Details Books Concering Terms of Endearment (Houston Series #3)
| Original Title: | Terms of Endearment |
| ISBN: | 075283455X (ISBN13: 9780752834559) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Houston |
| Series: | #3 |
| Setting: | Houston, Texas(United States) |
Larry McMurtry
Paperback | Pages: 416 pages Rating: 4.15 | 23714 Users | 377 Reviews
Specify About Books Terms of Endearment (Houston Series #3)
| Title | : | Terms of Endearment (Houston Series #3) |
| Author | : | Larry McMurtry |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 416 pages |
| Published | : | June 1st 2000 by Orion Publishing Group (first published 1975) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Classics |
Description Conducive To Books Terms of Endearment (Houston Series #3)
I just finished off this novel with a session of sobbing that could easily rival a graveside funeral of a beloved friend.I'm not kidding. What I just went through was the total opposite of a good cry.
It was fitting, though. This has been an incredible journey, one that I started with Larry McMurtry in July of this year.
You see. . . Terms of Endearment and The Evening Star are two of McMurtry's best known novels, but many readers don't realize that they are actually books #3 and #6 of his Houston series. I was one of these readers, originally, and I read this novel alone, and liked it, but I spent more time comparing it to the famous movie then I did focusing on the writing or character development.
It's okay. Each one of the stories in this series can stand on its own and survive any confused chronology, especially given their own circuitous overlaps. But now that I started properly this year with Moving On and then All My Friends are Going to Be Strangers, two wonderful and awful things happened. . . I became more deeply invested in the characters and. . . I became more deeply invested in the characters!
And what a character we have here, in Aurora Greenway, made famous, of course, by Shirley MacLaine's portrayal of her in the movie. . . but let's forget about all of that for now.
For now, let me tell you, I loved every page. I never wanted the book to end. I read it as slowly as I could, in the hopes that I could prolong my relationship with Aurora. She is one of the most ridiculous fictional women ever to appear in print, and I can NOT BELIEVE my delicious good fortune, that I will meet her again in book #6, The Evening Star.
Do not confuse Larry's Houston series with his Westerns, please, these here are city folks. But, when it comes to Larry, it doesn't matter who you are or where you live; as a writer, he is only concerned with matters of the heart.
And, it's here. It's all here: love, sex, marriage, monogamy, infidelity, insecurity, life and mortality. The man can not help but pick up every stone and stare at it and then tell you what it says.
The times depicted here are the early 1960s and 70s in Texas and we encounter wives being beaten by bad husbands, double standards everywhere for women, and too many disappointments to share, but Aurora and her daughter, Emma, also represent, at different times, the maiden, the mother, the queen and the crone. Through them, we are able to see both the limitations and the potential for all women, at all times.
I hold this one so close to my heart, I almost can't stand the bittersweet joy of it.
Larry's been “accused” of writing women better than most female writers and damn it if I don't agree with that assessment.
I tip my hat to you again, Cowboy.
Rating About Books Terms of Endearment (Houston Series #3)
Ratings: 4.15 From 23714 Users | 377 ReviewsComment On About Books Terms of Endearment (Houston Series #3)
3.5 stars. I enjoyed this book, although it was a surprisingly light type of enjoyment. It's very funny and, as is typical with a McMurtry book, I loved the characters very much. Vernon was a particular favorite but they were all really wonderful.I've only seen the movie once or twice so I'm curious to see what people have to say about the book vs movie. The book is mostly about Aurora, with occasional forays into Emma's and some of Aurora's suitors' POVs. Aurora is a vibrant and mercurial
Wasn't at all what I expected. I thought it was about the coming together and relationship between a mother and daughter when it's just about the similar screwed up lives of two old broads who happen to be mother & daughter. They're practically inconsequential to one another till the very end.
Terms of Endearment is another novel, aside from the last 40 pages, that bears no resemblance to the movie adaptation. Where the movie defined the chick flick genre, the novel is decidedly less weepy. In the book, Aurora Greenway lives in a vortex of chaos, most of which she has taken on herself. Facing the south-slope of midlife with her first grandchild on the way, Aurora is a living contradiction in terms. Shes a widow who leads on her multiple suitors but has little desire to be caught, she
There's another user on Goodreads who rated this two stars because the "only good things about it was the superb writing and memorable characters." I agree with her and would also add great dialogue and give it two more stars making it four. As memorable characters go Aurora Greenway is a diamond, almost vicious in her pragmatism, sharp-tongued and hilariously uncomfortable to be around. In lesser hands she may have been a cartoon but Larry McMurty is a great writer and gives depth graciously
I didn't remember that McMurty had written this novel, but wanted to read it because I loved Lonesome Dove. This is an altogether different book which focuses on Aurora, a force of nature, an impossibly self-centered widow who has multiple suitors wishing to marry her. These suitors are very different from one another but each trying to win over Aurora who wants them all but doesn't want any of them. It's also the story of Emma, her daughter, 22, married to an ineffectual scholar-husband, Flap.
In terms of the relationships between men and women, this book feels quite dated. In terms of the relationship between mother (Aurora Greenaway) and daughter (Emma Horton), I suspect that many readers will either identify with, or certainly acknowledge the truthfulness, of the portrayal. Aurora is one of McMurtry's finest characters - in a large stable of fine and memorable characters. She is a monster of selfishness in many ways: vain, idle, narcissistic, mercurial and self-indulgent. In the
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