Rating: 
Summary: I DIDN'T KNOW MCMURTRY WROTE SLAPSTICK
Review: This book is unlike any other book that I have read by McMurtry. From the first when Ma Cecil shoots a horse out from under the sheriff and says that she thought it was an elk, I knew that this wasn't going to be a regular western. I was right.This is the story of the Cecil family led by Mary Margaret, the matriarch of the family. She takes her family, including 4 children and a mooney eyed brother in law named Seth, on a trek to Wyoming from Missouri to find her wandering husband named Dick, appropriately enough. On the way they pick up an aging indian named Charlie Seven Days and a portly monk named Pere Villy. They meet several bands of indians, have a tussle with the Missouri River and meet several new family members. This book is an easy read and you will get a laugh or two along the way.
Rating: 
Summary: Aim Low, Boys - He's Ridin' A Shetland
Review: This is a short, sweet little book, really nothing more than the account of one of McMurtry's classic eccentric western families as they travel west to find their pa. Some critics dwell on the fact that this book lacks the sweep and drama of "Lonesome Dove". That's so, but it also lacks that book's cruelty and tragedy. The delight here is in the details - Grandpa taking out his fiddle as soon as he meets another fiddler on the trail, the glow off the tip of a burning cheroot smoked by a prostitute as she sits on her wooden stairs on a summer night, the affection and exasperation a young boy feels for the family mules...Once again, McMurtry brings the American west alive, and this resurrection is sweeter and happier than anything in his earlier books. I wish he had expanded the theme somewhat and shown us more of his characters, since they're all such good folks. This book reminded me more of one of those great old sepia photographs of westerners, where the people looked so alive and so compelling that you just wanted to climb inside the picture and get to know them. Brief glimpses are all we get in this book as well, but we get to see some unforgettable characters. There has been a theme of darkness and loss in most of McMurtry's works, and his recently-revealed struggles with clinical depression may explain this. There is little that is dark or tragic in "Boone's Lick", and journeying with these characters, however briefly, is a real delight. I am hoping that the tone of this novel reflects a lightening in the tone of Mr. McMurtry's own life. All his readers would sincerely wish him success in his recovery. Judging by this book, he's well on his way.
Rating: 
Summary: McMurtry jumps under the bar he has set
Review: This is an okay little western story, but it comes nowhere close to the excellence we have come to expect from McMurtry. The characters are not particularly interesting or believable, and their adventure is not interesting or believable. Fortunately, McMurtry is a competent writer even when he has dealt himself below average material, and he made this one short so we readers would not give up on it. I have read most of what McMurtry has written, from great early efforts like Horseman, Pass By (made into the movie Hud), Leaving Cheyenne (made into the movie Lovin' Molly), and The Last Picture Show, to his epic Lonesome Dove with its prequels and sequel, and his combined work with Diana Ossana. I have read his essays and his modern adventure stories like Moving On, Cadillac Jack, and The Late Child. I have read his semi-historical books like Anything for Billy and Crazy Horse. There has been great writing, true works of art, mixed with other work of uneven quality, but always quality. But this latest entry is his poorest effort I have read. My advice is to pass by Boone's Lick. There is a great body of work from McMurtry that is well worth reading, don't spoil your opinion of him by picking up this book.
Rating:
Summary: First time McMurtry
Review: This is my first exposure to McMurtry. I have not seen or read Lonesome Dove although my mom has been trying to get me to read the book for some time. I listened to the audio edition of Boone's Lick and it kept me entertained during my long Christmas travels. I am definitely going to get Lonesome Dove based on the readers comments that this book is not true McMurtry. If Boone's Lick is substandard McMurtry and I really liked it, then Lonesome Dove must be a masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Come on Larry, Your Better than This!
Review: This story and these characters could have been another "Lonesome Dove", but Larry McMurtry wanted us to "show him the money". This is an an epic short story that could have been developed into a true epic novel. The quality of the writing is right up there with "Texasville" and you will die laughing on several occasions. On the bright side for Mr. McMurtry, it is perfect for a movie instead of a mini-series, so he'll reach a much larger, royalty paying, audience.
Rating:
Summary: Save your money.
