Boone's Lick [Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Larry McMurtry (Author), Will Patton (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2003

Larry McMurtry returns to the Old West in a fast-moving, comic tale about a woman determined to conquer anything that stands in the way of an ultimate confrontation with her wayward husband.

In his first historical novel in ten years, Larry McMurtry introduces Mary Margaret, a nineteenth-century version of the formidable, unforgettable Aurora Greenway of Terms of Endearment. Mary Margaret is married to Dickie, who hauls supplies to the forts along the Oregon Trail and, as Mary Margaret rightly suspects, enjoys the pleasures of other women across most of the frontier. Fed up and harboring a secret love of her own, she collects the kids; her brother-in-law, Seth; her sister, Rosie; and her cranky father and makes her way westward to settle things once and for all.

The story of their trek across the country is packed with the elements McMurtry fans love: encounters with historical figures such as Wild Bill Hickock and U.S. Army colonel Fetterman (whose incompetence resulted in one of the bloodiest massacres in the history of the American West), larger-than-life fictional characters who join the family on their journey, and confrontations with nature at its wildest. With characters based on actual traders of the Old Santa Fe Trail, Boone's Lick is vintage McMurtry.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Master storyteller Larry McMurtry unfurls a short, bright banner of a book following the fortunes of the Cecil family as they travel from Boone's Lick, Missouri, to the Western frontier. Though the story is narrated by her oldest son, 15-year-old Shay, the real hero of the book is Mary Margaret, the mother. Her husband, Dick, has left her and their four children in Boone's Lick while he seeks his fortunes in the West. Mary Margaret lives contentedly with the children and Dick's brother, Seth, until one day she decides she's had enough of playing the estranged wife and packs up the entire household. And so the Cecil family leaves their little town (where Wild Bill Hickok makes a cameo appearance) and travels by wagon to Wyoming, accompanied along the way by a fat Québecois priest and a Shoshone. They do find Dick, and they also arrive in Wyoming just in time for the 1866 Fetterman Massacre.

McMurtry writes with an ease that younger writers would do well to emulate. Here Seth fights off an ambush of white trash dastards:

Uncle Seth fired again and a third horse went down--though just saying it went down would be to put it too mildly. The third horse turned a complete somersault. Its rider flew off about thirty feet, after which he didn't move.

"'It's rare to see a horse turn a flip like that,' Uncle Seth observed." That cool "observed" gives an idea of the book's wry, pervasive humor. But there's more here than shooting and quipping: McMurtry's wagon full of frustrated Missourians makes a fine narrative vehicle: we get a first-hand account of the Native American wars; we get the perspective of the women left behind in the opening of the West; we get a wagon's-eye view of the hard journey of the settlers; and, ultimately, we get an insightful family romance. All that, and scalpings too. --Claire Dederer --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Putting to rest the notion that with Duane's Depressed he had written his last novel, Pulitzer Prize-winner McMurtry (Lonesome Dove) launches a new series with this whimsical adventure set between Missouri and the wilderness of Wyoming. The CecilsDMary Margaret; her brother-in-law, Seth; four children; half-sister Rosie; and Granpa CrackenthorpeDare weary of waiting 14 months for Mary's husband, Dick, to return from his work as a wagoner in Wyoming while they starve in Civil War-ravaged Missouri. The family decide to travel up the Platte River to find the wayward Dick. Outspoken Mary Margaret, a sturdy matriarch, has a less-obviousDand surprisingly romanticDmotivation for embarking on the journey. Seth, a veteran of the Union army and experienced frontiersman, provides a typical McMurtry male foil to a strong female lead, expressing both rustic wisdom and bewilderment. After a brief and violent adventure with the remains of a bushwhacking gang (and an encounter with Wild Bill Hickok), the family members combat harsh winter weather and fear of Indians as they trek upriver to locate Dick. Narrated by teenage Shay, the novel is reminiscent of McMurtry's lighter fiction (Somebody's Darling; Cadillac Jack; The Late Child). Shay's guileless tone and McMurtry's patented stylistic use of humorous understatement, non sequitur, misunderstanding and misdirection deflect graphic violence, intolerable hardship and even the death of major characters. More an amusing fable of family strife than a serious story with memorable characters, this piece does not approach the substance or quality of McMurtry's better works, but his ardent fans will undoubtedly appreciate the warmth, compassion and humor that the narrative exudes. Agent, Andrew Wylie. 300,000 first printing; BOMC, Doubleday Book Club and Literary Guild alternates. (Nov.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Chivers Audio Books; Unabridged edition (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0792730712
• ISBN-13: 978-0792730712
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,113,290 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #12 in Books > Books on CD > Authors, A-Z > ( M ) > McMurtry, Larry

