Dead Man's Walk

The return of Augustus McCrae, a man who "believed he had been put on earth to enjoy himself" (pg. 35), is entirely welcome in this prequel to Lonesome Dove. However, neither Gus nor the reader ever has time to enjoy themselves in this third book of the series, which is so different in spirit and texture to its magical predecessor. Dead Man's Walk is an aimless procession of walking through deserts and prairies and mountain wildernesses, scavenging for food and starving and freezing and getting scalped. Just as our band finishes one such journey, they embark upon another one with all the same features, and then again, and again.

Unlike the two previous books, there are no alternate point-of-views or grandly interweaving storylines; show more instead, we only follow a young Gus and Woodrow Call (lacking the assurance they have in Lonesome Dove, and consequently a lot of their charm) on this interminable, aimless, featureless quest. It is a pointless adventure: repetitive, relentless and wearying, and it ends with silliness (a white mule prophecy?). Though the storytelling ability is still there, Larry McMurtry has had a complete creative failure in terms of reproducing – let alone building on – anything that was great about Lonesome Dove. show less

I’m delighted to be engrossed in the Lonesome Dove series by Larry McMurtry. I’m reading the books in the order they were written, and Dead Man’s Walk is the third book in the series. Interestingly, I recently started watching the four-part Lonesome Dove television miniseries from 1989. It’s an excellent miniseries, and the star-studded cast of characters makes it easier to visualize the characters in the story. Robert Duvall’s portrayal of Gus McCrae is my favorite. It’s a coincidence that I started reading Dead Man’s Walk around the same time I began watching the miniseries. It’s been a pleasure to read and watch them simultaneously.

Dead Man’s Walk serves as a prequel to Lonesome Dove and is the first chronological show more novel in the series. Set in the early 1840s, it follows young, inexperienced Texas Rangers Augustus “Gus” McCrae and Woodrow Call as they embark on their initial ventures into the unforgiving and perilous frontier. The story revolves around their expedition to Santa Fe. Led by incompetent and often ruthless officers, the group faces relentless threats, including attacks from the formidable Comanche war chief Buffalo Hump, harsh environmental challenges such as extreme heat, storms, and the treacherous Jornada del Muerto (“Dead Man’s Walk”), betrayal, starvation, and eventual capture by Mexican forces. The narrative vividly captures the raw and unadorned reality of the American West, while also charting the early development of Gus and Call’s enduring friendship and the formation of their legendary personas.

I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with the young Gus and Call. It was entertaining to learn about their meeting and witness the strong foundation they were building. I’m grateful for stories like this that allow me to learn about the old west without having to experience it firsthand. The brutal setting they lived and fought to survive was truly remarkable. I was pleased to learn how Gus met Clara as well. This information greatly helped me understand their relationship in Lonesome Dove.

I purchased the audiobook of Dean Man’s Walk through my Audible membership. I immensely appreciated listening to the story narrated by Will Patton. Recently, I bought the final installment, Comanche Moon, from Audible. I eagerly anticipate listening to it soon.

I have photos and additional information that I'm unable to include here. It can all be found on my blog, in the link below.
A Book And A Dog show less

4.5 stars

Really enjoyed it! I've read Lonesome Dove once, and wanted to do the series in chronlogical order, which so far is working well. This #3 published is the first for a young Call and Gus. Many good people die - some bad - and of course a lot of animals. Brutal is this book. The ending with the English lady was timeless, and I especially adored Mattie. I always loved Gus in Lonesome Dove but his younger side sure was jealous and a bit annoying in comparison to the more steadfast Call. You get an early Clara acquantance, and the worst of each race, although I'll hand it to the terrifying Commanches in this one.

And they say people are so bad now and first blamed music, then games, then social media.

Yeah, no. Funnily enough, I went show more over to parents when done reading this and told my mother what I read and that I was so glad to be born now and not then. She agreed. We then went inside and saw my dad is rewatching Game of Thrones again. Yeah, I'm glad I wasn't born in the Middle Ages or Tudor times...or Roman times.

Really, this is the best of times and the worst of times for every generation I guess.

