What do you think?
Rate this book
The Last Picture Show #5
Rhino Ranch
In this poignant and striking final chapter in the Duane Moore story, which began in 1966 with The Last Picture Show, Pulitzer Prize- and Oscar-winning author Larry McMurtry takes readers on one last unforgettable journey to Thalia, Texas, a town that continues to change at a breakneck pace even as Duane feels himself slowing down.
Returning home to recover from a near-fatal heart attack, Duane discovers that he has a new neighbor: the statuesque K. K. Slater, a quirky billionairess who's come to Thalia to open the Rhino Ranch, dedicated to the preservation of the endangered black rhinoceros. Despite their obvious differences, Duane can't help but find himself charmed by K.K.'s stubborn toughness and lively spirit, and the two embark on a flirtation that rapidly veers toward the sexual -- but the return of Honor Carmichael complicates Duane's romantic intentions considerably. As Duane reflects on all that he and Thalia have been through, he feels adrift in a world where love and betrayal walk hand in hand and a stalwart Texas oil town can become home to a nature preserve.
Rhino Ranch is a fitting end to this iconic saga, an emotional, whimsical and bittersweet tribute to the lives of a man and a town that have inspired readers across decades.
Returning home to recover from a near-fatal heart attack, Duane discovers that he has a new neighbor: the statuesque K. K. Slater, a quirky billionairess who's come to Thalia to open the Rhino Ranch, dedicated to the preservation of the endangered black rhinoceros. Despite their obvious differences, Duane can't help but find himself charmed by K.K.'s stubborn toughness and lively spirit, and the two embark on a flirtation that rapidly veers toward the sexual -- but the return of Honor Carmichael complicates Duane's romantic intentions considerably. As Duane reflects on all that he and Thalia have been through, he feels adrift in a world where love and betrayal walk hand in hand and a stalwart Texas oil town can become home to a nature preserve.
Rhino Ranch is a fitting end to this iconic saga, an emotional, whimsical and bittersweet tribute to the lives of a man and a town that have inspired readers across decades.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
106 people are currently reading
870 people want to read
About the author
Larry McMurtry
159books3,728followersLarry Jeff McMurtry was an American novelist, essayist, and screenwriter whose work was predominantly set in either the Old West or contemporary Texas. His novels included Horseman, Pass By (1962), The Last Picture Show (1966), and Terms of Endearment (1975), which were adapted into films. Films adapted from McMurtry's works earned 34 Oscar nominations (13 wins). He was also a prominent book collector and bookseller.
His 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Lonesome Dove was adapted into a television miniseries that earned 18 Emmy Award nominations (seven wins). The subsequent three novels in his Lonesome Dove series were adapted as three more miniseries, earning eight more Emmy nominations. McMurtry and co-writer Diana Ossana adapted the screenplay for Brokeback Mountain (2005), which earned eight Academy Award nominations with three wins, including McMurtry and Ossana for Best Adapted Screenplay. In 2014, McMurtry received the National Humanities Medal.
In Tracy Daugherty's 2023 biography of McMurtry, the biographer quotes critic Dave Hickey as saying about McMurtry: "Larry is a writer, and it's kind of like being a critter. If you leave a cow alone, he'll eat grass. If you leave Larry alone, he'll write books. When he's in public, he may say hello and goodbye, but otherwise he is just resting, getting ready to go write."
His 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Lonesome Dove was adapted into a television miniseries that earned 18 Emmy Award nominations (seven wins). The subsequent three novels in his Lonesome Dove series were adapted as three more miniseries, earning eight more Emmy nominations. McMurtry and co-writer Diana Ossana adapted the screenplay for Brokeback Mountain (2005), which earned eight Academy Award nominations with three wins, including McMurtry and Ossana for Best Adapted Screenplay. In 2014, McMurtry received the National Humanities Medal.
In Tracy Daugherty's 2023 biography of McMurtry, the biographer quotes critic Dave Hickey as saying about McMurtry: "Larry is a writer, and it's kind of like being a critter. If you leave a cow alone, he'll eat grass. If you leave Larry alone, he'll write books. When he's in public, he may say hello and goodbye, but otherwise he is just resting, getting ready to go write."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 208 reviews
December 29, 2022
“Only time can determine what’s really for the best.� (3.5 stars)
This is the fifth and final book in the saga of Duane Moore that McMurtry began with THE LAST PICTURE SHOW in 1966. RHINO RANCH was published in 2009. The character of Duane Moore stuck with the author for a while. He is sticking with me as well.
This text is much better than its immediate predecessor in the series and takes the reader up through the end of Duane’s life. Like most death in McMurtry, it comes when it comes, it is not made a big deal of, it just happens. That is one of my favorite things about this author, he does not romanticize the normal. Life is life and it happens in the main without fanfare.
In RHINO RANCH Duane returns to Thalia, Texas after a failed marriage to a much younger woman, and he learns how to be retired and old in the place of his birth. A billionairess has also opened a preserve in town to protect the endangered black rhino. This introduces some new characters and a new element to Thalia, Texas in the series' final installment.
Here are a couple of moments that stood out to me:
1. There is a poignant instance where some characters realize that they change, physically, as they age. The power is in McMurtry’s concise yet truthful depiction of the moment of realization of this common knowledge that no one really believes until it happens to them.
2. At one point a character comments that happiness is a “temporary condition�. We don’t want to admit that this is true, but it is true. I love that McMurtry’s people accept this as part of life, and deal with it. They don’t wallow in it, they don’t feel sorry about it. It just is.
Quotes:
� “Maybe it was just that as the funeral bell came closer to tolling for him he felt a tendency to linger in what had been, or maybe still was, home.�
� “Feeling sorry for yourself is a bad habit. Just hush!�
� “Old people get less and less the same, all the time.�
� “What kind of silly damn university, that they don’t teach Mike Hammer or Louis L”Amour?�
� “You’ve lost your sense of purpose. That happens to most of us at some point or another.�
� “They had been too far apart, for too long-so long that they had become abstractions to one another.�
� “…but we’re both old enough to need a little quiet companionship now and then.�
� “To forgive is to survive.�
� “Small-town people almost never mind their own business. Gossip is one of the things that keeps them alive, I guess.�
It feels very bittersweet to come to the end of the saga/life of Duane Moore. I mostly enjoyed the journey. It was nothing magical. No amazing feats, no exceptional life choices. Just a man. Living, loving, working. Sometimes happy, sometimes not. Occasionally depressed, sometimes surprised by joy. But always human.
Farewell Duane. Farewell Thalia, Texas. Farewell to all those people I never met, but definitely knew.
This is the fifth and final book in the saga of Duane Moore that McMurtry began with THE LAST PICTURE SHOW in 1966. RHINO RANCH was published in 2009. The character of Duane Moore stuck with the author for a while. He is sticking with me as well.
This text is much better than its immediate predecessor in the series and takes the reader up through the end of Duane’s life. Like most death in McMurtry, it comes when it comes, it is not made a big deal of, it just happens. That is one of my favorite things about this author, he does not romanticize the normal. Life is life and it happens in the main without fanfare.
