Rating: 
Summary: Like Old Freinds
Review: Larry McMurtry, simple put, is my favorite author. I'm always excited to revisist his characters whether they're returning from "Terms of Endearment," "The Last Picture Show," or "Lonesome Dove," but always saddened to find out that I've reached the end of these sequels and trilogies. For the first time, "Duane's Depressed" didn't leave me with such sad feelings when I finished the last page. By some miracle, Duane Moore survives through this last volume of the trilogy (unlike many main character's of Mr. McMurtry's other novels) and leaves me feeling hopeful. Often funny, sometimes depressing, "Duane's Depressed" is an excellent example of how well the author can jump back into former character's minds and tell a wonderful story. Even if you haven't read the previous two novels in this series, never fear: Larry McMurtry has developed these characters so well by this time that you won't have felt liked you missed much. I would recommend "Duane's Depressed" among one of my favorite's from my favorite author. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Sometimes To Confront It, One Has To Get Away From It All
Review: Duane's Depressed, the third book in the Thalia, Texas-based series that also includes The Last Picture Show and Texasville, is the story of Duane Moore who is a self-made business man working the oil fields of Northern Texas. He is a mild-mannered, aging and ordinary man whose walk to his cabin becomes a metaphor for his itch for a new life. The narrative begins with Duane surrounded by his wife, children and grandchildren, as well as the trappings of a typical rural life in that part of the country and ends with a world turned upside down and without any remnants of his past. Is Duane depressed or going through a phase considered normal for a sixty-two year old? Why won't he sleep in his own house any longer and could his abandonment of his truck, in favour of walking, be proof enough that he has a few marbles loose now?
As Duane progresses through a profound transition much happens that might not have made sense once, but makes for perfect congruity with the new man. The family is gone, the business is in one son's hands, the dog is gone and the lesbian psychiatrist is not likely to be kissed anytime soon. What would any man do? What would any sane man do? Fly away?
Read Duane's Depressed - a book which reads comfortably without the prerequisite of its prequels - and find out.
Rating: 
Summary: Reading Proust through a midlife crisis
Review: Duane has a dog Shorty for company. He doesn't really want his wife Karla or the townspeople around him. In the past, instead of rehabilitation he had taken up bass fishing. His son Dickie has returned to Thalia and Duane is ready to turn the oil business over to him. Earlier Duane had stopped driving and had moved to a cabin on his property. He walked everywhere.
After seeing a psychiatrist he drank five whiskeys and slept for fifteen hours. He felt anxious, as he he did once when Karla nearly bled to death. Staying in Wichita Falls to see the psychiatrist, Duane needed to have someone bring him some clean clothes from Thalia. It is common for people to feel tired from therapy. Duane is reading Thoreau. Larry McMurtry is great, but this really is an absolutely sad book. When he returned to the cabin on a new bike, Karla came over to check on Duane. It seems that Karla has taken to watching the twenty-three MONTY PYTHON videos the couple possesses. Duane encounters the going postal fear when he tries to obtain a passport renewal form in Wichita Falls. I had forgotten that Michael Jordan started the craze for shaved heads. Duane's younger son, Jack, the wild pig catcher has shaved off the hair on his head much to the distress of his mother. The therapy is interrupted by the accidental death of Karla. The psychiatrist recommended that Duane attempt REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST in order to learn about dealing with disappointment. Duane moves back to his household filled with grandchildren and uses the couch in the den for sleeping. Proust and a big garden with surplus for poor people occupies him when his family settles down and his children step in to perform as parents to their children. In the end he does undertake a journey to Egypt.
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