Rhino Ranch

Best McMurtry book in years

Larry McMurtry is my favorite author, I have read all of his books but have found many of his recent books lacking his insightful prose. His character development has been top notch but he seemed to loose interest in the plot and characters after about 100 pages. Rhino Ranch was different,it was beautifully written from the first sentence to the last. I must admit I was wary about reading it. I was afraid Duane was going to suffer a terrible death via a Rhino attack. I felt like sending Larry a thank you letter when I finished the book - I wanted to thank him for letting Duane have such a peaceful passing and letting him be with such wonderful people in his final years.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Very disappointed

I have loved this series until this last one. It looks like McMurtry just came back to end things without a lot of effort.

With a tip of rhe hat to Jeff Bridges

for bring Duane to life in 'The Last Picture Show' and effectively supplying the face of Duane for this and Duane's Depressed. Humble brilliance. You and Larry McMurtry make it look so simple,which is your magic. Larry's our greatest writer since Steinbeck, and Duane is his best character not named Gus or Woodrow. Thank you both so much for Duane's world.

I loved this book and am sad that it ends the life and times of Duane

I've been with this series since the start - loving The Last Picture Show and every book after that. The characters are so quirky and offbeat - you can't help but like them. I didn't want this book to end because I knew it was the last of Duane. I've watched him evolve (for lack of a better word) over the years and will miss him. Keep on walking, Duane, my old friend. Rest in Peace.

A Good Ending

I'll miss Duane, but it was good ending and tying up of loose ends. You just gotta love McMurtry's characters lol

This book was a failure from a talented author.

I read this book for my brother. I prefer literature.I did read Duane's Depressed, because my brother said it explained him!! My brother is an extreme reader also..an actually will critique books far more critically then I do...but he likes Mr. McMurtry..too simplistic for my tastes..this book was a throw down item..far beneath his abilities..
also..what about Your store..you have done wonderful things..why a book that was so marginal!

It was absolutely awesome must read for fans of Larry McMurtry.

I really found this book very hard to put down. Easy to read on a rainy day or while waiting for appointments. It is easy if you have to put it down to be able to recall where you were. BUT definitely not a book for the more wild west type readers. If you don't like romances you probally won't like this book as it caters more to the non-hardcore western who like a little of the west thrown in with romance.

The End

All the books in the Thalia, Texas / Duane Moore series are brilliantly written by one of America's top authors. Rhino Ranch is no exception, and represents the period at the end of a long sentence McMurtry began writing over 40 years ago. If you can imagine a hybrid of the homespun humor of Norman Rockwell paintings, the existential bite of Albert Camus, and characters who adopted their sexual mores from Henry Miller and hillbillies, you have a head start on digesting these beautiful books. If you haven't already read the prequels to Rhino Ranch, consider starting with The Last Picture Show (in which Duane is a secondary character), or perhaps Texasville (in which Duane takes center stage), and be sure to squeeze in Duane's Depressed.

Larry McMurtry continues to write stories that connect deeply.

Reading an author exhaustively has its benefits and draw backs. Such a reader has an idea of how the story will be told while also expecting there to be a new tale in the telling. When an author revisits the same story, expanding it with each visit, the occasion for "freshness" becomes less a promise and more a (often distant) hope. Mr. McMurtry (considered by some [ME!] to be one of the United States greatest novelists) appeared to have been finished with The Last Picture Show "family" when he completed When the Light Goes, when this present book came to print it was purchased out of the reader's loyalty, with the expectation that he would be getting repeated events, spliced together, to create "depth" to the life of Duane Moore. What was found was a delightful, touching, often humorously poignant farewell to a story that began in the 1960's. This book is so good it merits comparison to Mr. McMurtry's best novel, Terms of Endearment, and that is high praise.
Duane Moore, high school roughneck, Korean War Vet, Texas Oilman, millionaire, is returning home to Thalia after his most recent wife decided to live with her French lover. He finds "home" to be as typical as he left it - a closed minded, "mean, oil patch town" whose quiet history is being disrupted by its future incarnation is as a rescue preserve for African Black Rhinos. It turns out this "Rhino Ranch" is a mere back drop for the telling of the end of Duane's life. By the time Duane dies (this is NOT a plot spoiler) it is anticlimactic, giving color to the life he lived that ran its due course; the reader is left with the warm feeling that Duane did not stop living. He just moved on.
The book could be considered a novella, as the chapters are short and there are many blank spaces at the end of many of the chapters. The characters dance across the pages of this book, an expected characteristic of Mr. McMurtry's writing. K. K. Slater, trust-fund billionaire, who is the primary funding source for the Rhino project; Boyd Cotton, cowboy "top hand" who now rides herd on rhinos and the African antelope who keep them company; Casey Kincaid, a spoiled, sex-driven secretary; Double Aught, the Black Rhino bull who seems to appear and disappear at will are but a few of the people-pictures who populate the modern Thalia. All of these characters are interesting, even though many of them appear for only a few pages in the book.
Readers would be well served if they had a familiarity with the story before picking up this section, as many of the under tales from previous novels are mentioned and add much to the present story. However, this is a good read in itself. Reading the proceeding four novels will possibly cause an addiction to McMurtry to be formed, so the literates are forewarned. This is a novel with a lot of "adult" language and situations; these play to the character development and are not gratuitous. It is a story of good-byes following 100 years of living, loving and being in "place."
There is much autobiography in this tale, as is true of all engaging writing. Mr. McMurtry is aging, has experienced heart attacks, by-pass surgery and seems to be saying "good-bye" to what he has known and holds dear. I am glad he has invited me to be a part of such a lengthy, exciting, varied journey through his imagination. I also hope this is not his last novel.

A fitting last chapter to the series. Easily a free standing book for a Larry Mc. Fan. But read them all.

A fun read. Short chapters so you can put it down often enough but I didn't want to, ever. An easy and quick read but I read passages over and over.
In Larry's classic style, the characters are real, fascinating, and full of life.
If you like Larry, you'll love Rhino Ranch. The first chapter will grab your smile bone!

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