Either way, very brutal and depressing, and it's broken into sections, each of them tense and harsh in their own way, I stayed as invested into each leg of the journey. show less

A worthy prequel to Lonesome Dove, although this was written by McMurtry ten years later, and it shows in the bleakness of the story. (Woodrow) Call and Gus (Augustus McCrae) are again the main characters, and the book tells the story of their early experiences together:
• Their first joining the Texas Rangers and heading from San Antonio to explore a stage route to El Paso, before being attacked by Comanches including Buffalo Hump. They return to San Antonio, reduced in number and more properly aware of the Indians’ superiority in the wilderness.
• Their second journey with the Rangers from Austin towards Santa Fe, except that they divert to track Buffalo Hump and a small band of Comanches.
• Their forced journey across the desert show more known as Dead Man’s Walk (providing the book’s title).
• Their return journey. Unfortunately this section felt rushed, in trying to bring the various storylines to a close, although providing an unforgettable scene.
I have missed more precise descriptions to avoid spoilers in the above summary.
This is a grim tale, and although episodic, I revelled in the imaginative storytelling, especially the haunting ending. show less

Like a discount Blood Meridian, except our heroes get soundly thrashed for 2/3rds of the book. Nothing really wrong with it, some good western bleakness, but nothing really special either. Also suffers from being a prequel which takes a lot of the tension out of the life or death struggle when you know who's got a date with destiny in an earlier (later) book.

As a prequel to Lonesome Dove, this is the reader's first introduction to Call and Gus and their budding friendship. Together they join an expedition from Texas to New Mexico. They, along with 200 other men, cross a landscape fraught with danger at every turn. Apache and Comanche natives that could steal a captain's horse or thirty without a sound; slit your throat without disturbing a single sleeping comrade. Mexican armies trying to defend "their land" from the Texans. Hunger and thirst at every mile. There are so many ways to die: falling over a cliff, drowning in a river, bleeding to death as a result of a scalping or throat cutting, arrow or lance through the heart, hanging, burning, whipping, suicide, starvation, freezing, show more exhaustion, thirst, firing squad, crushed by a horse, snake bite, spider bite, suicide, being run down by a buffalo, or gored by a bear. Things turn from bad to worse when the Rangers are captured and forced into a dead man's walk across the desert in leg irons. Be forewarned - only a few will survive.
Please keep in mind, Dead Man's Walk was published in 1995 and takes place years before one needed to be politically correct. In the spirit of authenticity of the era, one will have to endure racism and sexism on multiple levels. In contrast, McMurtry several times acknowledges native ownership of the land Call and Gus travel.
The opening line of Dead Man's Walk reminded me of a line from Josh Ritter's song "Myrna Loy" for she had a wolf pup at her heels and a snow white rabbit huddled in her arms. It wasn't a 200lb prostitute carrying a snapping turtle by the tail...but close. show less

Not quite Lonesome Dove, but still, it's Larry McMurtry! Lonesome Dove is one of my top ten books of all time, and I have finally been catching up reading the other books in this series. Dead Man's Walk is the 3rd book written, but is actually chronologically the 1st in this series. In it we see a young Augustus McCrae and a young Woodrow Call as they were in the mid 1800's. The time line for this book is approximately 1850 and Gus and Call are young Texas Rangers trying to make their way in the very wild west of Texas and Mexico. As with all McMurtry's books, the characters are key to the story. The big whore Matilda Roberts, the frightening Comanche chief Buffalo Hump and the famous Apache killer Gomez, along with many other show more unforgettable characters. The boys face all kinds of dangers on their trek to Santa Fe where there are rumours that there is gold to be picked up from the streets. They face dangers and extremely bad weather the whole way and are finally captured by a contingent from the Mexican army. This ragtag bunch of Rangers are forced to walk 200 miles through the most forbidding environment in the world with tornados, snow storms, no food or water and nasty Indians tailing them the whole way.This is the Old West like you've never read about. The best thing about this book is that it brought the backstory of Gus and Call to life for me. As if these characters aren't already like real life people in my imagination. Call and Gus are engraved on my brain. My only disappointment is that I have only one book left to read in this tetralogy and that is Comanche Moon. I am reading them in the order that they were written. I listened to this on audiobook, read by Jack Garrett, who does a remarkable job of bringing these characters to life. show less