Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published in USA
Mar 2007
192 pages
Genre: Novels
Publication Information
Back from a two-week trip to Egypt, Duane finds he cannot readjust to life in Thalia, the small, dusty, West Texas hometown in which he has spent all of his life. In the short time he was away, it seems that everything has changed alarmingly. His office barely has a reason to exist now that his son Dickie is running the company from Wichita Falls, his lifelong friends seem to have suddenly grown old, his familiar hangout, once a good old-fashioned convenience store, has been transformed into an "Asian Wonder Deli," his daughters seem to have taken leave of their senses and moved on to new and strange lives, and his own health is at serious risk.
The only consolation is meeting the young, attractive geologist, Annie Cameron, whom Dickie has hired to work out of the Thalia office. Annie is brazenly seductive, yet oddly cold, young enough to be Duane's daughter, or worse, and Duane hasn't a clue how to handle her. He's also in love with his psychiatrist, Honor Carmichael, who after years of rebuffing him, has decided to undertake what she feels is Duane's very necessary sex reeducation, opening him up to some major, life-changing surprises.
Click to the right or left of the sample to turn the page.
(If no book jacket appears in a few seconds, then we don't have an excerpt of this book or your browser is unable to display it)
"Although amusing in places and full of sharp McMurtry observations and sentences, it's as weak a book as he has produced." - PW.
"For McMurtry fans, there's some heat here, but little light." - Kirkus.
"McMurtry keeps the sexual play frank--too frank, with descriptions of Duane's impotence falling under the heading of too much information. Although Duane is surprised by his late-blooming sexuality, readers won't be, and his prolonged malaise deadens the impact of his self-discovery."
The information about When the Light Goes shown above was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's online-magazine that keeps our members abreast of notable and high-profile books publishing in the coming weeks. In most cases, the reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author of this book and feel that the reviews shown do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, please send us a message with the mainstream media reviews that you would like to see added.
McMurty continues the life of Duane Moore, first seen as a teenager in The Last Picture Show (1966), continued in Texasville (1987) and Duane's Depressed (1999). Now he returns to Duane aged 64.
American Dirt
by Jeanine Cummins
A new American classic, and the first book to ever score a perfect 5-stars in BookBrowse's early reader program!
Reader Reviews
The Sun Down Motel
by Simone St. James
The chilling new novel from the national bestselling and award-winning author of The Broken Girls.
Reader Reviews
"American Dirt is a Grapes of Wrath for our times."
—Don Winslow
The Lost Family
by Libby Copeland
A deeply reported look at the rise of home genetic testing and the seismic shock it has had on individual lives.
Visitors can view some of BookBrowse for free. Full access is for members only.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
Subscribe to receive some of our best reviews, "beyond the book" articles, book club info, and giveaways by email.
