I could write a dissertation on my history with McMurtry's wild West epic about cowboys and whores. About how I read it in high school and thought it was fantastic because women were represented in a way I could relate to. Of course I didn't realize this at the time, I was 16, but decided to write my big-ass research paper on an analysis of the works of Larry McMurtry using Terms of Endearment, The Last Picture Show, and this beauty beast brick. My thesis: "Are All Relationships Doomed?" So that's the kind of kid I was.

I read it again when I got back into reading in 2018 and loved it. Like sobbing blithering couldn't shut up about it loved it.

This was a different experience. I still loved it, unabashedly and without restraint, for I cannot remember when I have been so invested in the outcome of a story. But it was much more textured than before. The racism in this book is grossly problematic, not just the language but also the use of "magical" ethnic tropes. It's an accurate depiction of the times but so what? The book is set in the 1800s and was written in the 1980s. It's a glaring example of how the literature I was raised up on perpetuates systems of white supremacy.

Were the few woke nods and impassioned speeches from a retired Texas ranger challenging the white man's right to have stolen and settled the USA enough to absolve McMurtry of perpetuating these harmful stereotypes?

Moreso what has changed between when I first read this book in the '90s, 2018, and last month? The book? Nope. That would be my awareness.

In short it's fantastic. A bona fide masterpiece. A critical component of the contemporary canon. I will probably read this 20 more times before I die. But I'm glad modern-day authors are figuring out how to accurately represent the past without the slurs and undertones of superiority.