LEAVING CHEYENNE : A Novel

Since I already have read just about every one of McMurtry's books I'm going back to the early books. This one is a fine composition based on three lives forever bound together by the warm and enigmatic female of the trio, Molly. McMurty, with his flair for the unusual, paints an original picture of an unlikely relationship that could only happen in real life. McMurtry treads where writers fear to go, always creating unique characters to unveil the complexities of the human condition. I couldn't help but fall in love with these three personalities. You have to read this book to believe it. McMurtry (along with Dos Passos) is in my opinion the greatest American writer. May he continue to bless us with his effortlessly flowing narratives. I'm about to read the final book of the Berrybender clan and I can't wait to get to it. The Berrybenders are not to be missed!

A sense of finality and futility awaits the reader at the end of Leaving Cheyenne by Larry McMurty. The three narrators, whose lives span the period between the late 1800s and the mid-to-late 1900s, seem to expend effort and achieve little for their daily struggles. Conscientious Gideon Fry, married to Mabel, extends his beloved Texas ranch, increasing its acreage through years of work. Best friend Johnny McCloud, carefree cowboy, earns his living in others' employ but also holds on to his nearby tiny plot. Shared lover, Molly Taylor, tends her adjoining hardscrabble farm faithfully. Although married to Eddie White, she gives birth to two boys, one by Gideon and one by Johnny, both sons later killed in World War II military service. When Eddie accidentally falls to his death from an oil derrick, Molly continues her relationships with Gid and Johnny and her solitary dedication to her lifelong home. They all are overcome by changes in technology and transportation, leaving behind their beloved Texas land which is unlikely to be similarly respected and cultivated by others.

I barely read any novel but this book shocked me to the bones. The way McMurtry depicts the characters' personalities, feelings & thoughts is so real and unique that I almost forgot that I was reading a novel.

Larry McMurtry's LEAVING CHEYENNE has hints of the brillance that would come
with HORSEMAN, PASS BY and LONESOME DOVE. At the heart of the narrative is a love triangle between Gid, Johnny and Molly over sixty years. Love is actually the wrong word as selfishness is at the heart of each, but so is heartbreak. And yet, there are tiny moments of grace and redemption, be they ever so slight and then immediately gone. Not an easy book to read by any means, but one that contains some early laughs and deep thoughts about how quickly live moves and how decisions one makes young last a lifetime.

To readers of this space it is no surprise that I am reviewing a Larry McMurtry novel. I have "discovered" this little Texas gem of an author recently (although I knew of him and some of his work earlier). Naturally, once I get "high" on an author I tend to read everything that I can get my hands on. A partial reason for that is that the number of fiction writers who hold my attention is rather limited, but mainly I like to see the high and low sides of the writer's career so that I can revel in the reflected glory of my very good choice in picking the author to comment on. I also tend to read an author's output as I lay my hands on his or her work rather than any particular order. Thus, at present I am reviewing this late work (2004) and an early work Leaving Cheyenne (1962) at the same time. Loop Group definitely suffers in comparison to that earlier work.

If I tried to put my finger on what is the outstanding attribute of a good Larry McMurtry read that would most probably be that he is a thoughtful and credible storyteller. The structure of such a story permits one to sift through life's issues whether it is the vagaries of coming of age, the trauma of a mid-life crisis or the grimness of the struggle against mortality. This, moreover, has nothing to with locale or occupation. As a die-hard older urban Northerner Western stories, modern or from the Old West, would not usually be my natural choice of reading. However, when McMurtry is in his "high" story telling mode and he develops incidents that are believable and has characters do things that seem within the realm of human experience -and that permit one to care about and reflect upon the fates of the characters if only for the length of the story- then he is a premier American writer. That, fortunately, is the case here. Here we have "high" McMurtry. Why?

There are many ways to tell a love story. There are many ways to conceive of a love triangle, as here with the saga of the lives of Gid, Johnny and Molly out in West Texas, just East of Eden in Thalia by McMurtry's lights, in roughly the middle third of the 20th century. There are many ways to put obstacles in the way of a satisfactory resolution of a love triangle in puritanically-driven America. McMurtry has come up with a very innovative method of doing this. In the first section we get the all the tensions of young love, hindered by a father-inspired driven sense of responsibility, as told by Gid. In the second section we get the mixed fruits of that puritan sense of responsibility on Gid's part, the lack of it on Johnny's part and also of girlish indecision as told by Molly, with the proviso that as she tells her tale she is a mother who has lost two sons to war and paid a pretty high price for that earlier indecision. In the final segment we get the inevitable struggle against the vicissitudes of mortality, as told humorously and with a little pathos by Johnny.

