Rhino Ranch

No one writes amiable better than Larry McMurtry (think Gus McCrae), and happily, the wonderful Will Patton does amiable just fine. Texas amiable, too. There isn't terribly much plot to McMurtry's novel, but there are characters galore, and Patton not only ably voices all of them, he seems perfectly in tune with the aimless but likeble rhythm of the novel, which, in the broadest terms, concerns a billionairess named K.K. Slater who comes to town to locate a preserve for African rhinos. But the novel's real concern is one of the locals K.K. befriends, Duane Moore, whom McMurtry fans will remember from THE LAST PICTURE SHOW. He is far advanced in age now and is contemplating how to live a life of value as he finds himself more alone every week. But fear not, the novel may be wistful in places, but thanks to McMurtry and Patton, it is never less than affable. M.O. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

Starred review from June 22, 2009
McMurtry ends the west Texas saga of Duane Moore, begun in 1966 with The Last Picture Show
, with a top-shelf blend of wit and insight, sharply defined characters and to-the-point prose. Duane, now in his late 60s, is a prosperous and retired widower, lonely in his hometown of Thalia, Tex. Then billionaire heiress K.K. Slater moves in and opens the Rhino Ranch, a sanctuary intended to rescue the nearly extinct African black rhinoceros. Slater is a strong-willed, independent woman whose mere presence upsets parochial Thalia, and Duane can’t quite figure her out. His two best buddies, Boyd Cotton and Bobby Lee Baxter, both work for Slater, and the three friends schmooze with the rich, talk about geezer sex, rat out local meth heads and try to keep track of a herd of rhinos. Mixed in with the humor and snappy dialogue are tender and poignant scenes as the women in Duane’s life die or drift away, and Duane befriends a rhino and realizes that his life has lost its purpose. Nobody depicts the complexities of smalltown Texas life and the frailties of human relationships better than McMurtry.