When the Light Goes

The Last Picture Show #4

by Larry McMurtry

In this masterful and often surprising sequel to the acclaimed Duane's Depressed, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Lonesome Dove has written a haunting, elegiac, and occasionally erotic novel about one of his most beloved characters. 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. When the Light Goes reminds everyone that where there's life, there is indeed hope. At once realistic and life-loving, often hilariously funny, and always moving, Larry McMurtry has 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.

Genres: Fiction, Westerns, Literature, Southern, Romance, Drama

210 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Larry Jeff McMurtry was an American novelist, essayist, and screenwriter whose work was predominantly set in either the Old West or contemporary Texas. His novels included Horseman, Pass By (1962), The Last Picture Show (1966), and Terms of Endearment (1975), which were adapted into films. Films adapted from McMurtry's works earned 34 Oscar nominations (13 wins). He was also a prominent book collector and bookseller.
His 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Lonesome Dove was adapted into a television miniseries that earned 18 Emmy Award nominations (seven wins). The subsequent three novels in his Lonesome Dove series were adapted as three more miniseries, earning eight more Emmy nominations. McMurtry and co-writer Diana Ossana adapted the screenplay for Brokeback Mountain (2005), which earned eight Academy Award nominations with three wins, including McMurtry and Ossana for Best Adapted Screenplay. In 2014, McMurtry received the National Humanities Medal.
In Tracy Daugherty's 2023 biography of McMurtry, the biographer quotes critic Dave Hickey as saying about McMurtry: "Larry is a writer, and it's kind of like being a critter. If you leave a cow alone, he'll eat grass. If you leave Larry alone, he'll write books. When he's in public, he may say hello and goodbye, but otherwise he is just resting, getting ready to go write."

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Life is change.” (2.5 stars)

This novel is the fourth (of five) that Larry McMurtry wrote about Duane Moore of Thalia, Texas. I struggled to be engaged in this one, and that has not happened before in this series. This novel is under 200 pages, but it felt long.

In WHEN THE LIGHT GOES McMurtry takes some threads he started in this book’s predecessor (DUANE’S DEPRESSED) and does not seem to know what to do with them. So why did he decide to pick them up? I would love to know if he meant this book to be the final about Duane Moore, or if he knew he would be writing another.

This text is also vulgar. Pointlessly so. McMurtry can be rather candid when it comes to sex, but the detailed descriptions in this one left me scratching my head.

Quotes:
• “What it meant, he supposed, was that he had been so alone and sexless so long that he had forgotten the language of women…”
• “If you have real connections to your family, your friends, and your lovers, then your life is never more than partly your own.”
• “The moral, if there was a moral, was that no one place was sufficient for all the stages of his life.”
• “I sometimes think the sexual organs were put there to keep the human race humble.”

I have been with Duane Moore for 4 books now, and I am going to view this text as a moment in life that one would rather forget. We all have periods like that, I guess a fictional life is allowed to have those as well. It is not a bad book, just one that does not fill out (or enhance) a life. And maybe that is the point?
I will finish up this series, but this installment has been my least favorite part of the journey.

[San Dee · Rating 1 out of 5]

i will preface this review by saying i absolutely loved the Lonesome Dove series, as well as thoroughly enjoying the Berrybender books as well.
that said...i really cant believe this book, or that McMurtry wrote this piece of shit. SERIOUSLY? come ON!
this is just complete garbage. not only is it a rip off to sell such a slim book for full price, but then you get it home and read this complete trash and want to throw it against the freaking wall! full of the most preposterous sexual encounters and downright filthy language that serves no purpose other than to offend. im no prude, but do i really NEED to read the word "cunt" for no particular reason? it wasnt titlating, just vulgar.

i felt like i was reading the fantasy diary of a dirty old man addicted to porn. im NOT joking!!
tell me it's not TRUE, LARRY!!