This is nicely done and the individual stories are woven together almost seamlessly so that the first event concerning Gid's and Johnny's rivalry for Molly described by Gid in Chapter One gets a very different look as told by Johnny at the end forty years later. Moreover, with some other nice humorous touches added alone the way concerning some of the minor characters like Molly's father and an old goat herder, including animals, as well as exploration of the necessary hardships of running a ranch, a labor-intensive business operation subject to all the randomness of nature. But, better than that we are given an emotional roller coaster ride as these three West Texas characters try to make sense of life, their previous histories and their entanglements together. If Loop Group was a low in the literary marathon McMurtry is running then Leaving Cheyenne is prima facie evidence for his honored place in the American literary pantheon. Kudos.

This is pre-Hollywood McMurtry and, I feel, his best. He can make you laugh and cry, but this novel does more. It helps me understand my grandmother & grandfather more (Crockett County, Texas ranchers) and is a wonderful glimpse at a life so different from current American pop culture.

I read Anna Karenina and was struck by how similar the issues discussed in the book were to contemporary issues half a world away. I read Leaving Cheyenne and am struck by how different my values and lifestlye are compared to just two generations ago in the same geography.

This book is such a pleasant and mature read. When you want to escape and admire something that is close to you but eerily alien, this book can put you there.

Larry McMurtry usually writes a good western story with a different twist, and from that standpoint this did not disappoint.

Man, as excellent as this book was, and how greatly I enjoyed it, for the first 150 pages, I really felt let down from the halfway point on. Finally, into the 200's, I had to admit to myself that I was just bored with this book. Based on the ending, it did redeem itself a little bit, as the emotion was effective.
Basically, this book had three main characters, who each narrate one of the three sections of the book in first person. I liked the idea, but again, felt that the book just didn't offer enough entertainment value in the last 100+ pages.
The first section of the book (there's three main sections) was really quite good, as things are happening and the plot is progressing forward. There's also many more characters in the first section, while the latter two parts focused almost exclusively on the three main characters.
Now, my problem with the second and third sections is that they went nowhere interesting. The sense of adventure I felt early on was all but gone, and it felt as if the story just went in endless circles. Of course, being two-thirds of the way through it, I wasn't going to just abandon the book. It was worth only because there's one pretty powerful scene very late in the book. Aside from that, nothing too memorable happened for me.

I guess a book that's mostly a character study isn't something for me. Essentially, that's what this book was. I was loving the first half of the book, and after that my feelings changed drastically. Anyways, it is what it is, and I guess I'm okay with it, seeing as Larry McMurtry gave me one of the greatest reading experiences in my life with Lonesome Dove.

This isn't McMurtry's best novel, but if you like his old, pre-"Lonesome Dove" novels, I think you'll enjoy it. For that matter, if you've never read a McMurtry novel but enjoy sad, touching tales, this one is for you.

The novel follows the life of three characters--Gid, Johnny, and Molly. It starts in the twenties with the two boys, who are best friends, each trying to earn Molly's love. The novel end over 40 years later when all three are old and gray.

An interesting thing about the book is the way that McMurtry chose to tell the story. The first half, when the characters are young, is told by Gid. The last half of the book is divided into two parts. The first part is told from Molly's point of view, and the characters are in their forties. The last part is told by Johnny when the characters are in their sixities. It's a different way to approach a story and it works well. In each of the books three parts, something significant happens in the lives of the characters that alters their relationship with one another.

McMurtry's story-telling technique isn't as strong as in some of his other novels. There are portions that are a little slow and drawn out, and there are times that the characters aren't defined well enough. But, overall, it's a good read. It's still a very emotional tale and anyone would be moved by the story, which takes a good look at the mistakes we make in our youth and how nobody gets a second chance to make things right.

McMurtry at his best in my opinion. No one can argue that Lonesome Dove is a great book, I have also read it twice. But Leaving Cheyenne would rate as one of McMurtry's best. The characters are so well rounded and they are brought to having such a unique and close relationship. A friendship that lasts a lifetime.