In RHINO RANCH Duane returns to Thalia, Texas after a failed marriage to a much younger woman, and he learns how to be retired and old in the place of his birth. A billionairess has also opened a preserve in town to protect the endangered black rhino. This introduces some new characters and a new element to Thalia, Texas in the series' final installment.
Here are a couple of moments that stood out to me:
1. There is a poignant instance where some characters realize that they change, physically, as they age. The power is in McMurtry’s concise yet truthful depiction of the moment of realization of this common knowledge that no one really believes until it happens to them.
2. At one point a character comments that happiness is a “temporary condition�. We don’t want to admit that this is true, but it is true. I love that McMurtry’s people accept this as part of life, and deal with it. They don’t wallow in it, they don’t feel sorry about it. It just is.
Quotes:
� “Maybe it was just that as the funeral bell came closer to tolling for him he felt a tendency to linger in what had been, or maybe still was, home.�
� “Feeling sorry for yourself is a bad habit. Just hush!�
� “Old people get less and less the same, all the time.�
� “What kind of silly damn university, that they don’t teach Mike Hammer or Louis L”Amour?�
� “You’ve lost your sense of purpose. That happens to most of us at some point or another.�
� “They had been too far apart, for too long-so long that they had become abstractions to one another.�
� “…but we’re both old enough to need a little quiet companionship now and then.�
� “To forgive is to survive.�
� “Small-town people almost never mind their own business. Gossip is one of the things that keeps them alive, I guess.�
It feels very bittersweet to come to the end of the saga/life of Duane Moore. I mostly enjoyed the journey. It was nothing magical. No amazing feats, no exceptional life choices. Just a man. Living, loving, working. Sometimes happy, sometimes not. Occasionally depressed, sometimes surprised by joy. But always human.
Farewell Duane. Farewell Thalia, Texas. Farewell to all those people I never met, but definitely knew.
June 3, 2022
Rhino Ranch is fifth of five books by McMurtry that follow the life story of the character Duane Moore. The books in the series are the following:
The book is elegiac in nature by letting the readers know what becomes of the cast of characters that have been part of the series. This last stage of life can be a time when life slows down so much that it seems not much is happening. And indeed in this book Duane Moore does seem a bit aimless.
So the author has introduced an element to this story of rural Texas life to offer some novelty—a rhino ranch. A rich billion dollar heiress has purchased land to create a preserve for the endangered black rhino. This allows the book to examine the social dynamics aroused by a wealthy outsiders coming into a small town community with such a big project.
This book portrays a rural culture threatened by methamphetamine (a.k.a meth crisis). One can look off in the distance most nights as see fires burning for the purpose of cooking meth. I presume there’s some reality behind this fictional representation of rural life.
Various characters in the story seem to be dying off a regular intervals—another part of life. Also the author can be trusted to let us know all about Duane Moore’s thoughts and experiences related to sex.
This book provides a chronicle of aging within rural small-town America. The rhino part of the story provides a bit of color to liven things up a bit.
The following link is to a review that provides a brief description of the Duane Moore/The Last Picture Show series:
� The Last Picture Show (1966)By the time a character has five books written about them they have probably reached an elevated age that matches my own. Thus I’ve skipped to the fifth book to read about a character and his acquaintances who are about my age.
� Texasville (1987)
� Duane's Depressed (1999)
� When The Light Goes (2007)
� Rhino Ranch: A Novel (2009)
The book is elegiac in nature by letting the readers know what becomes of the cast of characters that have been part of the series. This last stage of life can be a time when life slows down so much that it seems not much is happening. And indeed in this book Duane Moore does seem a bit aimless.
So the author has introduced an element to this story of rural Texas life to offer some novelty—a rhino ranch. A rich billion dollar heiress has purchased land to create a preserve for the endangered black rhino. This allows the book to examine the social dynamics aroused by a wealthy outsiders coming into a small town community with such a big project.
This book portrays a rural culture threatened by methamphetamine (a.k.a meth crisis). One can look off in the distance most nights as see fires burning for the purpose of cooking meth. I presume there’s some reality behind this fictional representation of rural life.
Various characters in the story seem to be dying off a regular intervals—another part of life. Also the author can be trusted to let us know all about Duane Moore’s thoughts and experiences related to sex.
This book provides a chronicle of aging within rural small-town America. The rhino part of the story provides a bit of color to liven things up a bit.
The following link is to a review that provides a brief description of the Duane Moore/The Last Picture Show series:
February 6, 2023
Lovely ending to a long series
It was great meeting up with old well known characters and memories. The rhino preserve was an interesting way to say goodbye to Thalia.
It was great meeting up with old well known characters and memories. The rhino preserve was an interesting way to say goodbye to Thalia.
May 9, 2012
Thalia, Texas, has been a fertile field for Larry McMurtry. We’ve been following Duane Moore through thick and thin ever since The Last Picture Show, and it’s been a winning journey. McMurtry has captured the the soul of small-town America in these characters, and though the results have not been uniformly fantastic, there is no better chronicle of the cultural, economic, and technological changes in rural American society than McMurtry has presented. Not that this is sociology. It’s literature. But it contains these elements.
McMurtry has said recently that he feels his powers are waning, that it’s a common condition among aging writers. The recent Berrybender tetrology, a palmisest of his Pulitzer days, would seem to bear him out. Rhino Ranch, however, gives him the lie.
Duane is old now, and Texas is no longer really Texas. You have a few cowpokes around, but they’re now wrangling black horned rhinoceri, imported from Africa for their salvation by a billionairess with more fantasies, time, and money than good sense. McMurtry introduces serious elements of magical realism in the form of Double-Aught, a sort of ghost rhino, which unpredictably appears and reappears to various people at various times. When he does materialize, he’s liable to inflict serious damage on such sacred symbols of modern civilization as school buses and Texas Ranger patrol cars as well as on folks� sense of reality and expectations.
McMurtry mastered the art of the short chapter in the Berrybender books, and uses it here to wonderful effect. It’s a tv showlike, (think Friends, or Seinfeld) snapshot of scenes and conversations, but it’s artfully crafted in ways that neither of those shows dreamed of. Each of the Rhino Ranch scenes, many of them comic, deepens and widens the characters, their situations, and the spirit of the novel.
Though its tone is deceptively light, in that crackling McMurtry style, Rhino Ranch is fundamentally about aging and loss. Friends, traditions, romances dissolve and are replaced by the unimaginable. The libido goes, then returns. Same with your sanity. You start out herding cattle and end up rounding up Rhinos? Are you kididng? No. So what do you do next? Go to college? It’s an idea. You build up an oil company, breed a couple of spoiled brat daughters no one can stand. Then one of them gives birth to a Rhodes scholar with whom you share deep affection. How does that happen? And what do you do about it?
