Customer Reviews

Telegraph Days: A Novel

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

A slightly absurdist romp through the Old West. Nellie and Jackson Courtright are orphaned when their Virginia-gentry father "suicides himself" in Rita Blanca, No Man's Land. Jackson soon becomes accidentally famous when he guns down 6 desperadoes - "beginner's luck" - it later becomes clear he can't hit the broad side of a barn with his pistol. Deputy Jackson never moves much beyond that episode, but sister Nellie, the main narrator, "organizes" and "copulates" (her phrase) her way across the West. She goes to work for Buffalo Bill Cody and also meets the Earps, Clantons, Billy the Kid, Doc Holliday, William Tecumseh Sherman and Lillian Gish who all make at least cameo appearances. And mostly they all already know of Nellie before they meet her because of her work with Buffalo Bill and her own famous writing. A cross between Kurt Vonnegut and his own Lonesome Dove, in Telegraph Days McMurtry delivers a wild, sometimes ribald tale that witnesses the translation of the real life in the American West into the mythological Old West.

Highly recommended because it's funny and still gives a good feel for the Old West.

It is always dangerous for a man to write in the voice of a woman, and this is an exhibit of those dangers. The main charactger and narrator is Nellie. Her voice did not come off as genuine. Her entire personality seemed to be what a man would like to see in a woman - an aggressive woman who loves men. This was true for her entire personality, not just her admitted obsession with "copulation" (the frequent references became dull).

The fictitious supporting characters in the book were interesting and the best part of the book. They were actually more interesting than the narrator. The famous supporting cast included Wild Bill Hickcock and Buffalo Bill, with a cameo by Billy the Kid. They seemed contrived. It was the unknown fictitious characters that gave any genuine western flavor to the book.

There was some good humor and spoofing of the old western novels, but all in all, the plot lacked depth and at times approached tedium. Although the book was not awful, there was little to recommend it. Nellie has an interesting life, but it did not seem the author was that invested in it. Therefore neither is the reader.

A quick light read, but nothing great.

It started a little slow, but quickly pulled me into the story. In short order, I had a connection with the characters. The writing is detailed enough to make you feel like you are there, but isn't so heavy that it distracts from the story line. It was no Louis L'Amour, but Telegraph Days belongs on anyone's "must read" list. A great read!

Larry McMurtry is a legend. Can he afford to coast? With that Oscar for the screenplay to Brokeback Mountain joining the Pulitzer for Lonesome Dove in his trophy case can McMurtry afford to write a complete dud? I guess so. Telegraph Days is a yawner. His protagonist, Nellie is a one-dimensional nymphomaniac who never lets us know what she really thinks. Just sex...all the time...sex...every guy she meets is a potential bedmate. McMurtry tosses in famous names like so many Madison Avenue product placements. General Custer wants her. Wild Bill Hickock wants her. Buffalo Bill doesn't want her enough, and so on. The book seems to think itself a comedy. More like a sedative. So lame. So effortlessly mundane. McMurtry is on automatic pilot here. He can do better.

I am a first-time reader of Larry McMurtry and can't wait to read another one of his novels. Telegraph Days has wonderfully entertaining and I thoroughly enjoyed all of the characters, especially the narrator, Nellie Cartwright. If you don't have a sense of humor and don't like to laugh, this book is not for you. I would also recommend listening to this book on tape. The performance by Annie Potts really brings the characters to life.

This is a fun and breezy summer read. I had sworn off Larry McMurty the last few years because his books seemed to have become less and less fun and endearing and more and more depressing and sad. With this one, the fun and endearing parts dominate. It's lot's of fun and an easy read.

Actually, I listened to the unabridged audio edition narrated by Annie Potts. She was truly splendid in the role of the brassy heroine.

If you want an accurate historical account of the west than this is probably not the book for you.

However, if you desire a decidedly fictional account of the events of the west and a wonderful heroine, Nellie Courtwright, then you should find Telegraph Days a joy to read. Pure entertainment!

I listened to the audiobook read by Annie Potts - she was a perfect choice for the voice of Nellie.

The opening of this book describes a transplanted Virginia family having to cut down their poor father who has just hung himself in the barn. The tone is light-hearted, and it works. Death was a visible fact of life back in them there days. But as our heroine relates the rest of the story, the slightly sardonic tone gets a bit tired, as one after another Western hero gets the short shrift of being portrayed as more or less dumb-ass, selfish, drunken duds who aren't any more heroic than the old feller sitting outside the saloon, chewing on tobaccky. It might be fun to create your own version of the west, told from the view of a young woman who knows how to take charge (she even writer her own little Western Novella and gets it published at the local newspaper in Dodge City). But when you create characters that are so droll and dull, even if you're trying to make a point, all you're left with is a gallery of dullards. And that's what this short book is.

Larry McMurtrys Telegraph Days give us a glimpse of the old west from a woman's perspective. The woman in question is a 22 year old Virginia native, Nellis Courtright who with her 17 year old brother, Jackson, resides in the town of Rio Blanca, a nothing little place located in an area known as "no mans land". The towns tenuous claim to fame comes from a gunfight in which Jackson, through sheer luck, kills six members of the infamous Yazee Gang.

Nellie is a self-sufficient, unique and assertive women who captializes on her brothers feat by writing a pamphlet describing the event and selling it for 25 cents a copy. This is the beginning of an adventure that takes the reader from the dusty streets of the Oklahoma panhandle in the mid 1870's to the early days of Hollywood.

Nellie is an amorous gal but lacks a discriminating eye when it comes to the opposite sex. She finds herself attracted to any number of gents, some of whom are legends of the untamed old west. McMurtry manages to deftly weave actual historical figures like George Custer, Bill Hickock, Billy the Kid, Virgil Earp, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Jesse James into the various threads of Nellies life as she pursues fame and fortune in various careers ranging from telegraph operator to secretary/manager for Buffalo Bills Nebraska holdings to storyteller/author and finally to Hollywood screenwriter.

Larry McMurtry obviously loves the character and flavor of the old west and is able to realistically convey it's sights, sounds and smells. He seems to be particularly fascinated by its women. In this book, as in Buffalo Girls, his female characters are rarely run of the mill. Instead he chooses to portray them as "a hardy breed of survivors - - strong, organized, in control and rarely repentent. This latest heroine, Nellie Courtright, a "ladylike" pipe smoker could easily be the poster child for a group called "The Society of Willful Western Women".

"Telegraph Days" is aptly titled. The narrative seems like a pithy and staccato telegram rather than a novel.

The novel starts off strong with Nellie and her brother Jackson burying their father whose suicide has left them orphans in No Man's Land, a desolate part of the West claimed by no state.

True there is humor, action, sex and a plethora of famous names as Nellie and Jackson go on with their lives across a swath of the American West. But this longtime McMurty fan was disappointed by the lack of depth in the characters and a thin plot that simply dwindles to a drawn out end.

Nellie seemed to me just another replay of Tasmin Berrybender with a different name and less reality.

I expected more from the man who gave us "The Last Picture Show," "Lonesome Dove" and "Zeke and Ned."