McMurtry has found a firm slot in The Regional’s inventory, due to the strong connection of his works to Texas and the “old Southwest.” With the title Texasville, need we say more? … This was the next book written by McMurtry after the huge success of his most famous work, Lonesome Dove, which netted a Pulitzer along with monster sales. Given the adaptability of his works to TV and film, it is no wonder that Texasville was quickly taken up and adapted into a full-length feature—itself a sequel to a late-1960s semi-autobiographical McMurtry work of fiction having been adapted into “The Last Picture Show.” Texasville spins its fictional tale in the very real town of Thalia near the northern panhandle of the state and in the waning days of an oil boom. Being a sequel, Texasville, the book, returns readers to the town depicted as a failing backwater in The Last Picture Show (set in the 1950s), but having enjoyed an oil boom across the mid-late 20th century, only for oil prices to bottom out, the boom evaporating by the 1980s. Very much a product of the era, when international competition and a loosening of trade laws had once dominant manufacturing and heavy industries the nation over on the wane, here is a story that catches up with characters 30 years down the road: a man, Duane, caught in the down-swing; a woman, Jacy, having gone off to achieve success as a movie star only to return to the once backwater, plus the turmoil and disruption that her return induces. (Played by Cybill Shepherd in both movies, and to whom this book is dedicated, McMurtry seems to have made his preference for the revived role known ahead of time.) To boot, the entire story wraps around the 100th anniversary celebration of the town itself; though, funny, no one seems to really know if the 100th anniversary date is accurate or not. [Condition: This first-edition volume is in decent shape, missing a dust-jacket, with a slight tape-like tear on its cover. The binding and interior pages are in very good shape, with only slight age-related discoloration on page edges.]
Condition: Used Good. Fiction. Larry McMurtry. Simon & Schuyler, 1987. Hardcover (First Edition), 542 pgs, 6.5 x 9.5" / 2 lbs 1 oz