Review: This very short story with very large print is way over priced. McMurtry tries to make up for this Lonesome Dove remake in the last chapter but fails miserably. He should be ashamed for charging so much for this average story.
Rating:
Summary: enjoyable short novel of the West
Review: This was a very easy book to read which is something that can be said about most of what Larry McMurtry has written. It is a story of a teenage boy at a time shortly after the Civil War. He has some adventures in his Missouri hamlet before his mother has the family take off for Wyoming in search of her husband. There are a number of characters that weave in and out of the story but the focus is on the family. Fortunately, there are not any of the bizarre characters that we have come to expect in McMurtry's latter works. Most of the characters are fairly normal and interesting. In fact, the book reads like a reminiscence written from years later. It seems like a cross between "I Remember Mama" and "My Life on the Plains". Something is happening all the time in this book. I started worrying as I got near the end because I was sure I would run out of pages before I finished the story. There is a lot here that the author could have fleshed out some more. However, the brevity that leaves us wanting more is always preferable to the opposite. For a minimal investment of time, this is a good way to spend an afternoon.
Rating:
Summary: enjoyable short novel of the West
Review: This was a very easy book to read which is something that can be said about most of what Larry McMurtry has written. It is a story of a teenage boy at a time shortly after the Civil War. He has some adventures in his Missouri hamlet before his mother has the family take off for Wyoming in search of her husband. There are a number of characters that weave in and out of the story but the focus is on the family. Fortunately, there are not any of the bizarre characters that we have come to expect in McMurtry's latter works. Most of the characters are fairly normal and interesting. In fact, the book reads like a reminiscence written from years later. It seems like a cross between "I Remember Mama" and "My Life on the Plains". Something is happening all the time in this book. I started worrying as I got near the end because I was sure I would run out of pages before I finished the story. There is a lot here that the author could have fleshed out some more. However, the brevity that leaves us wanting more is always preferable to the opposite. For a minimal investment of time, this is a good way to spend an afternoon.
Rating:
Summary: First Person Accounts from Larry McMurtry
Review: Though few know it for a fact, many have come to suspect that Larry McMurtry has lived for almost one hundred fifty years. Despite his age, he has retained a clear memory of the people and places he has seen throughout his travels in the west. To our benefit he continues to share his observations and personal acquaintances with us. His latest trip down a rather dusty memory lane takes us from Boone's Lick, Missouri to point's west. This is a fine example of first person storytelling, and though he must have been a child just after the civil war ended, when this story begins, his memory and attention to detail, especially dialogue is astounding. He has made these people as real for his readers as they were for him as a youngster. Once again as he did most successfully with Lonesome Dove, (and their ill advised pre- and sequels), Zeke and Ned, Anything for Billy, Buffalo Girls, and Pretty Boy Floyd he has shared with us his eclectic past. This latest McMurtry memory is a quick, fun read as the characters tangle with each other and various forms of wild-west wild-life. The characters use all the tools at hand, guns, knives, but most often just words. The dialogue is real and amusing. The interaction between the principals is as true and alive today as when McMurtry must have first heard it spoken. The story itself is light on its feet, not much really happens, its pace is as slow as the mules pulling the wagons west, but it's a fun ride anyway.
Rating: 
Summary: A GREAT YARN FROM A GREAT YARN SPINNER
Review: What do I like about Larry McMurtry's writing? He does not write as if you had no brains at all about the Old West. But he writes as if you were his equal and he just wants to tell you a good story. Boone's Lick did not reach the status of Lonesome Dove, but on its own it was a very good and well-written book. He shared a great tale of the Old West with me. The book is about the trip of the Cecil family as they travel from Boone's Lick, Missouri to the West. Mary Margaret, the mother and matriarch of the family, wants to get a divorce from her wandering husband and she aims to get it even if it means packing up and traveling all those miles. In the meantime, it tells of the story of the United States in the post-civil war era--the lack of meat, Indian massacres, renegades--everything to make this tale a hum dinger and hold your attention. He also tells his tale while winking at you at the same time. The asides, the Mark Twain-type wry pundits makes this book very hard to put down. Even though it started out slowly, it turned into a quick read. Mainly, because after a while, I could not put it down.
| 
