Friday, June 14, 2024

Book review - "Boone's Lick" by Larry McMurtry (2000)

Not bad Western from McMurtry - at the end of the Civil War a family head north to Wyoming to find the missing father of the family ("missing" as in he shot through, not he's a mystery). They arrive in time to witness the Fetterman Massacre.

There is easy going prose, bursts of violence, a cameo from Wild Bill Hickcok and a bigger role for Fetterman. Like I said, not bad. Narrated from teen Shay. There's a tough female lead, some cranky old timers. 

The journey doesn't start until one-third of the way through. It's not a long book. The book doesn't feel cohesive. One review I read thought the problem was the focus was it was told from a teen's POV and he wasn't across the emotional issues the way that grumpy Uncle Seth would've, or the female lead. Maybe.

McMurtry said Tom Hanks was interested in a film version - I'm not sure a film version would've been that awesome.

No comments: