Good story. Some problematic things.
This is the first Larry McMurtry I‘ve read. Not my usual genre but here goes.
This is the first Larry McMurtry I‘ve read. Not my usual genre but here goes.
Read this short book in honor of McMurtry's passing. I don't think it will stick with me for long.
Maybe if I had known more about Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday I would have liked it better.
#3 books that I hated.
The Last Kind Words Saloon - I still wonder if McMurtry needed a little money when he wrote this one.
The Couple Next Door - I just wanted my time back after I finished this one.
Not the Killing Type - I can‘t believe I read seven(!) books in this series. I finally realized the main character was awful.
I hate to have to pan this but I just didn‘t see the point to it. It drops you in at a certain point in a narrative with no backstory and seemed to me to be plotless. If I did not have any kind of knowledge already about Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday I would have bailed. 🙁
McMurtry‘s “ballad in prose” follows Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday through the dying West from Long Grass to Tombstone as they sit on porches, talk shit, and drink. Sometimes they shoot at stuff. Mostly they miss.
Ever pick up a book and absolutely love it and then you go look at what the critics had to say and find out that nobody really liked it but you? Seriously, this book is amazing. It‘s short and funny and weird and told almost entirely in absolutely spectacular dialogue. I didn‘t even know McMurtry got bad reviews, but this one really did not get a lot of love. I‘m mystified.
My Barnes and Noble #bookhaul
Most are classics. I was very intentional by preparing for the #Litsyclassics challenge. 😁
#splashintosummerreads Day 10 I love McMurtry and Lonesome Dove is one of my favorites. I was excited to read a book with Earp and Holliday written by McMurtry, but this was so disappointing. It's too short and there was no plot. #biggestletdown
#Marchintoreading Day 4 I feel like I'm a pretty big fan of McMurtry, but this book was so disappointing. The main characters are Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday so it should have been freaking great! #didntlikeitstillfinished
Listed as a novel but it has the length and spirit of a novella. First of McMurtry I've read so I can't compare but I love the way the story demystifies Wyatt Warp and Doc Holliday and the Old West. Story ends with the gunfight at the OK Corral, which turns out to be not much more than a whimper.
"his screams could be heard for a long time, along with those of a tall boy who had his genitals cooked over a small fire that Satank himself had carefully nursed along." Ah, the sweet Romanticism of the Old West.