Synopses & Reviews
In this masterful and often surprising sequel to the acclaimed
Duane's Depressed, the Pulitzer Prize- and Oscar-winning author of
Lonesome Dove has written a haunting, elegiac, and occasionally erotic novel about one of his most beloved characters. Duane Moore first made his appearance in
The Last Picture Show and, like his author, he has aged but not lost his vigor or his taste for life.
Back from a two-week trip to Egypt, Duane finds he cannot readjust to life in Thalia, the small, dusty, West Texas hometown in which he has spent all of his life. In the short time he was away, it seems that everything has changed alarmingly. His office barely has a reason to exist now that his son Dickie is running the company from Wichita Falls, his lifelong friends seem to have suddenly grown old, his familiar hangout, once a good old-fashioned convenience store, has been transformed into an "Asian Wonder Deli," his daughters seem to have taken leave of their senses and moved on to new and strange lives, and his own health is at serious risk.
It's as if Duane cannot find any solace or familiarity in Thalia and cannot even bring himself to revisit the house he shared for decades with his late wife, Karla, and their children and grandchildren. He spends his days aimlessly riding his bicycle (already a sign of serious eccentricity in West Texas) and living in his cabin outside town. The more he tries to get back to the rhythm of his old life, the more he realizes that he should have left Thalia long ago indeed everybody he cared for seems to have moved on without him, to new lives or to death.
The only consolation is meeting the young, attractive geologist, Annie Cameron, whom Dickie has hired to work out of the Thalia office. Annie is brazenly seductive, yet oddly cold, young enough to be Duane's daughter, or worse, and Duane hasn't a clue how to handle her. He's also in love with his psychiatrist, Honor Carmichael, who after years of rebuffing him, has decided to undertake what she feels is Duane's very necessary sex reeducation, opening him up to some major, life-changing surprises.
For the lesson of When the Light Goes is that where there's life, there is indeed hope Duane, widowed, displaced from whatever is left of his own life, suddenly rootless in the middle of his own hometown, and at risk of death from a heart that also doesn't seem to be doing its job, is in the end saved by sex, by love, and by his own compassionate and intense interest in other people and the surprises they reveal.
At once realistic and life-loving, often hilariously funny, and always moving, though without a touch of sentimentality, Larry McMurtry has opened up a new chapter in Duane's life and, in doing so, written one of his finest and most compelling novels to date, doing for Duane what he did so triumphantly for Aurora in Terms of Endearment.
Review
"McMurtry continues to turn out wonderful novels that touch upon the foibles and vagaries of the human condition. Duane Moore may not be Rabbit Angstrom, but in McMurtry's hands, he is a character who has much to say about life." BookReporter.com
Review
"Compared to the literary feasts McMurtry has previously delivered, this is barely a snack....[A] slim, slapdash volume....For McMurtry fans, there's some heat here, but little light." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"All of McMurtry's characteristic flourishes are here: sharp and funny dialogue, an unfussy, measured prose style and, as always, the author's profound affection for his characters. This book is slight compared to McMurtry's best work; it's a spring roll, not a full meal. But it's tasty nonetheless." Seattle Times
Review
"When the Light Goes...engages a top-shelf writer in a low-stakes diversion, like Roger Clemens taking on your local Little League team....I read it at a beach resort halfway around the world and dug it, though readers seeking the full McMurtry may be disappointed." John Leland, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"Although Duane is surprised by his late-blooming sexuality, readers won't be, and his prolonged malaise deadens the impact of his self-discovery. Still, it's nice to know what ultimately becomes of old Duane even if it isn't particularly enthralling." Booklist
Review
"The result reads like an old geezer's pillow book, full of graphically rendered sex scenes and fantasies....[T]his latest effort will strike many readers as a disappointing coda." Library Journal
Review
"The light has gone from this McMurtry. It is to be hoped his next book will be brighter and far, far better and a suitable coda to the beloved Duane." Baltimore Sun
Review
"The ending is wrapped up too neatly and the last line is something even a junior writer would discard. Word people have always enjoyed McMurtry's prose, but maybe this is a few words too many." Denver Post
Review
"When the Light Goes is a bad book, poorly written, a dry husk of a novel. Duane's story should have stopped at the trilogy, while he still had some dignity and some humor." Dallas Morning News
Synopsis
A sequel to Duane's Depressed by the Oscar-winning screenplay writer for Brokeback Mountain finds widower Duane Moore returning to west Texas, where he finds the family oil business significantly altered by new personnel, evolving family dynamics, and his own perspective changes. 150,000 first printing.
Synopsis
In this sequel to the acclaimed Duane's Depressed, the Pulitzer Prize- and Oscar-winning writer crafts an elegiac and intimate portrait of an eccentric, aging oil man struggling to come to terms with the death of his wife.
About the Author
Larry McMurtry is the author of twenty-nine novels, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lonesome Dove. His other works include two collections of essays, three memoirs, and more than thirty screenplays, including the coauthorship of Brokeback Mountain, for which he received an Academy Award. He lives in Archer City, Texas.