The story revolves around the Hat Creek Cattle Company and Livery Emporium, a livestock trading firm based in the remote border town of Lonesome Dove, Texas. Former Texas Ranger Captains Augustus McRae and Woodrow Call are the joint owners of the firm, and are presented as an archetypal odd couple; Gus is affable, talkative, and compassionate, but is also lazy to the point of eccentric, while Call is a terse and stoic workaholic, but his obsession covers up his insecurities. Events are set into motion when Jake Spoon unexpectedly arrives in Lonesome Dove after being away for more than ten years. Jake served with Gus and Call in the Rangers, but is now a freeloading gambler and no-good drifter. Nonetheless, the tales of his travels inspire Call to set up a ranch in the Montana Territory. Gus is reluctant, but relents when he realises there is an opportunity to reconnect with his old flame, Clara Allen - who has a homestead in Nebraska.
The first part of the story takes place in and around Lonesome Dove, as Call assembles a crew and acquires a herd, and introduces the rest of the Hat Creek Outfit, including hired hands Pea Eye Parker, Joshua Deets, and Newt Dobbs, along with their cook, Bolivar.
As the journey north begins, several layered subplots are introduced:
- Jake is reluctant to travel with the Hat Creek outfit, and elopes with the town's prostitute, Lorena Wood, promising to take her to San Francisco.
- On top of that, Jake is a fugitive after accidentally killing a dentist in Fort Smith, Arkansas. July Johnson, Fort Smith's sheriff and the dentist's brother, reluctantly travels west to follow his trail with his stepson Joe.
- After July leaves, his wife Elmira runs away to seek out her old flame, Dee Boot, falling in with a buffalo hunter called Big Zwey.
- Roscoe Brown, July's inept deputy, sets out after the sheriff to tell him that Elmira has run away and is also pregnant.
With all these subplots and characters, there's a lot to get through. I suppose it's justified as a cattle drive is a slow and arduous business, so you need the sub-plots to break it up.
I think that one of the biggest issues with the book is that there a couple of chapters that contain massive exposition dumps. Sometimes this is important, but it's very distracting when the chapter opens with action that is essentially paused for a couple of pages. This also involves a lot more telling than showing. However, when it does show, it shows really well. The story still manages to create a vivid setting when it isn't dumping exposition, and the journey has some truly rough moments involving hostile fauna, wild weather, and a ruthless desperado called Blue Duck.
The other issue is omniscient viewpoint. It's not easy to get sucked in when you're jumping into different characters' heads. However, this is once again do well enough that it isn't always an issue - especially at the times when the POV character is Newt. He's a teenager who was taken in by Gus and Call after the death of his mother, and it's strongly implied that Call is his father but he is reluctant to admit this. Newt is excited by what the thought of the drive and the sense of adventure this brings, but his idealism is worn away as the cowboys he works with and befriends are slowly killed off - creating some of the saddest stuff I've read in recent years.
Sorry, I seem to have rattled on for a bit. It is a massive read after all. I started it in January and have only just finished it. All in all, it's a slow start, but it's a vivid story with some very gritty and very heart-wrenching scenes. If you're willing to make the time, I do recommend it.
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