[Joni Abilene · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Mr. McMurtry's mainstream novels, however this one fell short for me. I really wanted to like it, but somewhere around the middle it lost focus for me. For one, Duane's numerous sexual encounters didn't make any sense. It wasn't the act itself, it was that it had no real emotional relevance to the characters or story. What I found interesting was Duane's stroke and how his family came to rally around him, how he changed, and how he felt. I would have liked to have seen Duane work more through that situation than the sex. Although I will say part of it was interesting: an older man reawakening after being cocooned by depression for many years, but it didn't go there. When the Light Goes is a novel derived from The Last Picture Show which was told mainly in Sonny's perspective. That book, too, centered on sexual encounters, yet it did so with honesty and relevance to character growth. I almost wish McMurtry would rewrite this and go where I felt he originally intended, but diverted from in a rush to finish the manuscript—Duane has a stroke, discovers how much he loves his family and how much they love him, experiences an epiphany when faced with death, and then has a sexual encounter that is meaningful and which shows him a new life. All, of course, told in pure Duane style. And whatever happened to Sonny, btw? Perhaps it's time for McMurtry to put him back in a novel. Maybe he and Duane could go on a road trip together . . .

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fourth book in the series that includes Last Picture Show, Texasville, and Duane's Depressed. Very short, and poignant. Taking place in the months immediately after the events described in Duane's Depressed, this book describes Duane Moore's efforts to renew himself sexually while he deals with the aftermath of a heart attack. There is a ton of sex in this novel, more than McMurtry usually includes. At times it reads like a laidback Penthouse Forum letter, written for an AARP generation. There are some very funny parts, because McMurtry is great with understated humor, and these characters and the situations they find themselves in are inherently funny. But this wasn't quite as good Texasville or Duane's Depressed.

I read a large print unabridged version cheked out from the Seal Beach, CA library.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

The law of diminishing returns holds in this slim, slight third sequel to "The Last Picture Show." While I find every couple of years or so I miss Duane Moore and wonder what he's up to, I wish McMurtry would resist the impulse to show us, as neither "Duane's Depressed" nor this book feel as necessary and vital as the original or even its first entertaining sequel, "Texasville." In the first two books, McMurtry said it all, but he just keeps saying it again and again; it's a testament to his engaging characters that we keep listening.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book of the series that I read. While others have been disappointed, I thoroughly enjoyed it enough to read the rest of the series. I found myself feeling sorry for Duane and wanted to know where he started. It has been sometimes since I read this but I will reread it again as it was short.

[phil breidenbach · Rating 2 out of 5]

It read like a mediocre porn novel, He has done better.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is 4th McMurtry book about Duane Moore, from The Last Picture Show. I didn't read the last one. This is pretty slight, and it's kind of an old man's wet dream. It reminded me a bit of Roth's Everyman, in that they're both about (at least in part) an old(er) man's sexuality. The writing here is breezy, the characters comfortable after all these years, and the book is short enough so they don't irritate (as I remember they did in Texasville). There was a time, long ago, where I read every McMurtry to come out.

[Jonny Longballs · Rating 2 out of 5]

I still love you Larry but goddamnit this was an awkward and uncomfortable read. Why would you do this to me? It’s a necessary part of the series to read, and still has plenty of that McMurtry flair, but bro you’re like 75 writing this weird wannabe porn shit. Not cool man, not cool.

Is this what life in small town Texas is actually like? Who lives like this? I felt so weird reading this novel but I still love Duane, Bobby Lee, Dickie, Ruth, and every other character he’s ever created so 2 stars I guess.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a disappointment from McMurtry. For its dinky length, it is windy and could have been even shorter than it already is. There is a lot of focus on intimate relations and it contains more than a few overly graphic scenes.

There is, however, a fair amount of grace to it--but I think this is mainly because the lead character is likable and McMurtry is probably writing about familiar territory (i.e., aging and growing unfamiliar with what used to be fresh).

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

A continuation of the Duane Moore story, not as good as “Duane’s Depressed” but necessary to put behind me so I can move on to “Rhino Ranch”, the final installment.

This one had some humorous moments, such as the themes of aging and sexual dysfunction lend themselves to, but I wasn’t expecting the graphic sex passages from McMurtry.