More About the Author

Larry McMurtry is the author of twenty-nine novels, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lonesome Dove. His other works include two collections of essays, three memoirs, and more than thirty screenplays, including the coauthorship of Brokeback Mountain, for which he received an Academy Award. His most recent novel, When the Light Goes, is available from Simon & Schuster. He lives in Archer City, Texas.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars McMurtry gets better and better, November 28, 2000

By 

"neenbeez" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Boone's Lick (Hardcover)

I've been a reader of McMurtry's novels for years--I've always enjoyed his storytelling, but what I've seen over the years is a paring down of the details in his stories so that narrative and description of place are becoming displaced by the voice of the protagonists--who are not omnicient, but simply tell the story of themselves in circumstances over which they have no control.

Boone's Lick is a beautiful, simple novel. No--it's not Lonesome Dove and Lonesome Dove fans should not judge Boone's Lick based on their love of only one of McMurtry's novels.

McMurtry went through a dry period which included junk like the sequel to Terms of Endearment (I can't even remember the title of the book, it was so substandard), but I have been moved by both Duane's Dead, and now, Boone's Lick.

Readers who expect a great narrative will be disappointed by this novel. But those who expect subtle character development through the voice of a simple, gentle character to tell a story of the old west will be pleased. I'd advise any reader to be patient, and continue on--by the last 75 pages, I was unable to put the book down and wept at the end.

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable read, November 14, 2000

By 

Robert R. Briggs "robroyb" (Santa Barbara, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Boone's Lick (Hardcover)

No one writes a better Western Novel than Larry McMurtry. While this book does not match Lonesome Dove, it shows that he still has what it takes when it comes to a story about the old West. He can take simple situations and weave an interesting story with characters you can't help but fully visualize in your mind. My main complaint is that the story was too short. I think he could have gone deeper into the lives of many of the family members. Nonetheless, when you finish this book you'll have met a really unusual bunch of people. If you like McMurtry, I'm sure you'll enjoy this one.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Light entertainment from a master., April 1, 2005

By 

RMurray847 (Albuquerque, NM United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Boone's Lick : A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

There is no question this is a slight novel. With McMurtry's western novels, we usually get epic sweep, grand accomplishments, tragedy, massacre's, etc. etc. They are usually fabulously entertaining books, with the LONESOME DOVE saga and the BERRYBENDER CHRONICLES being the best examples. But they are not easy reads. They pull at the heart, make us grimace with pain, etc.

BOONE'S LICK is like an antedote for these books. Many of its themes are similar...the men who are ignorant of "civilized life," the elderly Native Americans who assist the whites, the end of the buffalo, the hardships and bad-luck of traveling across the west, etc. But there is a lightness of tone (and far less tragedy) then McMurtry's other books. It is not a towering achievement, by any stretch, but I found it to be fun, fast reading and still enlightening.

It basically tells the story of one woman's trip across dangerous country to confront her frequently absent, no-good husband. In tow she brings her two teenage sons, a teenage daughter, a baby, her husband's brother (who has always loved her), her sister and her elderly father...along with a bunch of mules. They pick up some other companions along the way too.

The first half of the book mostly establishes the characters and their amusing relationships in the town of Boone's Lick, Missouri. (A younger Wild Bill Hickock is an important character in this part of the book). When they suddenly hit the road (all but the mother VERY reluctantly), we follow them more or less across the Oregon Trail. Although some misfortune befalls them, the body count is low for McMurtry. There are amusing misunderstandings, befuddlements, and such, but little to be sad about.

I'm perplexed by the reviewers here who say the book is boring. It's very fast paced...just not very deep. But it paints an authentic feeling, and has some characters that, while they won't stay with you forever like Gus and Call from LONESOME DOVE, are certainly worth getting to know. I recommend the book for fans of McMurtry's style, but who don't want to plunge into a full-blown epic. It's also a book that I think younger readers might enjoy...very little of the usual sex and extremely graphic violence.