Streets Of Laredo

I hesitated for a long time before I finally resolved to read this book. The reason was that Lonesome Dove, the first and preceding book in this trilogy, was such a great book and so overwhelming, that I suspected that no following book could equal that elevated satisfaction felt after Lonesome Dove and would just spoil that feeling. In retrospect, this concern has a merit. The current book is well written and a page turner by itself. However, the plot is hursh and troubling. The main protagonists proceeded from Lonesome Dove, but the plot has hardly any resemblance to the former one. This time captain Call, an old reputable ranger, is confronted by a sociopath bandit that overshadows Call's legendary qualities. This confrontation is built up to its pick without sparing the reader's concerns for Call and his team's destiny. Sometimes, I wished that the author had selected the "happy end" route, rather than proceeding in what was deemed as inevitable unfortunate ending. But the author has skillfully escaped this trap. Outlining a plot that seems as authentic as possible, without making any concessions to his beloved protagonists, the author skillfully leads us in this gripping rollercoaster. It's not always a feel-good read. Sometimes, I felt like quiting reading because I dreaded the thought of the events that could possibly happen. Yet, I kept reading to the very last page and I'm glad I did. Some of the occurrences are indeed troubling. Still though, and without making any spoilers, the story is well crafted and once competed, it feels like a comprehensive story that leaves you with a strong hope.

Really enjoyable read, though not as good as Lonesome Dove. Will definitely be reading more by this author. Good character development.

The characters were relatable and likable. This is a book worth reading and re-reading many times.

One of the best books I’ve ever read. Amazing conclusion to an incredible saga.

Streets of Laredo is book two of Larry McMurtry’s saga of Texas. More than book one, it’s a character study. Here we see Captain Call, the famous Texas Ranger in his full glory, yet we know that all people change, and so it is with him. This is a story about change, and about how it affects people, their relationships, and their reality. It’s interesting writing, and I must say, I do appreciate interesting writing.

The book was so full Of action you hardly had time to get your breath till more action was going on.I liked the way it wove it way in and out of book one and the characters.

Larry McMurtry is a true story-teller and the creator of memorable characters. A story is about life and its meanings, it's significance or value. As Gus said in Lonesome Dove, [life] is about LIVIN'. In Streets of Laredo, as in Lonesome Dove, this question underlies character and change (incident being largely the roadmap of such change). Beyond character and event the time and place of the action assumes its own character and influence: LD is about Texas following the Civil War. In LD the railheads are to the north and cattle drivers were necessary. In Streets the railways had begun to expand through Texas and the settling was well underway. But Streets is, above all, about men and women. McMurtry can make a striking beginning: Lonesome Dove begins: "When Augustus came out on the porch the blue pigs were eating a rattlesnake. . . . The sow had it by the neck, and the shoat had the tail." A poisonous snake is caught in the struggle of life and looses. The snake, with its poison, suggests an element of lurking danger. The blue pigs are both vivid and strange. The opportunities for life's beginnings are seen to depend in part on whores. Even here there is love, disappointment and conflict, and there are marriages and (of course) babies. Streets of Laredo begins: "`Most train robbers ain't smart, which is a lucky thing for the railroads,' Call said. `Five smart train robbers could bust every railroad in the country.' `This young Mexican is smart,' Brookshire said, but before he could elaborate, the wind lifted his hat right off his head. He was forced to chase it--not the first time he was forced to chase his hat since arriving in Amarillo. . . . [T]he Texan winds were of a different order than the winds he had been accustomed to in Brooklyn . . . .'" The man from the East out is of his element. His fedora is at the mercy of the wind and so is he. Brookshire feels threatened by the wind (p. 18, loc. 168): "Brookshire, to his surprise, suddenly felt a little desperate--he felt that he didn't dare move. The wind had become even more severe, and he had the sickening sense that he, not his hat, was about to blow away. There wasn't a tree in sight that he could see: just endless plain. Unless he could roll up against a wagon wheel, as his hat had, there would be nothing to stop him for days, if he blew away. . . . [E]very time he happened to glance across the street and see nothing--nothing at all except grass and sky--the feeling got worse." Streets is also about the cement that holds this society together.Charles Goodnight gives Call a place to live, checks on him. Call placed his senile cook, Bolivar, with someone to look after him. Goodnight underwrites the school Lorena teaches, writes a check to build a place for Call at Pea Eye's. Behind this is the main cement of civilization, marriage. The civility of men would have nowhere to go without this, for the forms of civility grow out of women as from the earth: houses, towns, schools, laws; this in contrast to the wild and free. Even prostitution holds the towns of frontier together. The special strength of women can be as impressive as any man's. Maria cleared the whores out of Crow Town and took them through a blizzard to the safety of the railroad. Maria takes Call into her home and helps him to live though he killed her father and brother. The life Maria created, her young daughter, loves Call back to life. Maria gives her life to protect her other children from Joey, then hangs on till she can ask Lorena to take her little ones. She must have recognized in Lorena another like herself. Lorena goes in search of Pea Eye and saves Call, takes him to Maria, then returns to get Pea Eye. Streets Of Laredo

