Boone's Lick

October 30, 2000
Putting to rest the notion that with Duane's Depressed he had written his last novel, Pulitzer Prize-winner McMurtry (Lonesome Dove) launches a new series with this whimsical adventure set between Missouri and the wilderness of Wyoming. The CecilsDMary Margaret; her brother-in-law, Seth; four children; half-sister Rosie; and Granpa CrackenthorpeDare weary of waiting 14 months for Mary's husband, Dick, to return from his work as a wagoner in Wyoming while they starve in Civil War-ravaged Missouri. The family decide to travel up the Platte River to find the wayward Dick. Outspoken Mary Margaret, a sturdy matriarch, has a less-obviousDand surprisingly romanticDmotivation for embarking on the journey. Seth, a veteran of the Union army and experienced frontiersman, provides a typical McMurtry male foil to a strong female lead, expressing both rustic wisdom and bewilderment. After a brief and violent adventure with the remains of a bushwhacking gang (and an encounter with Wild Bill Hickok), the family members combat harsh winter weather and fear of Indians as they trek upriver to locate Dick. Narrated by teenage Shay, the novel is reminiscent of McMurtry's lighter fiction (Somebody's Darling; Cadillac Jack; The Late Child). Shay's guileless tone and McMurtry's patented stylistic use of humorous understatement, non sequitur, misunderstanding and misdirection deflect graphic violence, intolerable hardship and even the death of major characters. More an amusing fable of family strife than a serious story with memorable characters, this piece does not approach the substance or quality of McMurtry's better works, but his ardent fans will undoubtedly appreciate the warmth, compassion and humor that the narrative exudes. Agent, Andrew Wylie. 300,000 first printing; BOMC, Doubleday Book Club and Literary Guild alternates.

Starred review from October 15, 2000
Mary Margaret Cecil has lived in Boone's Lick, MO, for more than 15 years, with her children, her elderly father, and her brother-in-law, Seth. Periodically, her wayward husband, a freight hauler on the Bozeman Trail, visits just long enough to leave her pregnant and remorseful. Discontent with her lot, Mary Margaret marshals her family and sets off up the Missouri River by flatboat and across the plains to Wyoming in search of her husband to tell him that she is "quitting him." A wonderful road story in the tradition of McMurtry's Lonesome Dove, although not nearly so prodigious, Boone's Lick has all the adventure of a classic Western--losing Grandpa to the river during a violent storm, racing against the onset of winter, burying the remains of Indian massacres--always pushing forward toward Wyoming. In December 1866, the family finally finds the errant Dick Cecil at Fort Phil Kearny, only to witness the historic Fetterman Massacre three days later. McMurtry's historical novel, told with humor and candor from the perspective of Mary Margaret's oldest son, Shay, is highly recommended for adults and adolescents alike.--Thomas L. Kilpatrick, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale

Copyright 2000 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2000
McMurtry's latest novel will not only further endear him to his numerous fans but will also earn him even more devoted readers. He tells a delightfully engaging story as he follows the immediate travails but ultimate successes of a family brimming with strong, hard, and wild characters who reflect the strong, hard, and wild characters of the Old West in the last half of the nineteenth century. Ma Cecil lives a hardscrabble life in Boone's Lick, Missouri, with her children and her brother-in-law. Her husband, a freight hauler, has gone up the Missouri River to work, and Ma hasn't seen him in some months. She decides to load up her family and some tag-alongs and find Pa, to tell him it's all over between them; the journey the Cecils take, first by riverboat and then by mule-driven wagon, is the heart of this simple but atmospheric tale. They journey as far as Wyoming to meet up with Pa Cecil; when they find him, Ma "quits him," but before Ma and her little band of trekkers return to Missouri, they witness a horrible Indian massacre of army soldiers. How everyone in the story fares is laid out in a concluding chapter, much to the reader's satisfaction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)