Reviews lead me to hope “Rhino Ranch” is significantly better, perhaps even worth the time to read.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was surprised that I like this. Once a huge McMurtry fan I found myself steering clear of his last few attempts. But this novel about good ole Duane Moore really was decent. Funny, sad and sweet Duane is able to say goodbye to Karla and move into his last stage of life with the help of a few good women.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Post Script for Duane’s Depressed.

This short novel only makes sense in the light of Texasville and Duane’s Depressed. It reads well if the reader has followed Duane’s considerable misadventures chronicles in the former two novels. There is a wistfulness that caught me as the aging hero finds the courage to live again.

[Toothy_grin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A touchingly written story about the downs and ups of a guy who's getting old.

[Nic · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved it. Its the final piece in the Last Picture Show series of books.....I stumbled onto it at a bookstore and read it in two days....I just love this series of books!!!!!!!!!!!

[Chuck Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's like visiting an old friend.

[Richard Schaefer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the 8 years that passed between publication of the two books, When the Light Goes picks up exactly where Duane’s Depressed left off, time-wise. reading them back to back, the first half of this (already quite thin) novel is padded with distracting and excessive summarizing of the previous book. Sure, the problem is magnified by reading them back to back, but I suspect it would feel like padding no matter how much time passed between reading the two. When the Light Goes also, unfortunately, undoes some of the fine characterization of Duane’s Depressed— Honor Carmichael, Duane’s levelheaded therapist, is rewritten here as a crazed, sex-obsessed hedonist with no social graces. Firstly, she has sex with her former client (a bunch of times, and graphically), but the more egregious part is casually mentioning that, while Duane was her patient, she snuck to his cabin and snooped through his belongings on multiple occasions. This is not the same person we saw in Duane’s Depressed. That said, the very graphic sex that begins when Honor seduces Duane is also the book’s saving grace. There’s a lot of it, and it’s rendered in great detail. It’s not sexy sex, and it’s not romantic sex, but it’s as much fun to read about as it seems to have been for Larry McMurtry to write. This is by far the weakest Duane Moore novel, and probably my second or third least favorite McMurtry book overall (so far), but there are worse ways to spend a couple hours, and it serves as a necessary bridge to the (much better) final Duane Moore novel, Rhino Ranch.

[Simon Robs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too bad Larry McMurtry & Jim Harrison never got together over a campfire and tin cups of whiskey to compare notes on nubile giblets and haughty coquetry, and then again maybe not as the #MeToo movement would have a heyday skewering testiclefest, (there's a 'one-baller' in the book, but ..) a scathing rebuke of old, white, perverts wielding their influence in power dominant sexploitation schemes. Haha, not funny!? Ok, how's 'bout cuttin' these geezers some slack then, let an ol' dog his day, tricks and memories of simpler times; these 'pokes ain't Harvey Wallbanger's, not even close. Equality and a more enlightened decorum are the new norm, sure enough and about time we all agree. Someday #MeToo will seem quaint: let's hope:)

[Leonard Singer · Rating 3 out of 5]

LM is trying to find a suitable exit for Duane. LM starts down a path vaguely reminiscent of Bob Fosse in All That Jazz. But, instead Duane ends up experiencing, for him, a bit of heaven on earth. At the time of the book’s publication, LM was a bit older than Duane; maybe it’s a peek into LM’s fears which he buffers with a continuing life for Duane that has a flavor that LM would easily settle for.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very readable. I might appreciate it more when I’m 65 like Duane

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

ho hum

[Bill Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

 I'm a word-by-word reader but I finished this 2007 novel in a twenty-four hour period. Its fifty chapters are in a book just 195 pages long, with some chapters being less than a page. Not to complain. I like feeling like I'm devouring literature at the pace of a genius. I might have felt a little cheated if I had paid the original cover price of $24.00 instead of the fifteen cents my library sold it for, though.
 I've felt like I should read something by Larry McMurtry because he wrote The Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment, and Lonesome Dove, all of which were adapted to film (television in Lonesome Dove's case). The two films won ten Academy Awards; Lonesome Dove won seven Emmys.
 When the Light Goes isn't a stand alone novel. It's part of what's known as the Duane Moore series. Despite that, there was nothing in it that didn't make complete sense to me and the main character, the depressed, widowed, bicycle-riding Texas oilman Duane, is close enough to my age, sixtyish, that I got much out of it.
 Warning: There are several steamy passages. This is not for the YA set, though it's not as if they read about anything they weren't familiar with already.
 I've read that McMurtry is known for writing women's parts well. I agree.

