Moving On

A Novel

customer reviews

Moving On is a big, powerful novel about men and women in the American West. Set in the 1960s against the backdrop of the honky-tonk glamour of the rodeo and the desperation of suburban Houston, it is the story of the restless and lovable Patsy Carpenter, one of Larry McMurtry's most unforgettable characters.
Patsy -- young, beautiful, with a sharp tongue and an irresistible charm -- and her shiftless husband, Jim, are adrift in the West. Patsy moves through affairs of the heart like small towns -- there's Pete, the rodeo clown, and Hank, the graduate student, and others -- always in search of the life that seems ever receding around the next bend.
Peopled with a riotously colorful cast of highbrows, cowpokes, and rodeo queens, in its wry humor, tenderness, and epic panorama, Moving On is a celebration of our land by one of America's best-loved authors. Moving On is vintage McMurtry.

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Simon & Schuster |
800 pages |
ISBN 9780684853888 |
June 1999

$17.00 List Price

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Praise

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“The New York Times A novel of monumental honesty....Attention must be paid. ”

“Los Angeles Times McMurtry can transform ordinary words into highly lyrical, poetic passages...He presents human drama with a sympathy and compassion that make us care about his characters in a way that most novelists can't. ”

“The Boston Globe There aren't many writers around who are as much fun to read as McMurtry. He is precise and lyrical, ironic and sad. ”

“Saturday Review A Texas-sized book...Mr. McMurtry is blessed with an absolutely solid sense of place. His backgrounds and scenic descriptions are inherent parts of his story, contributing as much to the novel as does the completely... ”

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Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1

Patsy sat by herself at the beginning of the evening, eating a melted Hershey bar. She had been reading Catch-22 but remembered the Hershey and fished it out of the glove compartment, where it had been all day. It was too melted to be neatly handleable, so she laid the paperback on the car seat and avidly swiped the chocolate off the candy paper with two fingers. When the candy was gone, she dropped the sticky wrappers out the window and licked what was left of the chocolate off her fingers before picking up the book again.

Sometimes she ate casually and read avidly -- other times she read casually and ate avidly. Another...