Thirsty Texans in a dying small town. Four stars

Lonesome Dove is one of my favorite books so I'm venturing deeper into Larry McMurtry's catalog. I love his writing even if I didn't love these books. The Last Picture Show is touted as a coming-of-age story in a small town. It was oddly disturbing and surprisingly sexual. Genuis prose but just weird story.

This is one of the most depraved books I've read this year, if not of all time. And I read Portney's Complaint as well as Kafka on the Shore, where the 15 year-old protagonist has sex with his mother--several times. Neither comes close to The Last Picture Show. God has left Thalia, Texas. McMurtry supposedly based Thalia on his hometown of Archer City in the 1950's. It was really that bad?

Five stars

Forgettable.

4.5 stars. “When he passed the city limits signs he stopped a minute. The gray pastures and the distant brown ridges looked too empty. He himself felt too empty. As empty as he felt and as empty as the country looked it was too risky going out into it - he might be blow around for days like a groomed in the wind.”

I watched The Last Picture Show for the first time about a year ago, and it became an instant favorite…much like the novel. Literally nothing happens, and yet SO much happens, in this thoughtful, nostalgic, smutty, heart-achingly beautiful coming-of-age story. This is also my first Larry McMurtry novel (still waiting to tackle Lonesome Dove), and I loved that his writing was deep and straightforward at the same time. He is a masterful user of metaphor, and the town of Thalia is a perfect example.

His characters are interesting and complex, simply because they’re human beings…frustrating, selfish, and filled with regrets and wonder and hope, making you hate them and then love them (or at least empathize with them) at so many turns. Jacy and Lois have to be one of the most detestable, fascinating mother/daughter pairs in anything I’ve read. Yet they’re essential to the story for what they represent about small-town life and the bitterness of dreams left unrealized. Literally every character in Picture Show encapsulates so much about every stage and pathway of life, and it’s a rare novel that gives you so much to consider in such a subtle, unassuming way. I loved this!

I love the wrting style of McMurtry. I only wish the book was longer. Very powerful and enjoyable.