When the Light Goes

December 18, 2006
With less than happy results, McMurtry picks up the story of Duane Moore (Duane's Depressed
) two years after he left him alone in a remote Texas cabin, suddenly widowed and among his fractious brood. As Duane, now 64, returns from an impromptu trip to Egypt, he's confronted by Anne Cameron, a young, flirtatious computer expert hired by Duane's son, Dickie (now manager of the small family oil company). Although smitten, Duane is still haunted by the memory of his wife, Karla, and also succumbs to a lassitude about his sex drive that ultimately reveals a more serious health problem. His therapist, Honor Carmichael, decides (after the death of her lover) that all Duane needs is some self-confidence, so she temporarily sets aside her professional ethics (and her lesbianism) to come to his aid. In the meantime, old friends die, as does his tiny town of Thalia (setting of six McMurtry novels, finally swallowed up by creeping sprawl), and his daughters annoy him. Bereft of subplot or complications, this slim novel reads like a short story, and the second half is dominated by vivid but curiously clinical sex scenes. Although amusing in places and full of sharp McMurtry observations and sentences, it's as weak a book as he has produced.

March 1, 2007
Duane Moore ("Duane's Depressed") is back, and he is still depressed. Duane is now a widower with major heart blockage whose west Texas hometown of Thalia is also on its last legs. Family and friends are dead or gone. He has no interest in the family oil business, and the allure of his bicycle-only mode of transportation is fast fading. A trip to Egypt gave Duane some joy, but basically he feels apathetic about life. Such discontent a dull novel makes, so McMurtry spikes Duane's life with a bevy of younger females who throw themselves at him everywhere he goes. The result reads like an old geezer's pillow book, full of graphically rendered sex scenes and fantasies. The fourth entry in the series that McMurtry began with the classic "The Last Picture Show" (1966), this latest effort will strike many readers as a disappointing coda. An optional purchase. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 11/15/06.]Keddy Ann Outlaw, Harris Cty. P.L., Houston

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2006
In his now-classic debut novel, " The Last Picture Show"(1966), McMurtry introduced readers to a dying Texas town called Thalia and a lively teenager named Duane Moore. McMurtry revisited both in his novels " Texasville" (1987) and " Duane's Depressed" (1999), rendering Duane as a sort of West Texas equivalent of Updike's Rabbit Angstrom. McMurtry's latest novel begins with Duane, now 65, returning from an overseas sabbatical designed to relieve his grief for his deceased wife. He finds that his life in Thalia has receded; his children have all moved on, his oil company is successful without him, and he is utterly alone. In walks Annie, a young blond and new employee at the company. Annie flirts with Duane but soon reveals that--despite her 27 years--she knows almost nothing about sex. Duane hasn't learned much either but is willing to share his meager education with Annie. McMurtry keeps the sexual play frank--too frank, with descriptions of Duane's impotence falling under the heading of " too" " much information" Although Duane is surprised by his late-blooming sexuality, readers won't be, and his prolonged malaise deadens the impact of his self-discovery. Still, it's nice to know what ultimately becomes of old Duane--even if it isn't particularly enthralling.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)