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Usually ships in 1 business days | | | Those who have been waiting, through several comparatively disappointing novels, for an appropriate sequel to the memorable and Pulitzer-winning Lonesome Dove can take heart. Streets of Laredo continues that epic of the waning years of the Texas Rangers with all the narrative drive and elegiac passion of its forerunner. Captain Woodrow Call, Gus Macrae's old partner from Lonesome Dove , is long in the tooth but still a legendary hunter of outlaws when he is called upon by the head of one of the railroads now crisscrossing frontier territory to bring to book a young Mexican train robber and killer, Joey Garza. Accompanied by an inappropriate railroad accountant from Brooklyn, a reluctant Texas deputy and gangling, awkward Pea Eye Parker (who is trying to give up the Ranger life and settle down to farming and family with the lovely ex-whore Lorena), Call sets off, roaming the border country in his competent, unassuming fashion. Along the way he manages to slay Mox Mox, a fellow whose specialty is burning his victims alive, but with his arthritic fingers and failing eyes Call is no match for the alert, ice-cold Garza. How Pea Eye eventually gets his man, and how Call, terribly injured, slips into the shadows is the stuff of this sprawling but minutely detailed yarn. As before, McMurtry's empathic way with strong women--Lorena as well as Garza's gallant but despairing mother Maria--is as beguiling as is his way of bringing to life both dark-dyed villains and courtly heroes. As in some great 19th-century saga, the story has more than its share of improbable coincidences--people meeting fortuitously in thousands of square miles of empty territory, hearing vital news at appropriate and inappropriate moments--but these seem only mild contrivances to shape a story packed with action, terror, humor and pathos. Laredo is a fitting conclusion to a remarkable feat of reconstruction and sheer storytelling genius. 375,000 first printing; Doubleday Book Club main selection; Literary Guild alternate.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. | | | |
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| | Product Details | | Author: | Larry McMurtry | | Paperback: | 544 pages | | Publisher: | Simon & Schuster | | Publication Date: | October 17, 2000 | | ISBN: | 0684857537 | | Package Length: | 8.03 inches | | Package Width: | 5.28 inches | | Package Height: | 1.12 inches | | Package Weight: | 1.21 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 74 reviews |
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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Vivid Storytelling About the Old West Jul 12, 2008
The plot of STREETS OF LAREDO seems simple enough. Captain Woodrow Call, bounty hunter extraordinaire, is hired by Colonel Terry, the president of a railroad, to capture train robber and serial killer, Joey Garza. But there are enough twists and turns in Larry McMurtry's novel to turn a simple situation into a complex, risky adventure where both laws and human endurance are stretched to the limit, and often broken.
From the start, Call's quest is filled with obstacles. His colleague, Pea Eye Parker, refuses to join him on the hunt for the first time in years. Like Call, Pea Eye, is getting old and isn't sure he's up to another hunt, especially one that will take him far away from his wife and their five children. Call is also accompanied by Colonel Terry's New York accountant, Ned Bookshire, a man who knows he's out of his depth in the rugged west, but who must accompany Call to keep track of expenses for the Colonel, or else lose his job. From there, things get worse, especially when more than one serial killer arrives in the area to cause trouble.
I've never read a Larry McMurtry novel before, and although I'm told STREETS OF LAREDO is a sequel to LONESOME DOVE, this novel stands well on its own, despite occasional references to the past. Especially interesting was McMurtry's use of back story to provide intriguing and useful details about main characters and a few secondary characters. I have to admit that some back stories were too long. Also, while POV changed often and smoothly, nearly every character used the word "foolish" to describe their past mistakes. By the time Joe Garza reflects on his "foolish" mistakes, I'm wishing McMurtry had kept a thesaurus nearby while writing. Still, McMurtry's talent for detail, narrative description, and riveting storytelling made this novel a great read.
 It's not Lonesome Dove, but still VERY good Jul 06, 2008
At first I wasn't sure I could get into it, Lonesome Dove set the bar pretty high, but after the first few pages I was back into the characters (old and new). Well done! A must if you want to follow up with Call, Lorie, and Pea.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 hmmm Apr 23, 2008
I originally read this 10 years ago and I remembered not liking it, but I decided to sit down and read the Lonesome Dove trilogy back to back. Lonesome Dove is an incredible book. You feel like you are there with the characters. Commanche Moon is a blood bath, but at least the writing is good. Streets of Laredo, on the other hand, is one huge disappointment. The plot line itself is at least tolerable, however it appears to be one big advertisement to try to sell more Lonesome Dove copies...whereas the book ought to be able to stand on its own, the reader is constantly treated to gratuitous dull flashbacks to scenes from Lonesome Dove.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
what next? Apr 21, 2008
very interesting book. keep your wanting to know whats next. the story about the early life of the settlers. how they endured early life of weather, indians, no water.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Good but not great Feb 10, 2008
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.
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