The Last Kind Words Saloon: A Novel

and if anyone else had written it this ugly review would be unnecessary. In actuality it doesn't deserve two star but this is McMurtry after all. Thinly plotted, zero character development, or arc of any kind for that matter. My two take aways were to wonder what Mr. McMurtry has against the Wyatt Earp legend to so thoroughly deflate and kick dust over it, if not outright mislead, and I'm afraid the man's mind might be slipping a bit. I mean no disrespect, Lonesome Dove is the greatest 'western' novel ever written, a masterpiece; but this reads like the wanderings of someone who might be just a bit senile or somewise else mentally impaired.To the first point, McMurtry transforms his Wyatt Earp into a wife beating back shooter who neither carries a pistol nor has any involvement in formal law enforcement. The implication is clearly made that Earp murdered Clanton patriarch, Newman "Old Man" Clanton, and he erases 2 months time between that bushwhacking and the gunfight at the OK Corral. Odd, in that this shortening of interval actually makes it pretty unlikely that Earp could have traveled the 60 miles to the Guadalupe Canyon Massacre and back to Tombstone without some notice.But this gets directly to the problem with the story, the liberties taken with history seem to make no sense. McMurtry's disclaimer that his characters are afloat in time portrayed in a ballad of prose favoring legend over history notwithstanding, this simply does not follow. Its NOT more interesting than the true story. Its a dulling down. An unburnishing. In fact it seems purposefully directed at deflating and lessening the impact of the Earp story by turning him into a craven cur. Perhaps if the players in Tombstone had been Texans...Even more sadly are the simple mistakes.on pp 14 Jessie, Earp's wife, complains that he had hit her with a closed fist on two previous occasions. Then, pp 162, in Tombstone (one presumes it's later in time) Earp hits her and she reflects "Wyatt had never hit her with a closed fist before."The magically appearing red ox is just one example of characters who appear and disappear with no exposition. Tiresome indeed.All in all it's a sad book to read, and not because, like Lonesome Dove, the subject matter is maudlin. Its sad because McMurtry appears to be doing to himself what he has planned for Earp.Uninteresting, poorly written from a continuity standpoint and scattered. Read Doc by Mary Doria Russell for a truly terrific new look at the Earp story.And let's hope that the editors and publishers at Liveright will have a bit more respect for their Pulitzer prize winning author in the future and not expose his reputation to such a debilitating blow. Greed kills and it has certainly extinguished my desire to buy another book from the once great McMurtry.

Larry McMurtry has a unique way of writing about the old West. He invents some of the most interesting and quirky characters in all of literature. Here, he re-invents the famous encounter at the OK corral. HIs depiction of Wyat Earp and Doc Holiday is refreshing, unique, and funny. They seem a little dim and very careless with the welfare of others, which may well be true or closer to the truth than the usual depictions of them as calculating thugs. My only quibble with this book is that it is quite short, a novella perhaps. But I can always read Lonesome Dove if I want a lot more of McMurtry's patented style of writing. If you want a short, satisfying read, here it is.

A trifle, which is not meant as a criticism, I quite enjoyed the book which is mostly an excuse to hang a lot of witty dialogue and observations about the world on a handful of characters. Mostly it's an enjoyable place to spend a few hours (and the whole book can be read in a couple of hours) and that congenial tone (in some ways, the ease with which McMurtry lays out his world reminds me of late Jim Harrison, though Harrison's world is more internal and personal) masks the reality that this book is revisionist down to its core. Wyatt Earp is ill-tempered, mostly quiet, probably murderous, definitely lazy and just as definitely a wife beater (though his wife Jessie, one of several vivid female characters, seems to sometimes find a smack to the face preferable to the endless tedium of living on the plains), Doc Holliday is friendly, talkative, easy to get along with and though he's always threatening to shoot someone, is not murderous by nature.Neither man can shoot a lick it seems, despite their reputations, and when they manage to hit something, it's always seen as a happy accident. The shootout at the OK Corral is reduced to half a page and seems driven mostly by Wyatt's basic assholiness. In many ways, women rule McMurtry's west and indeed the men here are almost all bedeviled by feminine thinking, which confuses them and forces them to ponder their own existence, which is never a welcome thing. McMurty's world is a defiantly anti-heroic one, not just the Earps and Holliday, but how all these historical figures fit together. How things actually happened seems to hold little interest for McMurtry and the book is better for it. I guess it comes down to whether you find the book funny or not. I did; when the most shocking death in the entire book is that of a good-natured ox (later mourned by both Wyatt and Doc), you know you're in a world that isn't overly ruled by what actually happened.

Larry McMurty is long been a master of western tales, and with "The Last Kind Words Saloon" he has come up with a neat idea of the later days of two heroes: Wyatt Earp, now whiling his days away between bottles, and Doc Holliday, the dentist-cum-gunslinger, is now more adept at poker. The pair live on as the West that forged their myths is disappearing. It is a shrewd and thoughtful book in many ways, leavened by McMurty's rueful humour.

This tale gives a new way of looking at the famous exploits of the Earps and Doc Holiday, including the OK Corral incident, and is afar more refreshing change than the actual, historical happening. Larry McMurty keeps to enthralled with his wonderfully, hilarious, diverting take on history, and even makes you uncertain of what is true. Great! Don't miss the chance to read this!

A short, but rambling, collection of thin storylines about various, thinly-written, fictionalised historical characters at the end of the Wild West era. The dialogue was also poor.The magnificent Lonesome Dove (or the slightly inferior others in that series) this was definitely not.I am confused as to how some reviewers have given this 4 or 5 stars...I would not recommend it.Do not bother reading it.

I should say I rate Lonesome Dove extremely highly, and I even liked the sequels.That said, somebody needs to explain how this happened. Clearly, McMurtry sent a rough synopsis of his next novel to his publisher and, by some mischance, it managed to get published as is. While mistakes can happen, it doesn't seem reasonable to continue selling this for £4.99 once the problem is evident to anyone.

I suffered with them. Well written and atmospheric. I never thought I’d read a cowboy book, but I’m hooked.