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Summary: Read Everything Else First
Review: Lonesome Dove is one of my favorite books of all time and I have enjoyed all of his other books (Terms of Endearment, Comanche Moon, Buffalo Girls, Anything for Billy, Streets of Laredo, etc) however I had trouble finishing Duane's Depressed. The first half of the book rolled along but the second half became unbearably slow. I felt like I was reading a character study by James Joyce. This book did not have the memorable characters characteristic of McMurtry novels. Imagine Lonesome Dove being a character study of Woodrow Call, it certainly would not win a Pulitzer. Maybe I prefer the Lonesome Dove saga better. I still recommend this book to those who love the Texasville series but for first time Larry McMurtry readers, try reading Lonesome Dove or Terms of Endearment before you read this book.
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Summary: *Classic*
Review: Truly lives up to the true sense of the word. I haven't yet read TLPS and can't wait. What a surprise! I read this book in two days, couldn't put it down.
Rating:
Summary: There is duct tape on this one!
Review: I've had to put duct tape on a few papber back books; Lonesome Dove, Three Musketeers, Baja Oklahoma, Gone with the Wind, Texasville, the Good News Bible, because I reread parts of them so often the bindings wear out. Fifty pages into Duane's Depressed I stuck some duct tape on the binding of this one.
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Summary: A great conclusion to the Last Picture Show
Review: McMurtry concludes the story started in "The Last Picture Show" and "Texasville". Duane, one of the principle characters in TLPS and TV, is in his early 60's, rich from the oil business. His family is just as troubled, crazy and dissipated when we left them in Texasville. They are all older and now Duane has a passel of grandchildren living in his mansion. The story starts out as he pulls into his garage in his pickup truck and decides he's finished driving, for good. In fact, he decides, he is done with life and goes off to live by himself 6 miles from the house in a utility cabin. He walks everywhere, which is unheard of in the middle of Texas. He claims to have missed too much of life while in the cab of his truck. His wife and family struggle to deal with his Thoreau-like lifestyle. Duane struggles with depression as he tries to figure out where his life went. What has he accomplished in 62 years? He eventually sees a psychologist who helps him realize his problems. Many of the prinicipals characters are also written off; they are dead or die in the course of the story. McMurtry delivers a powerful character study. Duane is instantly captivating as well the characters he runs into. I was expecting another dull, meretricious tale like Texasville, however, I was pleasantly surprised in the maturity, the dialog, and the well-defined characters.
Rating:
Summary: Another fine tale from McMurtry
Review: I laughed and I cried. Now that he's read the book, my 62 year old husband calls me Karla and I call him Duane. We just follow McMurtry around like Shorty. About anything he writes is o.k. with us.
Rating: 
Summary: McMurtry and Thalia's Swan Song
Review: If your looking for plot,or a treatise on depression, you won't find it here. What you will find, in what is probably McMurtry's final novel, is a character study about missed opportunities (and the lack of opportunities)in a small town in Texas. If you know and love these characters, as McMurtry obviously does, you will probably love this book. I did.
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Summary: Duane life says it all.
Review: Remember Peggy Lee's song in the 50's - Is that all there is? Well Duane turns 62 and is wondering the same thing. I looked forward to reading a chapter or two every night! Everyone has known characters like Duane, Carla, their kids and the people who inhabit this tale. Having never read the first two books of this trilogy, the Moore family was all new to me. The story touched all the human feelings of humor, sadness, hope, pathos, uncertainty, etc. I hated to see the book end.
Rating:
Summary: I was genuinely moved....
Review: I am a HUGE McMurtry fan - the Lonesome Dove trilogy ranks right up there as an all time favorite of mine. I am less fond of the Thalia trilogy, but I was blown away by "Duane's Depressed" - it just rang so true. I'm not male, I'm not a Texan, and I'm not in my 60's, but yet I could really relate to Duane's life. Thank you, Larry McMurtry, for once again making me so happy that talent like yours exists in this world.
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Summary: Once again you're side-by-side with all the characters.
Review: You feel as if you have grown up with all the characters.You will find yourself putting yourself and others you actually grew up with into the novel. Somewhere I read that McMurtry wants to stop writting fiction. I sure hope not. I read all night.
Rating:
Summary: better than I expected
Review: Duane's Depressed is a fitting end to the Thalia saga. Some of the things that happened bothered me, but disappointing things happen in life, and this book reflected what life is about. I enjoyed finding out how the Moore family developed, but I truly relished how McMurtry showed that sadness can lead to triumph and change. First Texasville, one of my favorite books, and now this one -- thanks, Mr. McMurtry. The people of Thalia are my people, too.
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