I fell in love with this book from the first few pages. The cowboys live a rough life, and plenty of it is unpleasant, but the narration remains lighthearted and funny (until it doesn’t). There are a million characters, but they’re all memorable and identifiable by their little quirks. And, of course, I love a book with horses.
Call and Gus are larger-than-life characters, and it seems McMurtry set out to write a legendary adventure of mythic proportions. Until one day, he changed his mind and decided to kill off all his best characters and bring everyone else to the most anti-climactic, unresolved end. I was hoping to get a happy ending for at least someone, but everyone is either dead or wandering around without purpose or direction.
I also want to take a moment to vent my frustration with Clara. She may have been the only character I really hated. It’s like she was built out to be a strong, independent female character, running a horse trading business and personally doing the labor-intensive work of gelding and breaking horses, yet she is the most irrational, hysterical, temperamental, and overbearing character in the book. She was frequently angry at the men in her life because they didn’t read her mind; she turned Gus down romantically, yet still wanted access to him as a friend and didn’t want him to be with another woman; and she nagged Call beyond all decency.
Anyway, I loved this book, I just wish some of the characters got a happy ending.