Reviews

Terms of Endearment by Larry McMurtry

timrwilson's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.25

arv5005's review

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

gillsbooks21's review

3.0

A lukewarm book about a mother and daughter over the course of 14 years. There isn’t much of a plot as you read about the two women’s lives. I’m eager to watch the film adaptation with Shirley MacLaine because she would make an excellent Aurora Greenway. For those of you who have watched Sharp Objects with Amy Adams, I think that Gillian Flynn took inspiration from the mother-daughter relationship in this book.

lorenso's review

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

lindzlovesreading's review

4.0

Terms of Endearment is completely infectious, Aurora Greenway even more so. For me McMurtry wrote the 1970s equivalent of a Jane Austen novel. It's all lunches, disputes over dogs, suitors, marriages, relationships. Austen set up the perfect template and McMurtry just added his sense sensibility. See what I did there. Even though this is a story touted as a Mother/Daughter story, and it is, for me the connection between Aurora and her long suffering Maid Rosie felt like it was the heart and soul. But this could have been more that every time Aurora wasn't on the page I did lose a little bit of interest in what was happening over all. It's a great female hang out novel, and I don't think enough get written.

corinne_schro's review

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

abbierose_m's review

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

This book shouldn’t work but it does. McMurtry is so great. Even though this one is more famous and can stand on its own, the payoff for reading Moving On (and I guess All My Friends…) first is so, so worth it. Not sad until the last 70 pages and is actually farcically funny for most of it. I love these books. Be warned it does reflect some callous and at times shocking attitudes toward intimate partner violence, as all of his books unfortunately do, which in this case leads to one truly insane scene that does not hold up at all and probably didn’t work at the time either. But the rest is transcendent and deeply real. Cried hardest at the closing mention of my beloved great Houston trees. 

If you haven’t seen the movie, DON’T read the back of the book. If you have seen the movie, the pacing of the book is completely different and it’s supposed to be that way! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Minor: Racial slurs and Violence

chandlabing1987's review

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Domestic abuse and Racial slurs

jessies's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

jenmat1197's review

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 

This is the story of Aurora and her daughter Emma.  Aurora - whose entire world needs to revolve around her - is a widow how has had many suitors since her husband died.  Her grown daughter, Emma,is who she worries the most about.  Worried Emma married the wrong man, and when Emma is diganosed with caner - worried of what will become of her daughter's baby if Emma dies.

This was an okay book.  I remember watching the movie years ago, and the book seems very different from what I remember.  I have it in my head that the movie was mostly about Emma's cancer, but I might not be correct about this.  So the book was startling when it was mostly about Aurora and her relationships.  The book is rambilng.  Emma's diagnosis is a quick part at the end.  Just different than I expected.