Texasville

March 31, 1987
In this arresting, funny-sad sequel to The Last Picture Show, McMurtry's small Texas town of Thalia has gone from boom to bust practically overnight, a victim of the mid-'80s oil glut. Under the strain of financial calamity, the townsfolk are becoming increasingly irrationalone man dreams of bombing OPEC, the mayor is going quietly mad, sexual mores are turning bizarre, and the civic leaders are pressing on with a centennial celebration even though there's nothing to celebrate. The stresses of the time seem concentrated in Duane, a one-time oil millionaire on the verge of bankruptcy who has four untamable children, a disaffected wife and a diminishing grip on his sanity. Duane's problems are exacerbated when his high school sweetheart, Jacy, now a movie actress, comes bowling into town like tumbleweed. McMurtry, who won a Pulitzer Prize for Lonesome Dove, is a writer with a distinctive voice, a profound understanding of Texans and a brilliant gift for capturing the vagrant moods of the heart. Major ad/promo; reprint rights to Pocket Books; BOMC selection.

April 1, 1987
Can a novel that deals with midlife crises, the loss of youthful aspirations, the withering of love, and the entombing of dreams be side-splittingly funny? This one is. Pulitzer Prize winner McMurtry returns to Thalia, Texas, setting of The Last Picture Show, where the once lovelorn teenagers are now town fathers planning a county centennial celebration. But what's there to celebrate? The town got rich with the oil boom and is now going broke with the oil glut, and its residents seem as sunk in emotional depression as the town is in its economic one. What McMurtry's characters take most seriously and worry most about inevitably turns out comically. The unplanned high points of the celebration are a tumbleweed stampede, broom-handle battles between teetotalers and beer-guzzlers, and an egg bombardment. For some this may seem a less than satisfying sequel to The Last Picture Show, but it is a more mature book, less angry, more tolerant, and more accepting of human foibles. Recommended. BOMC main selection. Charles Michaud, Turner Free Library, Randolph, Mass.

Copyright 1987 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.