Moving On
by Larry McMurtry
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Description
"Moving On anticipates McMurtry's Terms of Endearment and explores the emotional journey of a young woman against a sprawling metropolis in 1970s Texas. Larry McMurtry's Moving On, his epic first novel in the acclaimed Houston series, has long been considered a defining tale of "monumental honesty" worthy of great attention (New York Times). Preceding Terms of Endearment by five years, it is essential reading for anyone who appreciates the inherent genius of McMurtry's late twentieth-century show more fiction. Moving On centers on the life of Patsy Carpenter, one of his most beloved characters. After calmly finishing a Hershey bar alone in her car, a restless Patsy drives away from her lifeless marriage in search of a greater purpose. In "precise and lyrical prose" (Boston Globe), McMurtry reveals the complex, colorful lives of Pete, the rodeo clown; high-spirited cowboy Sonny Shanks; and impassioned grad student Hank. A critical work of American literature that "presents human drama with sympathy and compassion" (Los Angeles Times), Moving On unfolds a tale of perseverance and emotional survival in the modern-day West"-- show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
An early book by McMurtry and one I read 35 years ago as I was getting divorced. I like his early books much better than the later ones, many of which I have not, and will not, read. Character development and reasonable plot are much more likely and sincere in the early books. Having said that, this book got to me in a strange way. I cannot stand most of the characters or their approach to life as individual people, but as a collective, they are tolerable. The scenarios involved in making this book happen are quite improbable, however. Rodeo, photo journalist, graduate school, IBM employee, everybody everywhere always reading, name dropping of a vast number of significant books, and McMurtry's fascination w/ the subject of sex. It all show more gets to be a bit too much, but he crams every bit of it into this 800 page novel. The setting of Texas seems spot on much of the time, especially the rural Texas that I know and remember fairly well. Which is probably why I read the book about 1983 and really liked it at that time. Texas was new and fascinating, less so now. show less
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Published in 1970
58 works; 7 members
1970 Club
85 works; 2 members
Author Information
97+ Works 43,129 Members
Larry McMurtry, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, among other awards, is the author of twenty-four novels, two collections of essays, two memoirs, more than thirty screenplays, & an anthology of modern Western fiction. He lives in Archer City, Texas. (Publisher Provided) Novelist Larry McMurtry was born June 3, 1936 in Wichita Falls, show more Texas. He received a B.A. from North Texas State University in 1958, an M.A. from Rice University in 1960, and attended Stanford University. He married Josephine Ballard in 1959, divorced in 1966, and had one son, folksinger James McMurtry. Until the age of 22, McMurtry worked on his father's cattle ranch. When he was 25, he published his first novel, "Horseman, Pass By" (1961), which was turned into the Academy Award-winning movie Hud in 1962. "The Last Picture Show" (1966) was made into a screenplay with Peter Bogdanovich, and the 1971 movie was nominated for eight Oscars, including one for best screenplay adaptation. "Terms of Endearment" (1975) received little attention until the movie version won five Oscars, including Best Picture, in 1983. McMurtry's novel "Lonesome Dove" (1985) won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 and the Spur Award and was followed by two popular TV miniseries. The other titles in the Lonesome Dove Series are "Streets of Laredo" (1993), "Dead Man's Walk" (1995), and "Comanche Moon" (1997). The other books in his Last Picture Show Trilogy are "Texasville" (1987) and "Duane's Depressed" (1999). McMurtry suffered a heart attack in 1991 and had quadruple-bypass surgery. Following that, he suffered from severe depression and it was during this time he wrote "Streets of Laredo," a dark sequel to "Lonesome Dove." His companion Diana Ossana, helping to pull him out of his depression, collaborated with him on "Pretty Boy Floyd" (1994) and "Zeke and Ned" (1997). He co-won the Best Screenplay Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Brokeback Mountain in 2006. He made The New York Times Best Seller List with his title's Custer and The Last Kind Words Saloon. McMurtry is considered one of the country's leading antiquarian book dealers. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Moving On
- Original publication date
- 1970
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 464
- Popularity
- 65,293
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.80)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 14
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 10
