Boone's Lick Book

This is a short, sweet little book, really nothing more than the account of one of McMurtry's classic eccentric western families as they travel west to find their pa. Some critics dwell on the fact that this book lacks the sweep and drama of "Lonesome Dove". That's so, but it also lacks that book's cruelty and tragedy. The delight here is in the details - Grandpa taking out his fiddle as soon as he meets another fiddler on the trail, the glow off the tip of a burning cheroot smoked by a prostitute as she sits on her wooden stairs on a summer night, the affection and exasperation a young boy feels for the family mules...Once again, McMurtry brings the American west alive, and this resurrection is sweeter and happier than anything in his earlier books.
I wish he had expanded the theme somewhat and shown us more of his characters, since they're all such good folks. This book reminded me more of one of those great old sepia photographs of westerners, where the people looked so alive and so compelling that you just wanted to climb inside the picture and get to know them. Brief glimpses are all we get in this book as well, but we get to see some unforgettable characters.