Duane's Depressed

Rating:
Summary: Believable if unlikely
Review: A Billy-Bob Texan becomes dissatisfied and introspective, wonders why his life is empty and so gives up his pickup and begins walking. Everyone thinks he's crazy (no one in the US walks, right?), his wife recommends a psychiatrist, and that (she!) turns out to be a solution after all. Well, the whole story is too unlikely, but, since anything can happen in Texas, it's also believeable. As usual, the description of place and people is fantastic. Hard to beat McMurtry when it comes to describing the wild side of life in Texas (how about a McMurtry book on the head of a global options trading firm that goes busto...).

Rating:
Summary: It's hard to write a deep book about a shallow character
Review: Duane's sixty-two. Unhappy too. He was not educated. He can't speak a foreign language. He has not traveled. He knows nothing of the great cities of the world. He has never visited a great museum, seen a great picture, or heard a great symphony. The only book he has ever finished is Lonesome Dove. In short, he doesn't know much. One thing he does know: He doesn't want to live a single day more as he had been living, nose to the grind stone, driving around in his pickup and going through the motions of running his oil patch business that had long since ceased to interest him. No one, including Karla his long-suffering wife, has a clue about his real feelings. So when Duane stops driving and starts walking that is an earthquake. Fiction like this concerned with the marginalization of men and about masculine problems is much needed in our estrogenized world. But says Nina of page 477, "Is it wrong to ask for a little precision?" I listed multiple artistic quia imperfectum and 17 inconsistencies in the narrative including errors in time sequencing (Unabomber was caught in 1996 way before not after Princess Di died), character profile (Duane is a slow reader until page 414 when he recalls he is a speed reader (Read Time in 45 seconds) because he took the Evelyn Woods course), and fact (you can't shoot off your little toe and expect to have a piece recoverable for reattachment, Cairo is not on the Mediterranean Sea, people awake from nightmares realizing the dream was not real not the other way around etc.). Oh well, it's hard to write a deep book about a shallow character. Duane's interior life looks like the cab of his pickup, empty space. Don't let that happen to you. By the way, turn the cover on the side rotating it counterclockwise and you'll wee where Duane lives, a country as desolate as his soul.

Rating:
Summary: Keep another McMurtry novel on hand after this one.
Review: After reading All My Friends are Going to be Strangers, I wanted to read more of McMurtry. Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of westerns and didn't know much about any of his other novels. I chose Duane's Depressed after reading the back cover, and was incredibly impressed. I especially enjoyed the beginning chapters and the dialogue of the children. But I thought the novel faltered after the death of Karla, and the reasons for his not becoming involved with Honor were unusual and questionable. I also wondered why he desired to see Egypt, of all places. All in all, a wonderful novel, and I will continue to read McMurtry and follow Danny Deck in the sequels to All My Friends, but I was disappointed with the ending to this novel.

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful ending to a wonderful trilogy.
Review: Picking up this book was like attending a family reunion. I had that same sense of visiting with people I hadn't seen in years but still cared about. You want to reminisce and catch up on what everyone's been up to. It's been years since I read Texasville and over a decade since I read The Last Picture Show. Nevertheless, I was immediately able to fall back into the rhythms of Thalia, Texas. "Duane's Depressed" picks up several years after Texasville and once again focuses on Duane Moore and his family. The book opens with Duane's decision to give up motorized vehicles, a move that shocks the entire town and throws Duane's wife into a panic. Pedestrians, you see, are unheard of in Thalia. Typical of McMurtry's novels, the dialogue is extremely funny and true to life. McMurtry has an amazing ability to point out the ridiculousness of most human behavior without demeaning his characters. And he thoroughly captures the eccentricities of small town life. Even though this is basically a story about regrets and missed oportunities, it never becomes melancholy or dismal. This is a stronger book that Texasville, but no less entertaining. I highly recommend this book for all McMurtry fans, especially if you've read the rest of the trilogy.

Rating:
Summary: duane's depressed
Review: You will not understand this book without having read at least Texasville. Duane's Depressed left me once again wanting more. Who gave McMurtry permission to end this book this way? I beg him to write another book with these same characters. If you read this book you will know why.

Rating:
Summary: Duane's Depressed
Review: If you have read the preceding novels by McMurtry, The Last Picture Show and Texasville, you will love this one. It is humorous, sad, and a perfect conclusion to the lives of the characters in the previous books. I hated for the book to end, as you become so involved with the characters. You actually become a member of the family!

Rating:
Summary: W/O reading rest of triology, this is still great
Review: I havne't read the first two books in this trilogy, but I found this book engaging and entertaining. Neither being in my sixties or male, I still found Duane's struggles interesting to read. This book is about a man who wakes up one day and decides to walk away from his life, literally, and push forward in a new direction. I think anyone of any age can relate to that kind of story, where the character is questioning his existence and wondering what it's all about. I would say in some ways this is a philosophical book, but it's also very entertaining and easy to read. I was glued to turning the pages, wanting to find out what would happen next. A great read.

Rating:
Summary: Very entertaining - a "must read"
Review: I coud not put this book down and finished it in 4 hours. What a wonderful book! McMurtry is a great writer, turning out an intelligent captivating story with funny, true to life characters that you believe in and care about. Haven't we all wanted to just take some time and walk around, hoping to figure it all out? I love a book that's well written AND makes me laugh out loud.

Rating:
Summary: A Rememberance of Things Past.......
Review: Okay, I admit it! I'm an unabashed fan of McMurtry's Texasville trilogy. While I feel The Last Picture Show,(my all-time favorite) and Texasville had more substance, Duanes's Depressed has to strike a note with most men over the age of 50. You know, the running away from home syndrome. And I can't see ANY of the men over 50 that I know wading through Proust!Whatever....hurry and make the movie before Jeff Bridges and Annie Potts get too old. I have this vision of Duane in Cairo, with Karla and the grand twins ambushing him at the pivotal point in his quest for self-realization! There HAS to be another book here somewhere!

Rating:
Summary: Duane discovers Proust & Thoreau
Review: Larry McMurtry delivers us the human condition again and Proust-Thoreau as a bonus. Duane cyles through depression, irritation, loss of identity, love and comes to a soft landing on a cloud of understanding. He learns a few things about contentment and Proust teaches him to see the validity of his life now -- the pyramids aren't inherently better than Texas -- IF you pay attention.

Excellent book for thinking people.