Paradise

Rating:
Summary: Another Great Installment of Autobiographical Musings....
Review: If Larry McMurtry stops his autobiographical musings with this latest installment, it would be a fitting end of a trilogy: "Walter Benjamin At The Dairy Queen: Reflections At Sixty And Beyond" (1999), "Roads" (2000), and "Paradise" (2001). Hopefully, there will be an additional volume or two.

It is necessary to mention "Walter Benjamin" and "Roads" before getting to "Paradise". While not strictly an autobiography, "Walter Benjamin" explains something of McMurtry's upbringing, his younger days, his middle-age, and includes some family history (particularly his paternal grandparents and his father). Some of the book recalls portions of his 1968 work "In A Narrow Grave: Essays On Texas" (which contains one of the best pieces ever written about family: "Take My Saddle From The Wall: A Valediction"). "Roads" contains an abundance of opinions and reminiscings from McMurtry's life, and is combined with his 1999 thoughts as he uses America's great interstate highways to traverse the country as the great rivers were once used.

The autobiographical portion of "Paradise" includes the relationship between McMurtry's parents from their marriage in 1934 up through the death of his father (in 1977), and then onward with his mother. Intertwined with this is an early-2000 vacation to Tahiti which focuses on a cargo-cruise tour of the Marquesas Islands. The sly thing about this slight book (it is a quick read) is that one is reading a first-class travel book without even realizing it. As a bonus, the reader gets some interesting views of his fellow travelers (American, French, Belgian, German, and others), as well as some commentary on the Polynesians (past and present).

Once again, the novelist McMurtry succeeds in writing some great essay/non-fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Another Great Installment of Autobiographical Musings....
Review: If Larry McMurtry stops his autobiographical musings with this latest installment, it would be a fitting end of a trilogy: "Walter Benjamin At The Dairy Queen: Reflections At Sixty And Beyond" (1999), "Roads" (2000), and "Paradise" (2001). Hopefully, there will be an additional volume or two.

It is necessary to mention "Walter Benjamin" and "Roads" before getting to "Paradise". While not strictly an autobiography, "Walter Benjamin" explains something of McMurtry's upbringing, his younger days, his middle-age, and includes some family history (particularly his paternal grandparents and his father). Some of the book recalls portions of his 1968 work "In A Narrow Grave: Essays On Texas" (which contains one of the best pieces ever written about family: "Take My Saddle From The Wall: A Valediction"). "Roads" contains an abundance of opinions and reminiscings from McMurtry's life, and is combined with his 1999 thoughts as he uses America's great interstate highways to traverse the country as the great rivers were once used.

The autobiographical portion of "Paradise" includes the relationship between McMurtry's parents from their marriage in 1934 up through the death of his father (in 1977), and then onward with his mother. Intertwined with this is an early-2000 vacation to Tahiti which focuses on a cargo-cruise tour of the Marquesas Islands. The sly thing about this slight book (it is a quick read) is that one is reading a first-class travel book without even realizing it. As a bonus, the reader gets some interesting views of his fellow travelers (American, French, Belgian, German, and others), as well as some commentary on the Polynesians (past and present).

Once again, the novelist McMurtry succeeds in writing some great essay/non-fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Makes you yearn to visit paradise for yourself
Review: McMurtry delivers a compelling, thoroughly enjoyable read once again. He has traveled to Tahiti and the Marquesan Islands to reflect on his parents and on the idea of worldly paradise. And he seems to believe he has found that paradise in the South Pacific. McMurtry offers thoughtful and thought-provoking insights on his fellow travelers and spectacular descriptions of his surroundings in a book written very much like a diary or journal. Is there anyone who wouldn't like to visit these islands after reading McMurtry's account? While this is a fast read, the reflections the author presents have a penetrating quality to them; this is a book the reader will not soon forget.

Rating:
Summary: Makes you yearn to visit paradise for yourself
Review: McMurtry delivers a compelling, thoroughly enjoyable read once again. He has traveled to Tahiti and the Marquesan Islands to reflect on his parents and on the idea of worldly paradise. And he seems to believe he has found that paradise in the South Pacific. McMurtry offers thoughtful and thought-provoking insights on his fellow travelers and spectacular descriptions of his surroundings in a book written very much like a diary or journal. Is there anyone who wouldn't like to visit these islands after reading McMurtry's account? While this is a fast read, the reflections the author presents have a penetrating quality to them; this is a book the reader will not soon forget.