A review by abbierose_m
Terms of Endearment by Larry McMurtry

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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