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A review by jeremyanderberg
Horseman, Pass By by Larry McMurtry
4.0
“I know there’s a lot of times when a man is helpless—I’ve been in plenty of ‘em. But a man’s got to go on and do what he can, that’s the only way he’s got a finding out whether he’s helpless or not.”
Written when McMurtry was just 25 years old, his first published novel is a bit bleak (go figure). Yet, it’s so wonderfully written that I couldn’t help but enjoy it. Homer Bannon is an old-time cowboy; Lonnie and Hud are diametrically opposed new-timers; and a case of hoof-and-mouth sets off a series of changes that impacts just about everything and everyone in little Thalia, Texas. There are few happy moments, honestly, but the feeling McMurtry evokes, as would become his calling card, just can’t be replicated. Well worth the 170 pages and few hours of your attention.
Written when McMurtry was just 25 years old, his first published novel is a bit bleak (go figure). Yet, it’s so wonderfully written that I couldn’t help but enjoy it. Homer Bannon is an old-time cowboy; Lonnie and Hud are diametrically opposed new-timers; and a case of hoof-and-mouth sets off a series of changes that impacts just about everything and everyone in little Thalia, Texas. There are few happy moments, honestly, but the feeling McMurtry evokes, as would become his calling card, just can’t be replicated. Well worth the 170 pages and few hours of your attention.