Duane's destination was the Asia Wonder Deli. He thought he might just eat a spring roll or two. He had enjoyed his few minutes with his son, but depression settled in before he was out of sight of his own offices. Duane mostly ignored heat, as he ignored cold or any other weather short of tornadoes. Bue he had not gone more than a mile before he began to feel that the heat had become an element in his depression. The heat suddenly surrounded him—he felt as if he were riding through a furnace; he wanted to get out of the furnace, but there was no way out. The furnace wouldn't cool until sunset—perhaps wouldn't cool much even then. Soon the heat—or was it the depression—was affecting his breathing. Before he had gone three miles he knew that he had overmatched himself with the heat.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

McMurty is one of my favorite writes but in When the Light Goes he laid an egg. Much of the novel (or is it a 195 page novella?) is a reprise of earlier works especially Duane’s Depressed.

In keeping with his earlier depression, Duane in this novel becomes increasingly depressed. Karla, his wife of more than 40 years died in a auto crash before the novel begins; during the novel, Duane’s old friend Ruth Popper dies; he learns that he knows little about sex; should have triple heart bypass surgery; and, one daughter wants to become a nun and the other is gay.

Duane combats depression through treatments provided by psychiatrist, Honor Carmichael. His relationship with Honor takes a turn toward the incredible. Angie, Honor’s lesbian lover is dead of cancer. Putting her medical career aside Honor, in a very graphic scene, gives Duane an all day sex lesson. She obviously steps out of character and McMurty does not provide an adequate explanation of why she does.

Duane’s relations with Annie Cameron are even more incredible. She is young, attractive and very well educated. Duane meets her in his office immediately upon his return from Egypt. She tells him that her nipples are puckered. Later we learn, in spite of outward appearances, she is sexually inexperienced, a virgin. Duane eventually helps cure her inexperience. Would a late 20s attractive and vivacious women be totally inexperienced? It is doubtful

Sex cures all. In a very sentimental ending Duane leaves Thalia where he has lived most of his life and becomes available for yet another book. The light is on.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forgot to add this one to the list before I read and reviewed "Rhino Ranch. Seems I have a lot of sympathy with Duane.

This one goes along with the aeasy loping style that McMurtry has displayed so effectively in all the stuff of his I've read so far. I like it and it keeps reeling me in to see what's next, NOT like a suspense novel - this has no suspense whatsoever - well, unless one sees if Duane's ticker is gonna make ti to the end of the book, that is - but more how the characters and their interplay and Thalia itself will fare. This one concerns a pert (in several ways) geologist hired by Duane's son Dickie (a reformed drug addict who runs the oil company quite well, with whom Duane himself forms a budding romance; however, his old psychiatrist Honor is present in a number of important ways and on a number of levels - WHOO! Some of those levels are VERY interesting! All the while his friends die off and places change (the oriental gentlemen who transform the local Quik-Sack into an Asian deli are very appealing), I very much enjoyed this, as the others in the series. Glad Mr. McMurtry chose to further the story. Also liked "Rhino Ranch," review has already been posted because I'm an idiot. I'll miss old Duane.

[Dav · Rating 1 out of 5]

.

When The Light Goes
by Larry McMurtry
published 2007, less than 200 pages.

This book is a short sequel to the author's previous novel, Duane's Depressed. Duane (age 64) was on vacation and when he returns he feels out of sorts in his hometown. His family has dispersed and he's suffering from a heart condition, but it doesn't prevent the aging oil man from engaging in raunchy and ridiculous trysts.

