I was when I was reading those pages. My husband, daughter, and I watched the TV minise...
-Lana_Maskus

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Lonesome Dove" is Larry McMurtry's loftiest novel." —Los Angeles Times

"A marvelous novel ... moves with joyous energy ... amply imagined and crisply, lovingly written. I haven't enjoyed a book more this year ... a joyous epic." —Newsweek

"Everything about "Lonesome Dove" feels true ... These are real people, and they are still larger than life."--Nicholas Lemann." —The New York Times Book Review

This information about Lonesome Dove was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Click here and be the first to review this book!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Larry McMurtry

Larry McMurtry (1936–2021) was the author of twenty-nine novels, including the Pulitzer Prize–winning Lonesome Dove, three memoirs, two collections of essays, and more than thirty screenplays. He lived in Archer City, Texas.

More Author Information

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked Lonesome Dove, try these:

  • North Woods jacket

    North Woods

    by Daniel Mason

    Published 2024

    About this book

    A sweeping novel about a single house in the woods of New England, told through the lives of those who inhabit it across the centuries—a daring, moving tale of memory and fate from the Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Piano Tuner and The Winter Soldier.

  • The River jacket

    The River

    by Peter Heller

    Published 2020

    About this book

    From the best-selling author of The Dog Stars, the story of two college students on a wilderness canoe trip - a gripping tale of a friendship tested by fire, white water, and violence.

  • The Great Alone jacket

    The Great Alone

    by Kristin Hannah

    Published 2019

    About this book

    From the author of The Nightingale, comes a story of a family in crisis and a young girl struggling to survive at the edge of the world, in America's last true frontier.

We have 10 read-alikes for Lonesome Dove, but non-members are limited to three results. Join free to see the complete list of recommendations.
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes

More Literary Fiction

Browse all Literary Fiction books

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    When No One Else Will
    by Amanda Skenandore
    1940s Chicago nurse risks everything at an illegal women’s clinic during a high-profile trial of courage and sisterhood.
  • Book Jacket
    A Pair of Aces
    by Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray
    Two women on opposite sides of the law team up to bring down gangster Lucky Luciano in this gripping novel.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket
    The Reimagining of Thornwood House
    by Jaleigh Johnson
    A witch and her ward discover a magical walking house and find the true meaning of home.
  • Book Jacket
    The Jellyfish Problem
    by Tessa Yang
    A marine biologist rescues a Maine island menaced by a giant glowing jellyfish in this inventive debut.
  • Book Jacket
    Feast
    by Catherine Kurtz
    In 19th-century France, a girl with a magical taste becomes a duc’s poison taster amid nobility and danger.
  • Book Jacket
    Summer's Never Over
    by Darby Bozeman
    A woman revisits a Southern summer camp where a counselor's death may not have been an accident.
Who Said...

What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading, you wish the author that wrote it was a ...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Book
Trivia
  • Book Trivia

    Can you name the title?

    Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

S the B

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.