Lonesome Dove Readalong - Chapters 51-60

This weeks questions are provided by Melissa from Gerbera Daisy Diaries and if you'd like to see her answers, as well as Amy's and Leah's, please visit My Friend Amy. You can also just head over directly to Melissa's and Leah's blogs.


1. Lorena’s situation is hell. How does she endure the suffering? (Or anyone who is put in a position of utter brutality). What are your overall feelings and thoughts about her, Blue Duck, Dog Face, Monkey John and the whole camp scene? Where does such evil come from?


I have no idea how she indeed managed to mentally survive this ordeal (although if she indeed survive it remains to be seen). I was obviously very shocked at the brutality and I honestly can't tell you where this evil comes from. I wonder about it daily when I hear about people committing awful crimes and I still have no clue. The worst for me is that I look at my infant son and realize that all there murderers and rapist were once such innocent babies. The question is, what went wrong? I know that Lonesome Dove is fiction but honestly, if it can be thought of, it has probably been done already.

2. The two story lines finally collide when Gus meets up with July and his gang – did you have any premonition it would end the way it did? Do you think July is reluctant to set out on his own to find Elmira?


This was the most shocking and unexpected part of the story so far. I had no idea that this was going to be the end of the road for Roscoe, Joe and Janey. Even after they were slaughtered, I found myself thinking, Did this just really happen?. I'm still digesting the events of that night. None of what happened have I even imagined would. As far as July goes, I really don't know what to think of him. he should just forget about Elmira and maybe join Gus and Lorena.

3. Call is obviously distraught that Gus hasn’t returned, do these emotions surprise you? Do they seem out of character for Call? Do you think he is more worried now that Po Campo has shed light on how bad Blue Duck is?

That's the one thing I'm not surprised about. I expected Call would be distraught. For a while there I thought call was the one showing up in time to rescue Gus not the July party. But like the girls said, Call and Gus still seem like an old marriage and Call does care about Gus more than he wants to admit, maybe even to himself.