Publisher's Blurb:
"...a haunting, elegiac [Maybe a lament for the dying town & the good old days?], and occasionally erotic novel about...Duane Moore... Back from a two-week trip to Egypt, Duane finds he cannot re-adjust 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 [Moore Drilling] from Wichita Falls, his lifelong friends seem to have suddenly grown old , his familiar hangout, once a good old-fashioned convenience store [run by his shrink's father], has been transformed into...[a tasty] "Asian Wonder Deli," his daughters [Julie & Nellie] seem to have taken leave of their senses and moved on to new and strange lives, and his own health is at serious risk...

Duane cannot...even bring himself to revisit the house he shared for decades with his late wife, Karla, and their [4] children and [9] grandchildren. He spends his days aimlessly riding his bicycle...and living in his cabin outside town... 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... 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...

...in the end [he's] saved by sex, by love, and by his own compassionate and intense interest in other people and the surprises they reveal."

.

The story begins with Duane (now an old codger) riding his bicycle home from the airport where he'd left it chained to a tree while he was on vacation--relieved to find the bike was still there. He first stops at the Thalia office of his small oil drilling company--now run by his son. Surprisingly Duane finds the only one there is a coquettish beauty (Annie) using a brand new computer. The regulars usually found in the Thalia office were Ruth, mostly retired, working crosswords & going blind; Bobby Lee, Duane's lifelong pal and Earlene the secretary, soon to retire.

His wife died in a car wreck 2 years ago and Duane has an aversion to their big, fine house, which is standing empty. Unable to force himself to go inside, he instead showers at the nearby home of Ruth Popper, his ancient employee and trusted friend, before peddling the rest of the way to his cabin.

The author covers pertinent details from Duane's Depressed, so reading the books in order isn't necessary. From the backstory we learn that some years ago Duane experienced some kind of breakdown (or depression ). He gave up driving and began walking and later bicycling (as suggested by his shrink) wherever he needed to go and he basically retired--turning the operation of his oil drilling company over to Dickie. Most alarming to his wife (now deceased) Duane left their big lovely house in town and took up living in a rustic cabin located on a dirt road, some 6 miles away. Being well-off he was able to hire a prominent psychiatrist Dr Honor Carmichael (the shrink) and she provided some emotional and practical help.

Duane's daughter Julie is planning to be a nun, leaving her 2 teen kids with her sister Nellie (who briefly turned lesbo) and has 4 kids of her own. The gals are presently estranged from there Dallas millionaire hubbies. His shrink Dr Honor is back from her trip to Maine and then her lover Angie succumbs to cancer. Duane resumes his therapy sessions, but notices Honor isn't her cheery self. Some businesses and residents of the dusty little town have moved to the city of Wichita Falls, just 15 minutes away; the area's big shopping district. Then, after dinner with Duane & Bobby Lee the 95 year old Ruth dies in her porch rocker. Just some of the new troubles stressing out Duane.

Pedaling around in the Texas heat (110°) Duane suffers a mild heart attack & needs bypass surgery ASAP, but waits for a second opinion. He does park his bicycle and leases a new pick up truck to get around in air-conditioned comfort [actually this is a big step, driving again, for the ill at ease Duane]. Dr Honor (the shrink) has quit her practice and shows up at Duane's sweaty hot cabin, drunk. Duane is barely out of the ER and still needing a bypass, but he spends the entire day being pleasured by Dr Honor--she only drawing the line at kissing. [Yeh - totally believable].

While waiting for his upcoming appointment with a specialist in Boston, arranged by Honor, Duane is invited to move in with the lovely young Annie (the geological analyst with degrees from MIT and Caltech) who apparently needs a man she can trust and for cuddling when she has bad dreams. [Yup, the 26 year-old techie virgin has the hots for an old fart in his mid sixties. Sure - makes perfect sense].

In a Boston hotel the sapphic Dr Honor again pays Duane a "visit." He still needs a bypass and the Boston doc confirmed the previous diagnosis, but Duane still puts off the surgery. Back in the Wichita Falls apartment with Annie, she and Duane become increasingly intimate. Eventually she buys a how-to video for virgins and experiments with Duane which leaves him needing an ambulance.