One thing sure if you’re Duane (or anyone else, probably) you’ll never figure it out, but you can’t stop trying. I didn’t find the ending of Rhino Ranch completely satisfying. Seemed rushed and, as they say in MFA classes, unearned. However, I’m open to a convincing argument to the contrary. Although this is clearly the last Duane, I hope it’s not McMurtry’s Tempest. Except for that business about the ending, I thought this was Larry in top form. Chalk up one for us old guys.
***P.S.--I would any day put Duane up against that east coast blue collar hero at whose altar everyone else worships. Duane beats out Rabbit by a Texas mile in the race for literature’s common man of the last half-century.
McMurtry has said recently that he feels his powers are waning, that it’s a common condition among aging writers. The recent Berrybender tetrology, a palmisest of his Pulitzer days, would seem to bear him out. Rhino Ranch, however, gives him the lie.
Duane is old now, and Texas is no longer really Texas. You have a few cowpokes around, but they’re now wrangling black horned rhinoceri, imported from Africa for their salvation by a billionairess with more fantasies, time, and money than good sense. McMurtry introduces serious elements of magical realism in the form of Double-Aught, a sort of ghost rhino, which unpredictably appears and reappears to various people at various times. When he does materialize, he’s liable to inflict serious damage on such sacred symbols of modern civilization as school buses and Texas Ranger patrol cars as well as on folks� sense of reality and expectations.
McMurtry mastered the art of the short chapter in the Berrybender books, and uses it here to wonderful effect. It’s a tv showlike, (think Friends, or Seinfeld) snapshot of scenes and conversations, but it’s artfully crafted in ways that neither of those shows dreamed of. Each of the Rhino Ranch scenes, many of them comic, deepens and widens the characters, their situations, and the spirit of the novel.
Though its tone is deceptively light, in that crackling McMurtry style, Rhino Ranch is fundamentally about aging and loss. Friends, traditions, romances dissolve and are replaced by the unimaginable. The libido goes, then returns. Same with your sanity. You start out herding cattle and end up rounding up Rhinos? Are you kididng? No. So what do you do next? Go to college? It’s an idea. You build up an oil company, breed a couple of spoiled brat daughters no one can stand. Then one of them gives birth to a Rhodes scholar with whom you share deep affection. How does that happen? And what do you do about it?
One thing sure if you’re Duane (or anyone else, probably) you’ll never figure it out, but you can’t stop trying. I didn’t find the ending of Rhino Ranch completely satisfying. Seemed rushed and, as they say in MFA classes, unearned. However, I’m open to a convincing argument to the contrary. Although this is clearly the last Duane, I hope it’s not McMurtry’s Tempest. Except for that business about the ending, I thought this was Larry in top form. Chalk up one for us old guys.
***P.S.--I would any day put Duane up against that east coast blue collar hero at whose altar everyone else worships. Duane beats out Rabbit by a Texas mile in the race for literature’s common man of the last half-century.
September 14, 2009
Years ago for my birthday I asked my family to just let me finish reading Lonesome Dove, which they did, and then I regretted it because I missed the characters so greatly. Today, another birthday, my treat was to read McMurtry's latest and I was equally pleased. Duane Moore is in his twilight years, and so is his town, but the interaction between these eccentric yet very real characters just made me both wistful and also whimsical, with chuckles and feelings of loss and decrepitude creeping in to moments of insight and vigor. It is a delightful read, not a lot happens but a lot is observed and pondered.
August 12, 2018
We first met Duane Moore, the principal character in Rhino Ranch way back in 1966, in McMurty’s fourth novel, The Last Picture Show.
Then Duane was a teenager discovering the mysteries of sex and love. Here Duane is retired and on a downhill run toward the end of his life. And end it does in the final chapter when he keels over while setting a trot line. Heart attack most likely. Duane had had a heart attack prior to the opening of this novel.
I can’t compare the two books because I haven’t read The Last Picture Show. Now I have to, if for no other reason than to see how McMurtry’s writing style changed over the intervening four-plus decades.
One thing’s certain. In this book, McMurty’s mastered the art of the short chapter pioneered by James Patterson. McMurty’s chapters range from one to three pages in length, a couple a little longer. Each chapter is essentially a single scene.
I bought the book believing it was going to be a rousing novel set on a ranch in Texas created to save the black Rhinoceros by establishing a population here on acreage where the rhinos could roam. About half the book takes place on or around the ranch and a couple chapters are real thrill rides.
But most of the book is about Duane dealing with the effects of advancing age and the deaths of his past wives and friends.
A downer? No.
Some laughs here? Yes.
Some sweetness? Absolutely. Read the last chapter.
Then Duane was a teenager discovering the mysteries of sex and love. Here Duane is retired and on a downhill run toward the end of his life. And end it does in the final chapter when he keels over while setting a trot line. Heart attack most likely. Duane had had a heart attack prior to the opening of this novel.
I can’t compare the two books because I haven’t read The Last Picture Show. Now I have to, if for no other reason than to see how McMurtry’s writing style changed over the intervening four-plus decades.
One thing’s certain. In this book, McMurty’s mastered the art of the short chapter pioneered by James Patterson. McMurty’s chapters range from one to three pages in length, a couple a little longer. Each chapter is essentially a single scene.
I bought the book believing it was going to be a rousing novel set on a ranch in Texas created to save the black Rhinoceros by establishing a population here on acreage where the rhinos could roam. About half the book takes place on or around the ranch and a couple chapters are real thrill rides.
But most of the book is about Duane dealing with the effects of advancing age and the deaths of his past wives and friends.
A downer? No.
Some laughs here? Yes.
Some sweetness? Absolutely. Read the last chapter.
July 10, 2022
Quite possibly the worst book I have ever stuck out til the end.
Think: King of the Hill with Rhinos and the global supply of Viagra leaked into the water supply.
There you go.
It’s marked as humor, but the only thing I found funny was the fact that this book ever sold.
I only read it because I needed it for the library scavenger hunt, and I finished it out of spite so that I could rate it 1 in good conscience.
Reading Scavenger Hunt: about an endangered species
Think: King of the Hill with Rhinos and the global supply of Viagra leaked into the water supply.
There you go.
It’s marked as humor, but the only thing I found funny was the fact that this book ever sold.
I only read it because I needed it for the library scavenger hunt, and I finished it out of spite so that I could rate it 1 in good conscience.
Reading Scavenger Hunt: about an endangered species
August 31, 2009
Really disappointing. Have enjoyed many of McMurtry's book, but this one is just lame. Seemed like he just didn't have much to say, short choppy chapters with no real narrative or character development. I didn't even finish it.
October 13, 2009
I keep going back to Larry McMurtry, because I keep hoping he'll snap out of the malaise he sunk into after his heart attack. I feel, with this book, that it's starting to lift. A little.
