> No fan of Westerns... As I understood it, McMurtry wasn't either. He wanted to write a story about people living miserable lives, so he chose the Old West se

> No fan of Westerns... As I understood it, McMurtry wasn't either. He wanted to write a story about people living miserable lives, so he chose the Old West setting because he thought it suited his aim. The surprise came when Lonesome Dove was a hit with people who liked Westerns. Although McMurtry's attitude toward the genre wasn't what Western fans normally wanted, the writing was just so good that it drew you in. With the tremendous popularity of the book, McMurtry was pressed to write sequels. My impression was that he resented having to write in a genre he didn't care for, and this is what influenced him to make the sequels increasingly bleak.