The story ends with Duane having a successful surgery, marrying Annie and living in an Arizona home gifted to her by her wealthy parents. While she's away at a conference, Duane takes a nostalgia drive back to Texas where his house has long since been sold and the old Thalia office has been torn down. He visits the graves of his wife and Ruth before going home to Arizona and Annie, "...his lithe and lovely wife."

.

Mostly entertaining, if not ridiculous. Duane's outlook on life in general seems depressing and gets tiresome: he's anxious; real anxious; troubled; has a building anxiety etc.

The author mostly concerns himself with descriptions of the erotic. Using no euphemisms, the story, especially near the end, is graphic galore. McMurtry was 70 at the time of writing this book, about six years older than his protagonist Duane. I can't help wondering if the book represents a geezer's fantasy about scoring a young hotty as wife. Even the 52 year-old, lesbian psychiatrist couldn't keep her hands off him - maybe? Or maybe his retired shrink was just overly committed to her former patients. LOL

More eye-rolling nonsense than reflective nostalgia; you might call it humor.






..

The 5 books of The Last Picture Show series:

1. The Last Picture Show 1966

2. Texasville 1987

3. Duane's Depressed 1999

4. ● When the Light Goes 2007

5. Rhino Ranch 2009



.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

There seems to be a law of diminishing returns concerning the Thalia series of books... each time McMurtry revisits the town, the stories seem to carry less weight. This, the fourth book to feature Duane Moore, isn't much more than a coming of age story featuring characters who stubbornly resist any and all responsibility for adulthood. I think the last real adult in Thalia was Sam the Lion.

That being said, even if this book doesn't carry the weight of The Last Picture Show or even the somewhat more fluffy but still enjoyable Texasville, there's something to be said for When the Light Goes. One does get the feeling that Duane has finally come full circle and become something that's close to mature. More, I've always liked the cast of characters that populated Thalia, and even if the book can't hold a candle to the earlier works, it's nice to check in with them every once and awhile.

[Chuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books was McMurtry's Lonesome Dove which was also graced with the Pulitzer Prize. When I came upon this book on the sale rack at my local bookstore and saw McMurtry's name, I had to pick it up. This is a book of a modern day cowboy-businessman and is really a character study of how he is dealing with the new changes in his life. His wife's death, his semi-retirement, his children and new and old relationships. It is a pleasant tale which endears you to the main character. A pleasant and sensitive book, and occasionally erotic. I later read the trilogy that consisted of "The Last Picture Show", "Texasville" and "Duane's Dpressed" and learned that the character in this novel is the same Duane that was the lead character in the trilogy. Therefore this book continues the previous series in a fourth decade of life in Thalia, Texas.

[Arlo Tilton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although sex is not something that has been shied away from in this series, (The skinny dipping party in TLPS, Duane's tryst under the county's one and only stoplight in Texasville, or the wet dream Duane had of Honor Carmichael in Duane's Depressed) I sometimes felt in my reading of this that McMurtry had maybe intended for this entry to been featured over a few issues of Playboy or Hustler magazine. The first words we read in this novel are Anne, Duane's love interest in this short novella talking about her nipples being hard. As of me writing this (11/3/2024) I haven't read the final book, Rhino Ranch, but as it stands right now if McMurtry had decided to leave the dusty little town of Thalia at the end of Duane's Depressed I don't think anyone would've minded much.

[Meredith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the best in this series.g. Too short and too many blank pages - the convention of starting each chapter on the right-hand side of the book inflates the pagination even more - makes it seem like he phoned this one in when he didn't really have a complete manuscript for his publishers. The sex scenes are cold and procedural and without a hint of passion. Don't know where this one came from - it really doesn't add anything to the story of Duane Moore. A disappointment after the rollicking Texasville and the thoughtful Duane's Depressed.

[Jeremiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love McMurtry’s earlier work so much that it hurts to write that this book is pretty much trash. Duane Moore was a great character in Last Picture Show, Texasville, and even to some extent in Duane’s Depressed, but this one is a cheap novel with no real depth. The sex scenes are awkward and not believable, as are the relationships he has with the women in his life. Reads more like an old man’s erotic fantasy than a novel.