The author has delivered a good book that is appealing to readers. The ending is bizarre. Cut a man's leg off and walk 100 miles without him bleeding to death, farfetched. But otherwise a decent book.It's obvious that the author wishes to damage western sentimentality. All his novels have a bitterswwet flavor, with guaranteed tragedy at the end of the book to beloved characters. It's a shame he reduces the main character to such an unsatisfying ending.His side characters are less appealing than those portrayed in Lonesome Dove. And the book feels rushed at times. Why he chose 17 years post-Lonesome Dove limits our involvement in the story. Wouldn't 5 years post lonesome Dove been more appealing to his readers? A 70 year old bounty hunter in the 1800's. Not very appealing.

die Qualittät der Bücher hat wie beschrieben gestimmt, die Lieferung war pünktlich. Prima

Ayant acheté les 4 livres de la série, j'ai commencé la lecture dans l'ordre chronologique. L'histoire fourmille d'informations, apparemment véridiques, de personnages et de situations pittoresques démystifiant la mythologie de l'ouest, tout en faisant partager la culture des pionniers et des indiens. Les multiples fils de l'intrigue créent un suspens qui donne une envie irrépressible de tourner les pages jusqu'à un final (provisoire) absolument original et innatendu !

I have read all 4 books in the Lonesome Dove series but I came upon them in the wrong order. 'Lonesome Dove' was the first book I read but the prequel to 'Lonesome Dove' was 'Comanche Moon' which I read later. After those two I read the earliest book 'Dead Man's Walk' next and I have to say I had a few suspicious thoughts about this book and its provenance. All that aside, I found the last of the series 'Streets of Laredo' thoroughly enjoyable and pure Larry McMurtry. I have to say that I haven't enjoyed a series of books more in my life than these, notwithstanding my thoughts on 'Dead Man's Walk'. The whole cast of characters from the devil himself Blue Duck, the war Chief Buffalo Hump, the stealthy horse thief Kicking Wolf right down to Rosco Brown floundering around in Texas looking for his boss Sheriff July Johnson. The Rangers - Captains Woodrow Call and Gus McCrae - Pea Eye, Jake Spoon, Deets. The Kickapoo tracker Famous Shoes: the whole awesome gang of them gave me a reading delight I'll never forget should I live to be 100.

Fantastic Novel, my professor suggested me this book. This is the third novel I have comolted reading and the best one!!

After reading the last word of the unforgettable Lonesome Dove I felt myself lost. I needed an epilogue! And Mr McMurtry had it ready for me: Streets of Laredo, and that is that. Somehow dry, compared to the gorgeous previous novel, it tastes dust and sand of the southern Texas & Mexico and from that scenic drought springs out the purest evil one can imagine. Cold horror crosses through the whole book, intertwined with Woodrow Call's last adventure, dry as well. A special mention deserves the curious posse which follows our beloved Ranger indeed.In this last novel of Mr McMurtry's tetralogy moreover one finds the answers to all the unresolvad questions which harass the reader of Lonesome Dove after grasping ill-will its last word...