October 29, 2020
Has any writer captured the essence of his or her place and its people as well as Larry McMurtry has with his stories of old and modern Texas? Maybe Steinbeck with central California? Or Chandler with Los Angeles? McMurtry's finale to the Duane Moore series, the 2009 novel Rhino Ranch, includes plenty of self-parody in the way of having a good laugh at the small town Texas-centric thinking of his characters. Actually, most of Rhino Ranch's central characters are funny but decent people, it's the nameless "rest" of Thalia's townsfolk who embody the worst of these traits. I doubt that McMurtry would be able to stand writing major characters that narrow-minded.
The brilliant elegy to 1950's small town Texas life The Last Picture Show began the Duane Moore series. Now, Duane is living in Arizona with his second wife Annie. When she goes to Europe on a business trip, Duane's psychiatrist urges him to take the opportunity to visit Thalia (called Anarene in TLPS) and spend some time with his college-aged grandson. Once there, he also catches up with his old friends there that readers of the series will remember. The big news is that a billionaire heiress has bought up ranch land there and is transporting all the remaining endangered black rhinos from Africa to her preserve.
What a fun romp! The shenanigans and unexpected turns are pure McMurtry. He really cut loose on this one. There are several laugh-out-loud moments. A book with 157 chapters sounds daunting - but it's only 278 pages. I found myself wondering who appreciates McMurtry's (sexually and otherwise) frank and liberated young women more - men or women readers? What a solid basis for an entertaining novel: a handsome divorced and retired guy with time on his hands, and an unending parade of interested young women, even if Duane is so depressed and confused that he's not often able to take advantage of the situation.
In this and other novels, McMurtry seems to enjoy looking, through his characters, at what people were in their glory days - beautiful, handsome, successful, etc., and what they are now. Not in a mean-spirited way, but in a wistful way, sort of the way he looks at the West itself.
The brilliant elegy to 1950's small town Texas life The Last Picture Show began the Duane Moore series. Now, Duane is living in Arizona with his second wife Annie. When she goes to Europe on a business trip, Duane's psychiatrist urges him to take the opportunity to visit Thalia (called Anarene in TLPS) and spend some time with his college-aged grandson. Once there, he also catches up with his old friends there that readers of the series will remember. The big news is that a billionaire heiress has bought up ranch land there and is transporting all the remaining endangered black rhinos from Africa to her preserve.
What a fun romp! The shenanigans and unexpected turns are pure McMurtry. He really cut loose on this one. There are several laugh-out-loud moments. A book with 157 chapters sounds daunting - but it's only 278 pages. I found myself wondering who appreciates McMurtry's (sexually and otherwise) frank and liberated young women more - men or women readers? What a solid basis for an entertaining novel: a handsome divorced and retired guy with time on his hands, and an unending parade of interested young women, even if Duane is so depressed and confused that he's not often able to take advantage of the situation.
In this and other novels, McMurtry seems to enjoy looking, through his characters, at what people were in their glory days - beautiful, handsome, successful, etc., and what they are now. Not in a mean-spirited way, but in a wistful way, sort of the way he looks at the West itself.
September 18, 2022
Enjoyed reading about a small Texas town and the adventures of the people that live there - the chapters were short & fun to read - had some "laugh out loud" moments with the eccentric thinking of his characters along with some romance and some not so happy times - over all I found it an enjoyable read.
November 14, 2022
Rhino Ranch is a fine and fitting end to the Duane Moore saga, and it rights the course of the narrative after the so so When the Light Goes. It’s as much about the town of Thalia itself as it is about Duane; specifically about the ways rural Texas is changing� on one side, the town is being bought up by a billionaire philanthropist to build the titular rhino ranch; on the other side, the region is overrun by meth dealers. It’s a comfort to see Duane through to the end of his life, as well as seeing the notes of optimism the future promises for some of the younger characters. The parts that deal with rhinoceroses are funny and thematically on point, but it’s the relationships, some of which we’ve seen build over 4 or 5 books, that are the core of the book. While the series peaked with Duane’s Depressed, Rhino Ranch is a strong ending to a lifelong story.
January 9, 2023
Duane and Larry - two real ones
January 19, 2024
A perfect final chapter to the The Last Picture Show series!
May 23, 2021
I'm glad I finished the series
November 20, 2020
.
Rhino Ranch
by Larry McMurtry
published 2009, less than 300 pages.
Publisher's note:
"In this...final chapter in the Duane Moore story, which began in 1966 with The Last Picture Show...takes readers on one last...journey to Thalia, Texas, a town that continues to change at a breakneck pace even as Duane feels himself slowing down.
Returning...[to his hometown of Thalia]...Duane discovers that he has a new neighbor: the statuesque K. K. Slater, [aka Kittie Kay] a quirky billionairess who's come to Thalia to open the Rhino Ranch [game preserve], dedicated to the preservation of the endangered black rhinoceros. Despite their obvious differences, Duane can't help but find himself charmed by K.K...Honor Carmichael [his former shrink (supposedly a lesbian) who retired several years ago & she even bedded him - repeatedly, comes from NY for a visit and hits it off with K.K.]
As Duane reflects on all that he and Thalia have been through, he feels adrift in a world where love and betrayal walk hand in hand and a stalwart Texas oil town can become home to a nature preserve." The publisher's blurb contains some inaccurate or misleading information which I edited out.
.
The last book, When the Light Goes, ended with Duane Moore in his mid-sixties having triple bypass surgery and then marrying the vivacious 26 year-old Annie Cameron. She's a geology and oil well specialist working for Duane's son Dickie who's running the family oil company, Moore Drilling. Duane & Annie live in Arizona in the home gifted to her by her filthy rich parents and Annie herself has become a millionairess.
Duane has had nearly 5 years of wedded bliss with Annie, even though he suspects she's had a number of flings. Then she dumps him and then she dies. While away on one of her many work assignments, Annie called Duane from Munich, coldly informing him she'd fallen for a Frenchman and the lawyers would handle the divorce ASAP.
When Annie left for that job in Tajikistan [Central Asia], Duane visited his hometown of Thalia. Some time ago he'd repurchased the big family house and additional property next to his rural cabin. The 120 thousand acre Rhino Ranch is right next to both the town and cabin, and K.K.'s Rhino Enterprises offers to buy Duane's house and his rural land. He insists they are not for sale, but the billionaire believes, "everything's for sale."
Bobby Lee (Duane's lifelong pal & former employee) and the old expert cowboy Boyd Cotton have been hired as "Rhino Rangers," presently watching over the rhinos and the antelope (brought in for their calming affect on the beasts). They observe the herd and rural roads from atop a well-equipped platform--out of reach of rhino horns. From that tower at the ranch's North Gate they heard poachers shooting, then dehorning a rhino with a chainsaw, and are able to apprehend the two "good old boys." The young bull rhino had been vital in the effort to repopulate the species; now it seems the black rhinos may be no safer in Texas then they were in Africa, and it's too big of an area for just two Rangers--especially with more rhinos arriving soon.
