Streets of Laredo

By Larry McMurtry

Book Overview

The acclaimed sequel to Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize-winning classic Lonesome Dove, and the culmination of the legendary western saga, follows the further adventures of these beloved characters as... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671792822
• ISBN13: 9780671792824
• Release Date: April 1994
• Publisher: Pocket
• Length: 560 Pages
• Weight: 0.61 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 4.3" x 1.3"

Customer Reviews

Disappointed

After placing Lonesome Dove as one of my all time favorite books, Streets of Laredo was disappointing. While still a considerable writing achievement, it had very little of the engaging qualities that made me fall in love with the characters of LD. I felt the writing was, at times, repetitive, dragging out a description to the point of being regurgitative. Next up in by TBR list are the two prequels.

Lonesome Dove Series in Order

If you really enjoy the journey read the series in the correct chronological order not by when they were released. Dead Man's Walk, Commanche Moon, Lonesome Dove and finally Streets of Laredo.

547 pages and two audible gasps later, I'm satisfied

I first read the original, Lonesome Dove, and followed those up with the immensely disappointing Dead Man's Walk and the better but still not entirely worthy Comanche Moon, so by the time I began to prepare to approach Streets of Laredo, I was cautious (well obviously, I dragged out the approach pretty good there). I wondered if McMurtry was up to the task of revisiting the characters that have become so dear to me, or if he'd falter like he had in the prequels. And now, barely post-reading, I can say that I think he did a fine job, though I did have a few problems. Throughout the story I grew more and more suspicious that McMurtry took his story in wild directions, either killing or maiming central characters without a second thought, simply to spite Return to Lonesome Dove, the miniseries sequel that was written and produced without his involvement (and aired prior to the release of this "official" sequel). Certainly, he may have done the unheard of with his characters just to be unpredictable, but I felt a little cheated of closure with characters who I began to consider friends, and the thought that it may have been for no other reason that to set the story apart from the black sheep miniseries, well, it kinda hurt. But whenever I'd begin to feel angry with McMurtry and his murderous ways (he was killing off my friends, man!), I'd get caught up in the story again and endeared with new or expanded characters and begrudgingly forgive him.So while Streets of Laredo may not do with the Lonesome Dove characters what you hope it will, just trust Larry McMurtry. He knows his characters, he knows what he's doing, and wouldn't we be just as angry with him, or more, if he gave us a pacifying, milquetoast resolution that we'd have seen coming anyway?

WOW!

Alright, it's not as good as LONESOME DOVE. That was the first book of the series I read, and it was so brilliant and entertaining, that I almost didn't want to read more and spoil it. But I gave in to temptation, and I'm glad I did. Warning, though...if you thought there were depressing things in DOVE, watch out for this one! Lots of characters die...in fact, lots of memorable characters from LD are already dead when STREETS begins. But you have to accept that sort of thing from McMurtry. His plots, just like life, do what they want to, and no preference from the reader will change that. A feeling of dread hangs over this book, particularly whether Pea Eye and Lorena will ever reunite happily. Jeez, I couldn't read this thing fast enought to see what happened next, and in my opinion, that's about the best praise you can give a book. I've never liked westerns, but thank God I plunged into these. STREETS is not has funny as LD was in parts, but otherwise, it is a very, very worthy sequel.