Duane’s Depressed (Last Picture Show Trilogy)
Duane’s Depressed (Last Picture Show Trilogy)
Larry McMurtry’s “funny and brutal” (New York Times) landmark novel The Last Picture Show introduced the shrinking oil-patch town of Thalia, Texas, and its teenaged residents Duane, Sonny, and Jacy. In Texasville, the trio grew up to “adultery and madness, bankruptcy and boom times,” (New York Daily News). Now McMurtry takes his most colorful characters into their twilight years — in an unforgettable end to the Thalia saga.
Surrounded by his children, all of whom are going through tumultuous transitional times; his promiscuous wife, Karla, who is with her own demons; and his friend Sonny, who seems to be dying, Duane can’t make sense of his life anymore. The stark realization that he has spent his whole life in a miserable dust-bowl town throws him into a protracted end-of-life crisis — one that will hurtle him toward unexpected love, profoundly affect old friends, and cause him to embark on outlandish new beginning.
McMurtry’s strongest and most appealing contemporary novel since Terms of Endearment, Duane’s Depressed is utterly unsentimental, often hilarious, sometimes tragic and shocking, and in the end full of hope.At 62, ever-dependable oil man Duane Moore ditches his pickup and starts walking everywhere–deeply deviant behavior in one-stoplight Thalia, Texas. “It occurred to him one day–not in a flash, but through a process of seepage, a kind of gas leak into his consciousness–that most of his memories, from his first courtship to the lip of old age, involved the cabs of pickups,” Larry McMurtry writes. Yet oddly enough, Duane’s marriage, four children and nine grandchildren, his career highs and lows, all occurred when he was nowhere near his vehicle. Within days he has moved into his cabin on a hill, reacquired his dog, Shorty the Sixth (“an air of slight guilt was typical of all the Shortys”), and begun to think on these things. Of course, this brings on an additional problem: “He realized that for the first time in his life he had too much time to think; of course he had wanted more time to think, but that was probably because he hadn’t realized how tricky thinking could be.”
Luckily for readers, Duane’s attempts to go off the grid are far from successful. Thus do we have the deep pleasures of his comical and complex encounters with his wife, Karla, and family, not to mention some of Thalia’s singular citizens. As ever, McMurtry’s dialogue and narration snaps and surprises. He makes his hero’s solitude, and his increasing depression, infinitely intriguing. Will Duane’s attempts to literally and figuratively cultivate his garden succeed? Will he forge his way through the three volumes of Proust that his attractive new psychiatrist has prescribed in lieu of Prozac? Will the catfish that has found its way into his waterbed survive? Answers to these and many other questions await you in Duane’s Depressed, the final book of the marvelous trilogy McMurtry began with The Last Picture Show and Texasville. Let us pray that it turns into a quartet: we need far more of Duane and his family. For a start, his granddaughter Barbi–”a dark midge of a child”–merits a volume of her own. –Kerry Fried
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(out of 67 reviews)
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Randy Keehn
Review by Randy Keehn for Duane’s Depressed (Last Picture Show Trilogy)
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One of my favorite books that I read in my teens was “The Last Picture Show” by Larry McMurtry. (It was a pretty good movie as well). It really turned me on to this then-promising young author. When the sequel, “Texasville”, came out years later, I read that as well. It turned out to be one of the worst books I have read. McMurtry’s style of writing changed after his heart attack and his writing really suffered since shortly after “Lonesome Dove” came out. Still, I found myself continuing to read most every book of his that came out and wanting to be there when the old McMurtry showed up again.
After my experience with “Texasville”, I bought, but was reluctant to read, “Duane’s Depressed; the sequel to “Texasville”. As I started out with the book I thought to myself, “This is what’s wrong with the post-angina McMurtry”. The problem is the excessive abundance of boringly idiotic characters. They’re like an influx simplistic and Americanized people out of a Fellini movie. What made me almost put the book down and quit it is the multitude of Duane’s children and grandchildren who are nothing but out of control spoiled brats. If this was the only book that I encountered these type of characters, I wouldn’t mind. However, they overflow in all of the modern McMurtry.
As I struggled through a cast of totally disinteresting characters, I reached a point (at about a fourth of the way into the book) where the book really started to take off. We lose the dysfunctional offspring and start focussing on Duane Moore. His is a character well-developed by an author that was showing he’s still got it. I found myself drawn into Duane and his life and challenges. I found myself relating to a man who was facing many things similar to what I was dealing with in my life. For the duration of the book, I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. It was a truly endearing study of a man bewildered by his past, present and future. As Duane was struggling with his issues, I found myself wondering if McMurtry was being autobiographical. I know next to nothing about his private life. It wasn’t until his 14th or 15th book that a picture of him was shown on any dust jacket and that’s the same picture that has appeared on every book since. Maybe it’s an analogy of how his life changed after his heart attack. Whatever it was, the character of Duane takes me back to the early talent of Larry McMurtry.
This is a very good book that just happens to start out poorly. It isn’t up there with “The Last Picture Show”, “Lonesome Dove”, “Leaving Cheyenne”, or “Horseman Pass By”. However, it IS in the category of “Moving On”, “All My Friends are Going to be Strangers”, “Terms of Endearment” and several others. When McMurtry’s good he is VERY good but when he is bad…
mirope
Review by mirope for Duane’s Depressed (Last Picture Show Trilogy)
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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.
Anonymous
Review by for Duane’s Depressed (Last Picture Show Trilogy)
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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.
Anonymous
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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.
Anonymous
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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.