For Duane and others, things are not going smoothly. K.K. Slater runs the Slater Trust which funds the Rhino Enterprises charity. Her brothers are contesting the Trust, putting the funding at risk. Duane is titillated by Casey Kincaid, a former employee of Moore Drilling and a working girl in the licentious biz. She promises plenty of "intimacy" if Duane just gets a vasectomy, but she disappears even before he's healed. Cowboy Boyd rides the fence line looking for breaks and rhino tracks--unable to figure out how a rhino keeps escaping. K.K. at age 52 finally gets married. She weds Hondo Hando (aka George Brody), her childhood crush who became a famous Texas Ranger. Hondo is now retired and a bit broken and they've only been married a month when he hangs himself.
The big mystery concerns a bull rhino named Double Aught. The big rhino seems to have befriended Duane and follows, from his side of the fence, as Duane walks the road between his cabin and town. Double Aught keeps escaping, but leaves no tracks as to how he's getting out. He showed up in Duane's vegetable garden and attacked a patrol car with Hondo the Texas Ranger inside--sending it flipping down the road. There are reported sightings, but Double Aught always takes off and disappears who knows where.
[A bit of nonsense seems to be the lack of rhino-proof fencing. Right next to a Texas town of 1,500 residents they've brought in dozens of rhinos, which can weigh 3,000 pounds and are equipped with two horns, one that's a few feet long, all kept behind a barbed wire fence and the fencing company seems to be in no hurry to install a tougher barrier--hence the escapes.]
Although they're divorced, Annie occasionally calls Duane to complain about the girlfriends she's heard about through the rumor mill (mostly rumors) and she admits "I probably shouldn't have divorced you...you're nicer than most men."
Part 2.
After having taken a break from the rhino business, K.K. now returns to Thalia, buys the old hotel and converts it into something of a palace with penthouse and all the amenities. The working class townsfolk resent the intrusion by the aristocracy who commute by plane and limo and hire chefs from France etc.
K.K. offers Duane the job of managing her Thalia operation, but he declines, not wanting to be hated by "all" the locals. Half the town already hated him for being a successful oil man and for having built the biggest house in town, even though that was decades ago. The town is souring on the rhino idea and on K.K. herself. A rock hits her table while dining with Duane and a graffiti comment using the C-word makes it clear they want her gone.
Dal something, a last name Duane can't pronounce, from Thailand, is the new super-smart analyst Dickie hired to replace Annie. Like Annie, Duane falls for her, loves her cooking and company and invites her to be his housemate--sharing his big lonely home in Thalia. By this time Duane is probably about 70 and Dal, a forty-something widow, does not become one of his girlfriends. Eventually, she takes a job in Bangkok to be close to what's left of her family. Years earlier Dal had escaped from the horrors of Cambodia's Tuol Sleng death camp.
Annie calls again, this time from an Arizona rehab facility that treats the rich and famous. She's a meth addict and apparently has been for years and now she orders Duane to come rescue her. It seems her new hubby had her committed. Duane does drive out to Arizona for a supportive visit, but finds that Annie escaped, stole a car, picked up a hitchhiker and drove off a cliff into an arroyo. She's already dead and buried in California by the time he arrives.
Most of Duane's contemporaries have died off and the locals he still knows are their sons and daughters. The story ends with yet another reporter (Nattie Grimble) tracking him down on his boat, a refurbished cabin cruiser where he's been living. The reporters all want details about the mythical rhino Double Aught, who followed Duane around and later vanished into the rolling Texas plain. Nattie doesn't learn anything new about the bull rhino, but she does meet Duane's grandson Willy, a Rhodes Scholar back from England. Eventually, Nattie & Willy get married, have children and successful lives. Some ten years pass since Nattie first arrived and Duane dies peacefully while fishing.
The End
.
Liked it, but it can be a bit depressing with the emphasis on a mean little town, plagued by meth heads and bigots who referred to Dal as Duane's gook. Additionally, the story is about growing old, being lonely, and watching your friends die off.
PS:
Honor (the retired shrink) died of cancer well before Annie went to rehab.
Cowboy Boyd and his trusty horse died from a rhino attack--his horse falling on him.
K.K. (the billionaire) attended Duane's funeral and flew off in her Cessna, never to return.
Bobby Lee had married Lena, the first women Sheriff and inherited Duane's cabin cruiser the Bobby Lee.
The Last Picture Show Series (5 books)
1. The Last Picture Show (1966)
A raunchy tale of Duane as a high school senior in the 1950s and his pals, set in the small North Texas town of Thalia.
2. Texasville (1987)
30 years later 1984, Duane and family are living the good life from years in the booming oil business, but now the bust of the 1980s has left him on the verge of bankruptcy. Nothing for it, but to sling eggs at the town's centennial party.
3. Duane's Depressed (1999)
He should be living the good life as a successful Texas oilman, but Duane has become disillusioned with life in general. He hangs up his truck keys and starts walking where ever he needs to go. Most alarming to his wife and family, he leaves their big fine home and camps at his rustic cabin outside of town. Then, even more humiliating for the family, he seeks treatment from a shrink.
4. When the Light Goes (2007)
A short sequel to Duane's Depressed. Duane, back from vacation finds his hometown changing, his family dispersed, (his wife died in the last book) and he's suffering from a heart condition, but it doesn't prevent the aging oil man from engaging in raunchy trysts.
5. Rhino Ranch (2009)
Back to Thalia, Texas where Duane visits his hometown while his lovely young wife is out of the country on business. She gives him a call just to say she's leaving him for someone else. In Thalia, Duane befriends a resolute billionairess trying to rescue endangered rhinos and his old friends and acquaintances continue to die off.
.
..
Rhino Ranch
by Larry McMurtry
published 2009, less than 300 pages.
Publisher's note:
"In this...final chapter in the Duane Moore story, which began in 1966 with The Last Picture Show...takes readers on one last...journey to Thalia, Texas, a town that continues to change at a breakneck pace even as Duane feels himself slowing down.
Returning...[to his hometown of Thalia]...Duane discovers that he has a new neighbor: the statuesque K. K. Slater, [aka Kittie Kay] a quirky billionairess who's come to Thalia to open the Rhino Ranch [game preserve], dedicated to the preservation of the endangered black rhinoceros. Despite their obvious differences, Duane can't help but find himself charmed by K.K...Honor Carmichael [his former shrink (supposedly a lesbian) who retired several years ago & she even bedded him - repeatedly, comes from NY for a visit and hits it off with K.K.]
As Duane reflects on all that he and Thalia have been through, he feels adrift in a world where love and betrayal walk hand in hand and a stalwart Texas oil town can become home to a nature preserve." The publisher's blurb contains some inaccurate or misleading information which I edited out.
.
The last book, When the Light Goes, ended with Duane Moore in his mid-sixties having triple bypass surgery and then marrying the vivacious 26 year-old Annie Cameron. She's a geology and oil well specialist working for Duane's son Dickie who's running the family oil company, Moore Drilling. Duane & Annie live in Arizona in the home gifted to her by her filthy rich parents and Annie herself has become a millionairess.
