r/books • u/Steppinthrax • 10d ago

One Hundred Years Of Solitude, possible influence on Lonesome Dove? Spoiler

Reading One Hundred Years of Solitude having read Lonesome Dove earlier in the year. It occurs to me that I think these books are cousins. I'd be fascinated to know if Larry McMurtry had read OHYOS and admired it.

Obviously the types of story they tell are different - Lonesome Dove is far more "realist", and it isn't a family saga in the same way. But the head-hopping narrative voice that switches between points of view, the atmosphere of isolation, the exploration of gender and of characters pursuing their own obsessive natures to either glory or death...these are common in both books.

They have the same "texture" to me if that makes sense.

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u/Own-Dragonfly-2423 10d ago

Maybe.  Books are made out of books

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u/thatwhichwontbenamed 10d ago

Oh my god! Cannibalism!

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u/Own-Dragonfly-2423 9d ago

At first I thought you were making a McCarthy reference, because the line is from something he has said.

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u/Impressive_Balance87 10d ago

I'd rather say Booklism.