After really enjoying the humor and odd stories of "Texasville" this was a disappointment.

"..and that's all I have to say about that.." ~ Forrest Gump ( )

It snuck up on me but I ended up loving this book. Very nice meditation on growing old and accepting loss. ( )

3.5 ***
This is the third book in the series of novels that explore the lives of the residents of Thalia Texas. Duane Moore is 62 and a successful oilman, married, with 4 children and 9 grandchildren. One day he parks his pick-up truck and starts walking, becoming the subject of town gossip and speculation, and completely baffling his wife, Karla. Duane’s “mid-life crisis” and search for a meaningful life forms the central plot of this work. ( )

A strangely wonderful book. McMurtry has a wide skill set. I love almost all of the stuff he has written. I'd have given this a perfect score, but I have problems with the use of certain language. It was slow starting for me, but once I got going, I read quickly. ( )

Okay, so first, Larry's McMurtry's Thalia trilogy (now actually four books) isn't something I would recommend universally. On the whole, I can see men relating to and enjoying these books more than women (there are always exceptions, of course). Second, I lived in Wichita Falls for a few years and so am pretty well acquainted with the regional setting and its culture. Most people who read these books won't share that intimate context. For me, having vivid images in my head of the relatively tiny area that Duane Moore navigates within greatly enhances the reading experience. The town of Thalia is based on McMurtry's hometown of Archer City, a tiny crossroads southwest of Wichita Falls that I often rode my bike to. While McMurtry renames Archer City in his books, he leaves all surrounding place, street, and landmark names intact. So, each mention of a name triggers my own memories of that place.

This book finds Duane somewhat lost in his own life and in desperate need of changes. While he does manage to make those changes, he's not able to do so without encountering resistance to them on several fronts, including family, friends, coworkers...basically a large portion of the town's populace. The story follows his attempts to meet and ward off these challenges to his new lifestyle, while at the same time struggling to understand the root cause of his feelings of distress and alienation.

Definitely more introspective than Texasville, this volume focuses almost solely on Duane, leaving his family members and coworkers behind to play minor characters. Since they were all so well established in the previous book, McMurtry is able to drop them in and out of Duane's life as needed, and provided the reader has read Texasville, there is no confusion as to who these characters are and why they are acting the way they are.

I really enjoyed the book, as I did the others in the series, and will be visiting the library this weekend to pick up the fourth book, When the Light Goes. ( )