I ended up mostly skimming through this book, mostly because (in spite of being a tough macho male) I liked the 1985 movie. Oddly I think the writers of the movie must have picked up a totally different book and only thought they were adapting Murphy's Romance to film. The two bear no resemblance to each other... and the movie's better.
I couldn't finish it. I LOVED the movie and the book is nothing like it. Very disappointing. One of the few times I can say that the movie was way better than the book.
I really wanted to enjoy this since Murphy’s Romance is one of my absolute favorite movies. I was so excited to find this book in a used book store on vacation. I snatched it up in disbelief as soon as I saw it! Couldn’t wait to read it. Once I started and quickly found it to be NOTHING like the movie, I was so disappointed. But it’s not just that. This is so boring, mundane and poorly written. I seldom give such a low rating but had to force myself to read and finish this; therefore, I have to rate it accordingly. So if you enjoyed Murphy’s Romance the movie, this is nothing like that and I do not recommend. The only commonalities are a woman who works with horses and a couple of character names. The script writer for the movie is genius to be as inspired as they were by this book.
If I had never seen the movie first, I never would have bought a used copy of the book. It was expensive, too. The movie was great, and Max Schott was one of the writers. The movie is nothing like the book, and thank God for that, because the book is dreadful. The movie rates 5 stars, the book just 1.
Like other reviewers on GoodReads, I picked this up after seeing the movie. I honestly don't remember much about it and only know I read it in 1987 because I mentioned it in my journal from that time.
Schott's work is completely different from the writing I usually enjoy but I feel like reading it has helped me become both a better reader and writer. A strange story of subtle, unnerving obsession with moments of incredible insight.