Rating: 
Summary: Duane's depressed....
Review: .......and so am I, after reading this. Well, almost reading it. I gave up in the middle. Yaaawwwn. Too bad McMurtry has lost his touch. I read the two reviews preceding mine but found I totally disagreed with their opinions. I, too, had previously read The Last Picture Show and Texasville. I've seen the movies that go with the books. I adore Jeff Bridges and had always thought he made a terrific Duane. I like quirky characters as much as the next reader but I didn't connect with any of the ones in this book. The little kids were big-mouthed brats, their "parents" had never grown up and probably never would. I had always liked Karla and Duane but I just didn't feel anything for them. Maybe I'll just re-read Lonesome Dove, my all-time favourite McMurtry. This new book just didn't "do it for me."
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: Needs a Movie version ASAP!
Review: This is the 3rd & "Best" of "The Last Picture Show" trilogy.I can't wait till tis becomes a movie!Hopefully the entire cast from "Texasville" can be back to give us such great comedy and drama.Those who said this is a sad story are miss reading it I beleive. I have always viewed Duane's character as more pathetic than sad. True alot of the plights and things that have occured in Duane's life could be viewed as sad. I tend to view the character as a rich guy leading the average Joe middle-class life. I find this trilogy fasciating more & more as it shows us how all the story's character's past affects the future of a family's up brignning and lifstyles. How it affects Duanne is the main point. The things that happen are comical more so than sad. Yes this is a drama, yes it has very excellent depth and darkness, yet somehow I always view it more in a comical way. The story is complete and more than satisfying. THIS MUST BE MADE INTO A MOVIE!!!!!!To not put this one on the screen would be a shame. I know "Texasville" didn't fare well at the box office, but this one has excellent potential to be another great success like the original. The character depth in this story (in my opinion) relates more back to the characters'study thus allowing for great perfomances and possible academys. This finale is by far the best of the three just because it tells how people come of age. It's a story about life.Jeff Bridges and the rest of the orginal actors need to be brought back for "The Best Picture Show".
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: Needs a Movie version ASAP!
Review: This is the 3rd & "Best" of "The Last Picture Show" trilogy.I can't wait till tis becomes a movie!Hopefully the entire cast from "Texasville" can be back to give us such great comedy and drama.Those who said this is a sad story are miss reading it I beleive. I have always viewed Duane's character as more pathetic than sad. True alot of the plights and things that have occured in Duane's life could be viewed as sad. I tend to view the character as a rich guy leading the average Joe middle-class life. I find this trilogy fasciating more & more as it shows us how all the story's character's past affects the future of a family's up brignning and lifstyles. How it affects Duanne is the main point. The things that happen are comical more so than sad. Yes this is a drama, yes it has very excellent depth and darkness, yet somehow I always view it more in a comical way. The story is complete and more than satisfying. THIS MUST BE MADE INTO A MOVIE!!!!!!To not put this one on the screen would be a shame. I know "Texasville" didn't fare well at the box office, but this one has excellent potential to be another great success like the original. The character depth in this story (in my opinion) relates more back to the characters'study thus allowing for great perfomances and possible academys. This finale is by far the best of the three just because it tells how people come of age. It's a story about life.Jeff Bridges and the rest of the orginal actors need to be brought back for "The Best Picture Show".
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.
Rating:
Summary: The Final in the Trilogy of Duane and His Friends and Family
Review: Back to Thalia to revisit our old friends and a 62 year old Duane reviewing his life and wondering whether it's been all it should have been. Isn't that something many folks do as they enter their senior years? We care about Duane and throughout the story we care about the characters and their relationships and the strange and desperate things Duane will attempt in order to find his "reason for being." Fortunately, the book ends well, and many readers and I are hoping that Larry McMurtry will again revisit Thalia and its populace in a story set in these modern times.
Evelyn Horan - teacher/counselor/author
Jeannie, A Texas Frontier Girl Books One - Three
Rating:
Summary: McMurtry at His Best
Review: DUANE'S DEPRESSED is fantastically funny, sad and satisfying. I've read a lot of Larry McMurtry, and this is my single favorite of his.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for older readers
Review: I loved this story of a man suddenly realizing that he is getting old, becoming aware of loss and missed opportunity, and figuring out how he wants to live his life, set against the essentially comic background of Thalia, Texas. I have read the novel three times, and the only other novel I have read this many times is Pride and Prejudice. I'm not sure that a younger person would be able to relate to the situation, however.
Rating:
Summary: powerful,my favorite
Review: I have read most of the mcmurty books, and i just love this one the most. duane's problem is all our problems, and his solution is the one i would really like to try , it makes for a fascianting story, backed with such lyrical prose. one of the best books i have read in the past several years, and i read 2/5 books a week. i read the books out of sequance, and it didn't really matter.
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