Duane has had nearly 5 years of wedded bliss with Annie, even though he suspects she's had a number of flings. Then she dumps him and then she dies. While away on one of her many work assignments, Annie called Duane from Munich, coldly informing him she'd fallen for a Frenchman and the lawyers would handle the divorce ASAP.
When Annie left for that job in Tajikistan [Central Asia], Duane visited his hometown of Thalia. Some time ago he'd repurchased the big family house and additional property next to his rural cabin. The 120 thousand acre Rhino Ranch is right next to both the town and cabin, and K.K.'s Rhino Enterprises offers to buy Duane's house and his rural land. He insists they are not for sale, but the billionaire believes, "everything's for sale."
Bobby Lee (Duane's lifelong pal & former employee) and the old expert cowboy Boyd Cotton have been hired as "Rhino Rangers," presently watching over the rhinos and the antelope (brought in for their calming affect on the beasts). They observe the herd and rural roads from atop a well-equipped platform--out of reach of rhino horns. From that tower at the ranch's North Gate they heard poachers shooting, then dehorning a rhino with a chainsaw, and are able to apprehend the two "good old boys." The young bull rhino had been vital in the effort to repopulate the species; now it seems the black rhinos may be no safer in Texas then they were in Africa, and it's too big of an area for just two Rangers--especially with more rhinos arriving soon.
For Duane and others, things are not going smoothly. K.K. Slater runs the Slater Trust which funds the Rhino Enterprises charity. Her brothers are contesting the Trust, putting the funding at risk. Duane is titillated by Casey Kincaid, a former employee of Moore Drilling and a working girl in the licentious biz. She promises plenty of "intimacy" if Duane just gets a vasectomy, but she disappears even before he's healed. Cowboy Boyd rides the fence line looking for breaks and rhino tracks--unable to figure out how a rhino keeps escaping. K.K. at age 52 finally gets married. She weds Hondo Hando (aka George Brody), her childhood crush who became a famous Texas Ranger. Hondo is now retired and a bit broken and they've only been married a month when he hangs himself.
The big mystery concerns a bull rhino named Double Aught. The big rhino seems to have befriended Duane and follows, from his side of the fence, as Duane walks the road between his cabin and town. Double Aught keeps escaping, but leaves no tracks as to how he's getting out. He showed up in Duane's vegetable garden and attacked a patrol car with Hondo the Texas Ranger inside--sending it flipping down the road. There are reported sightings, but Double Aught always takes off and disappears who knows where.
[A bit of nonsense seems to be the lack of rhino-proof fencing. Right next to a Texas town of 1,500 residents they've brought in dozens of rhinos, which can weigh 3,000 pounds and are equipped with two horns, one that's a few feet long, all kept behind a barbed wire fence and the fencing company seems to be in no hurry to install a tougher barrier--hence the escapes.]
Although they're divorced, Annie occasionally calls Duane to complain about the girlfriends she's heard about through the rumor mill (mostly rumors) and she admits "I probably shouldn't have divorced you...you're nicer than most men."
Part 2.
After having taken a break from the rhino business, K.K. now returns to Thalia, buys the old hotel and converts it into something of a palace with penthouse and all the amenities. The working class townsfolk resent the intrusion by the aristocracy who commute by plane and limo and hire chefs from France etc.
K.K. offers Duane the job of managing her Thalia operation, but he declines, not wanting to be hated by "all" the locals. Half the town already hated him for being a successful oil man and for having built the biggest house in town, even though that was decades ago. The town is souring on the rhino idea and on K.K. herself. A rock hits her table while dining with Duane and a graffiti comment using the C-word makes it clear they want her gone.
Dal something, a last name Duane can't pronounce, from Thailand, is the new super-smart analyst Dickie hired to replace Annie. Like Annie, Duane falls for her, loves her cooking and company and invites her to be his housemate--sharing his big lonely home in Thalia. By this time Duane is probably about 70 and Dal, a forty-something widow, does not become one of his girlfriends. Eventually, she takes a job in Bangkok to be close to what's left of her family. Years earlier Dal had escaped from the horrors of Cambodia's Tuol Sleng death camp.
Annie calls again, this time from an Arizona rehab facility that treats the rich and famous. She's a meth addict and apparently has been for years and now she orders Duane to come rescue her. It seems her new hubby had her committed. Duane does drive out to Arizona for a supportive visit, but finds that Annie escaped, stole a car, picked up a hitchhiker and drove off a cliff into an arroyo. She's already dead and buried in California by the time he arrives.
Most of Duane's contemporaries have died off and the locals he still knows are their sons and daughters. The story ends with yet another reporter (Nattie Grimble) tracking him down on his boat, a refurbished cabin cruiser where he's been living. The reporters all want details about the mythical rhino Double Aught, who followed Duane around and later vanished into the rolling Texas plain. Nattie doesn't learn anything new about the bull rhino, but she does meet Duane's grandson Willy, a Rhodes Scholar back from England. Eventually, Nattie & Willy get married, have children and successful lives. Some ten years pass since Nattie first arrived and Duane dies peacefully while fishing.
The End
.
Liked it, but it can be a bit depressing with the emphasis on a mean little town, plagued by meth heads and bigots who referred to Dal as Duane's gook. Additionally, the story is about growing old, being lonely, and watching your friends die off.
PS:
Honor (the retired shrink) died of cancer well before Annie went to rehab.
Cowboy Boyd and his trusty horse died from a rhino attack--his horse falling on him.
K.K. (the billionaire) attended Duane's funeral and flew off in her Cessna, never to return.
Bobby Lee had married Lena, the first women Sheriff and inherited Duane's cabin cruiser the Bobby Lee.
The Last Picture Show Series (5 books)
1. The Last Picture Show (1966)
A raunchy tale of Duane as a high school senior in the 1950s and his pals, set in the small North Texas town of Thalia.
2. Texasville (1987)
30 years later 1984, Duane and family are living the good life from years in the booming oil business, but now the bust of the 1980s has left him on the verge of bankruptcy. Nothing for it, but to sling eggs at the town's centennial party.
3. Duane's Depressed (1999)
He should be living the good life as a successful Texas oilman, but Duane has become disillusioned with life in general. He hangs up his truck keys and starts walking where ever he needs to go. Most alarming to his wife and family, he leaves their big fine home and camps at his rustic cabin outside of town. Then, even more humiliating for the family, he seeks treatment from a shrink.
4. When the Light Goes (2007)
A short sequel to Duane's Depressed. Duane, back from vacation finds his hometown changing, his family dispersed, (his wife died in the last book) and he's suffering from a heart condition, but it doesn't prevent the aging oil man from engaging in raunchy trysts.
5. Rhino Ranch (2009)
Back to Thalia, Texas where Duane visits his hometown while his lovely young wife is out of the country on business. She gives him a call just to say she's leaving him for someone else. In Thalia, Duane befriends a resolute billionairess trying to rescue endangered rhinos and his old friends and acquaintances continue to die off.
.
..
