Synopses & Reviews
Larry McMurtry's "funny and brutal"
(New York Times) landmark novel
The Last Picture Show introduced the shrinking oil-patch town of Thalia, Texas, and its teenaged residents Duane, Sonny, and Jacy. In
Texasville, the trio grew up to "adultery and madness, bankruptcy and boom times," (New York
Daily News). Now McMurtry takes his most colorful characters into their twilight years -- in an unforgettable end to the Thalia saga.
Surrounded by his children, all of whom are going through tumultuous transitional times; his promiscuous wife, Karla, who is with her own demons; and his friend Sonny, who seems to be dying, Duane can't make sense of his life anymore. The stark realization that he has spent his whole life in a miserable dust-bowl town throws him into a protracted end-of-life crisis -- one that will hurtle him toward unexpected love, profoundly affect old friends, and cause him to embark on outlandish new beginning.
McMurtry's strongest and most appealing contemporary novel since Terms of Endearment, Duane's Depressed is utterly unsentimental, often hilarious, sometimes tragic and shocking, and in the end full of hope.
Review
People Magazine "Book of the Week"
Every page of the trilogy's concluding novel is as welcome as a letter from home.
Review
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH)
Skillfully wraps up the [Thalia] family saga...McMurtry burrows inside Duane's soul and keeps the reader turning pages.
Review
Boston HeraldAbounds with wonderfully funny characters all lovingly graced with the fight-hearted compassion that is McMurtry's hallmark.
Review
The Denver PostMcMurtry's back in form....The novel is alternately funny, bittersweet and sad, a mix of emotions that McMurtry has all but patented.
About the Author
The winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, among other awards,
Larry McMurtry is the author of twenty-two novels, including
Lonesome Dove, Terms of Endearment, The Evening Star, Buffalo Girls, The Late Child, and
Comanche Moon. He has also written two collections of essays, and more than thirty screenplays. Mr. McMurtry lives in Texas.