October 8, 2018
I understand this novel to be the fifth installment of a series that began with The Last Picture Show. I may have seen that one in movie format years ago but otherwise haven't been exposed to any of the others. (I did read and comment on McMurtry's
Boone's Lick
and
Sin Killer
, so have that context, at least. Anyway, I picked up a copy of Rhino Ranch at the library more or less at random, because the first page looked all right, but back at home the book did not really grab me.
It came due and I had to renew it, having covered only a few pages. Then, despite my effort to make amends, it came due again.
I wondered why I couldn't be more enthused about this. Maybe the problem is that, to borrow another reader's phrasing, the prose here has a "bullshitting on the front porch feel." That reminds me of the efforts of certain amateur/wanna-be writers I've known. I don't necessarily react well to that style, which seems to convey an aw-shucks air, as if the author can't decide if he has an important story to tell or not, and is at least pretending it's not important in order to avoid being told that. Sample excerpt:
"K.K. said Hondo was the real thing once—fought lots of bandits and rounded up lots of rustlers."
Bobby thought about that for a while.
"Lots of people become mere shadows of their former selves, I guess."
"Like who?"
"Well, like you, I guess."
Maybe it's the characters who are ambivalent about taking themselves seriously. The story concerns old guys who are winding down and confronting (or being confronted by) their diminished circumstances. They're not necessarily aging gracefully, but then who does? That theme applies to me, so I understand it. It seems to be saying the situation is hopeless but not serious. Maybe that's wisdom.
I should mention that the above snippet of dialog follows a somewhat annoying pattern that occurs throughout. The first two lines are spoken by the same character (Bobby). There's an expectation that without some kind of signal to the contrary a new paragraph of dialog means another person is speaking. Not in this book.
It came due and I had to renew it, having covered only a few pages. Then, despite my effort to make amends, it came due again.
I wondered why I couldn't be more enthused about this. Maybe the problem is that, to borrow another reader's phrasing, the prose here has a "bullshitting on the front porch feel." That reminds me of the efforts of certain amateur/wanna-be writers I've known. I don't necessarily react well to that style, which seems to convey an aw-shucks air, as if the author can't decide if he has an important story to tell or not, and is at least pretending it's not important in order to avoid being told that. Sample excerpt:
"K.K. said Hondo was the real thing once—fought lots of bandits and rounded up lots of rustlers."
Bobby thought about that for a while.
"Lots of people become mere shadows of their former selves, I guess."
"Like who?"
"Well, like you, I guess."
Maybe it's the characters who are ambivalent about taking themselves seriously. The story concerns old guys who are winding down and confronting (or being confronted by) their diminished circumstances. They're not necessarily aging gracefully, but then who does? That theme applies to me, so I understand it. It seems to be saying the situation is hopeless but not serious. Maybe that's wisdom.
I should mention that the above snippet of dialog follows a somewhat annoying pattern that occurs throughout. The first two lines are spoken by the same character (Bobby). There's an expectation that without some kind of signal to the contrary a new paragraph of dialog means another person is speaking. Not in this book.
November 8, 2017
Of the five in the “Duane Moore series� � Last Picture, Texasville, Duane’s Depressed, When the Light Goes and this one � Rhino Ranch is clearly the weakest, sloppy in editing and proofing and aimless. It reminded me of a TV sitcom that is good in spots, but can’t sustain its quality for an entire season. In a way, I guess, the entire series is like a 5-season sitcom, with each season after Texasville unable to capture the best of the first two books.
I forgive McMurtry for almost anything, however ... even this.
I forgive McMurtry for almost anything, however ... even this.
April 8, 2013
Disregard the three stars, I'll actually call it three and a half. Started a bit slow, enough to make me think that McMurtry had finally lost his touch. But, after sticking with it,(despite the indulgences of old men's sexual fantasies gratuitously thrown in by LM), it ended up being a pretty entertaining book, more humorous than the McMurtry I have come to expect, but ultimately displaying the pathos I have always known from this author. Well worth a read.
February 3, 2013
McMurtry lovingly writes a 5th novel about Duane Moore, his fictional, autobiographic counterpart.
The Last Picture Show, Texasville, Duane's Depressed, Until the Lights Go Out and now Rhino Ranch all feature our protagonist. Somewhat naive, innocent, guiltless and forever experimenting with what life has to offer, Duane muddles through everything thrown at him with awe and quiet acceptance.
The Last Picture Show, Texasville, Duane's Depressed, Until the Lights Go Out and now Rhino Ranch all feature our protagonist. Somewhat naive, innocent, guiltless and forever experimenting with what life has to offer, Duane muddles through everything thrown at him with awe and quiet acceptance.
January 3, 2018
This was a good ending to Duane's story. The characters in all of these books remind me of Fannie Flagg's characters - all quirky and outlandish. McMurtry is definitely becoming on of my favorite authors.
January 27, 2018
I thought this was a great ending to the Last Picture Show series. (It really could have survived without "When the Light Goes"). The funny thing about this book was it gave me a new perspective on many things about my aging parents and helped explain some of their behaviors.
May 21, 2021
I listened to this audiobook. Will Patten is the narrator and I could listen to him all day long - one of my favorite narrators. This is the final chapter in the Last Picture Show series. I must disclose that I have not read any of them nor have I seen the movie The Last Picture Show. So, I am ignorant of Duane Moore and his saga. But, I found this book to be thoroughly enjoyable in a poignant way. Duane is 70 years old and married to a woman who has multiple flings ostensibly because Duane cannot satisfy her sexually because he had a heart attack. That’s kind of sad. He lives in Arizona, but when his wife leaves on a long work related overseas trip Duane returns to Thalia, Texas, where he is was born. A billionairess named K.K. Slater is building a black rhinoceros sanctuary adjacent to the Moore oil land. Duane is intrigued by K.K. She is plain spoken and direct. Much of the book shows Duane interacting with K.K., with old friends and acquaintances, as well as being propositioned multiple times by women much younger than him (wishful thinking, Mr. McMurtry). The book is humorous with quirky characters, but also sad as we watch Duane as his life is slowing down. Duane develops a “friendship � with one of the rhinos and that causes some commotion. I like Duane. Good book.
June 20, 2019
Am doubling down on the Jim Harrison comparison, some of the latter books of both men especially their fictional characters' geezer hooking or creepily fantasizing hooking-up with Humbert or almost Humbert-like nubile counterparts. Ain't life grand, at least if yer one of those geezers who also happens to be a scribbler of mostly mediocre novels about place and fates an such, why wouldn't you let that reliable and still irascibly libidinous mind wander! As such the case of loveable ex-oilman & grandfather widower Duane Moore and the end of the line for the "Thalia" series that began with "The Last Picture Show" a half century past. Recalling another comparison from an earlier review, where Duane begins seeing a woman psychiatrist just like big cheese Tony Soprano - curiously both book and "Soprano's" coming out at same time. Well, Duane wends his way through a few mid-life crisis's and walks away, as in walking/riding bike from most of his attachments Siddhartha-ish off to seek enlightenment or something similar. Only to be six-seven'ed by those nubilar "pacemakers" that jolt an ageing ticker to life whether or not the pecker follows. Hmm, there's rhinos in this book too but they get lost in the grand shuffle of Duane's woebegone days, so long....
March 11, 2023
This affectionate musing on the perils, problems, and privileges of age is the last in the series of five books which Larry McMurtry wrote about Duane Moore, who first appears as the high-school football hero in “Last Picture Show�. The series is as much about the town of Thalia as it is about its inhabitants. In this final volume, Duane is the last of the group of teen-agers we first met decades back, just in the process of being divorced by his second wife, recovering from a heart attack, adjusting to moving on the periphery of Thalia’s interest, where once he was the center.
It’s pretty easy to figure out that Rhino Ranch, the struggling wildlife preserve which a billlionairess is trying to establish in Thalia, is a proxy for the destination bookstore, Booked Up, which McMurtry tried to establish in his home town of Archer City to revive the town’s failing economy. There is no bitterness in McMurtry’s story, and scarcely a mean bone in any of the characters. This is a lovely coda to Duane’s saga.
It’s pretty easy to figure out that Rhino Ranch, the struggling wildlife preserve which a billlionairess is trying to establish in Thalia, is a proxy for the destination bookstore, Booked Up, which McMurtry tried to establish in his home town of Archer City to revive the town’s failing economy. There is no bitterness in McMurtry’s story, and scarcely a mean bone in any of the characters. This is a lovely coda to Duane’s saga.
November 11, 2024
I did not feel like taking my "currently reading" tome on a short-notice plane trip that wound up being extended by a day because of snow. So I snagged this light reading from the TBR pile for the gate waits . . . a good choice, and one I could finish in a few hours' time.
Despite not having read the first four installments in this series, I jumped right in and developed a likeness for the protagonists: Duane and Boyd and Bobby Lee. The side characters were also well-defined and the plot was well-paced, if a bit hard to believe. The setting and character depth reminded me in some ways of a series, but with more casual intimacy.
I can't say that the main characters changed much over time. They just grew older and died. On the other hand, the theme of a community resisting any influence from outside sources resonates well, and I'm glad I gave myself permission to "cheat" on a book that I'm sure to come back to in a better headspace.
Despite not having read the first four installments in this series, I jumped right in and developed a likeness for the protagonists: Duane and Boyd and Bobby Lee. The side characters were also well-defined and the plot was well-paced, if a bit hard to believe. The setting and character depth reminded me in some ways of a series, but with more casual intimacy.
I can't say that the main characters changed much over time. They just grew older and died. On the other hand, the theme of a community resisting any influence from outside sources resonates well, and I'm glad I gave myself permission to "cheat" on a book that I'm sure to come back to in a better headspace.
March 25, 2025
As a standalone book, it was alright, but what really makes this book is the context of its overall story and the legacy of Larry McMurtry. This is a book written by an old man, about an old man, who has been writing the same character all his life, since he was in his 20s. In the same town, too. Not much happens in this book, there’s hardly even a chapter that’s longer than 3 pages. It’s maybe one of the most boring books I’ve ever read, but I’ve gotten to know these people over the course of an author’s lifetime. There’s something about viewing the entire life of a person, of a town, to see who they become, to see what becomes of the town and the world. It’s written in a way that wasn’t planned, similar to how life isn’t really planned. Things happen, people die, most of it is boring, then you die. That’s really what this book is. Just an old man in a small town writing about an old man in a small town who doesn’t really recognize his world or the people in it anymore. There’s something heartbreaking yet inevitable about that.
July 30, 2023
I miss the genius that was Larry McMurtry. The late writer knew the American West intimately from a lifetime lived in it, and was a master of its culture, language and characters.
Most of us know him for his Lonesome Dove series, although he has dozens of published works. Fewer of us remember the brilliant film adapted from his novel, The Last Picture Show, about a decaying Texas town and its residents. Rhino Ranch completes the picture show story, it is the last book which chronicles the life of Duane Moore, the young roughnecker played by Jeff Bridges in Picture Show.
Duane is nearing the end of his life. Thalia, Texas, is unchanged, really, and Duane’s remaining friends are dying off. The bleakness of the place and unfriendliness of its citizens is unchanged, too. Reminds me a lot of the Wyoming depicted in the story Brokeback Mountain, which McMurtry and Diana Ossana turned into an Oscar winning screenplay.
Best novel I’ve read in 2023, so far.
Most of us know him for his Lonesome Dove series, although he has dozens of published works. Fewer of us remember the brilliant film adapted from his novel, The Last Picture Show, about a decaying Texas town and its residents. Rhino Ranch completes the picture show story, it is the last book which chronicles the life of Duane Moore, the young roughnecker played by Jeff Bridges in Picture Show.
Duane is nearing the end of his life. Thalia, Texas, is unchanged, really, and Duane’s remaining friends are dying off. The bleakness of the place and unfriendliness of its citizens is unchanged, too. Reminds me a lot of the Wyoming depicted in the story Brokeback Mountain, which McMurtry and Diana Ossana turned into an Oscar winning screenplay.
Best novel I’ve read in 2023, so far.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 27, 2024
As I turn the final page of this nine-month reading journey, I say goodbye to Duane Moore and the residents of Thalia, Texas. While the book offers moments of genuine warmth and satisfaction, it falls short of earning a higher rating due to some recurring issues that first surfaced in When the Light Goes. Certain chapters feel unnecessary, while others are underdeveloped, leaving a sense of missed potential. A theme that has run through Duane’s story since Duane’s Depressed reaches its inevitable conclusion here: the deaths of key characters—whether loved or disliked—serve as a powerful metaphor for the slow, almost imperceptible decline of a small town. In the end, these losses feel like a reflection of Duane’s own internal struggle, and the story’s melancholic tone underscores the inevitable fading of both the community and its people.
June 28, 2021
Well, I've finally finished the complete Duane Moore saga which consists of The Last Picture Show and four unnecessary sequels.
Rhino Ranch has its moments, especially in the first half, but the last half wandered all over the place plotwise and left this reader with a "So what?" feeling. Bobby Lee and the rhino Double Aught were my favorite characters. Grandson Willie was the most grounded character in the whole series, but admittedly several of the other characters were colorful and memorable, even if they often seemed like caricatures.
I've still got a couple of McMurtry's lesser works to read, but like these, I expect they will be one-time reads. I can always go back and reread Lonesome Dove if I need a reminder about McMurtry's storytelling abilities.
Rhino Ranch has its moments, especially in the first half, but the last half wandered all over the place plotwise and left this reader with a "So what?" feeling. Bobby Lee and the rhino Double Aught were my favorite characters. Grandson Willie was the most grounded character in the whole series, but admittedly several of the other characters were colorful and memorable, even if they often seemed like caricatures.
I've still got a couple of McMurtry's lesser works to read, but like these, I expect they will be one-time reads. I can always go back and reread Lonesome Dove if I need a reminder about McMurtry's storytelling abilities.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 208 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.