Rhino Ranch
McMurtry鈥檚 fifth and final novel about Duane Moore, whose story began in 1966鈥檚 鈥淭he Last Picture Show.鈥�
Outside of a movie theater, people never usually know when they鈥檙e about to get smacked with the words 鈥淭he End.鈥� But Larry McMurtry鈥檚 giving everyone fair warning.
The Pulitzer- and Academy Award-winning writer told the Dallas Morning News that this month鈥檚 new Rhino Ranch 鈥� his 30th novel 鈥� is probably his last. It鈥檚 also a chance for longtime readers to say goodbye to Duane Moore, whom McMurtry started writing about in 1966鈥檚 鈥�The Last Picture Show.鈥�
This fifth and final book isn鈥檛 titled 鈥淒uane鈥檚 Depressed,鈥� but it easily could have been. Duane鈥檚 friends are dying, his much younger wife has left him (but won鈥檛 quit calling), and he can鈥檛 seem to find a purpose to fill his days.
Now, he鈥檚 returned to Thalia, Texas, a small town full of small minds who regard pedestrians with deep suspicion. If the sight of Moore perambulating on two legs, rather than using his pick-up truck as Henry Ford intended, is once again cause for concern, Thalia鈥檚 in for a real shock.
A billionaire (locals keep calling her a billionairess, but I quickly grew to loathe the word) is importing what鈥檚 left of Africa鈥檚 endangered black rhino population in an effort to save them from poaching. (McMurtry has said he鈥檚 based this quixotic effort on a real quest to save the gigantic animals.) And the rich and used-to-getting-her-way K.K. Slater has hired Moore鈥檚 old friend and employee Bobby Lee Baxter and cowboy Boyd Cotton as 鈥渞hino rangers.鈥�
鈥淭hey鈥檙e not that different from cows,鈥� Boyd decides. 鈥淭hey just weigh more.鈥�
For his part, Duane strikes up an unlikely friendship with the largest bull rhino. 鈥淢aybe a few big scary critters is just what this place needs,鈥� he says.
Certainly, for a tiny town, Thalia鈥檚 not lacking for colorful types. As Boyd and Bobby Lee work to protect their imported charges, they encounter meth manufacturers, South Africans, Satanists, an aging Texas Ranger, a Bushman, and a teenaged porn star. Duane is bemused and delighted to make the acquaintance of this last, but she doesn鈥檛 add a whole lot (besides the ability to skeeve out this apparently naive critic).
鈥淩hino Ranch鈥� moves at a deceptively contemplative mosey, but by novel鈥檚 end, McMurtry has wrapped up a substantial number of characters鈥� story lines. (Some of them, such as Jenny Marlow, were dealt with a little too swiftly for me.) On the surface, the arc is simple: Thalia tries to adapt to K.K. Slater and her rhinos, and Moore takes the measure of his life. Grandson Willy is his one unalloyed joy. Everything else, besides fishing, pretty much seems to fall short. All the women in Duane鈥檚 life are either dead or have left town, and his efforts to find sympathetic substitutes prove short-lived. Boyd鈥檚 had to switch to exotic animals, because there鈥檚 simply no work left for the aging cowboy. 鈥淥ften he hauled his quarter horse a hundred miles each way, in order to get a day鈥檚 cowboying.鈥� And Bobby Lee? Well, he鈥檚 still preoccupied with sex.
When Duane tells his friend (and former psychologist) Honor Carmichael that he feels sort of marginal, she鈥檚 rather more blunt. 鈥淗ere鈥檚 another word you might consider: old. Many aging people feel marginal, to some degree. For decades, they鈥檙e at the center of things, and then one day they鈥檙e not. They slip over to the sidelines. They become marginal, and next thing you know they鈥檙e old.鈥�
And, as Bobby Lee tells Boyd, 鈥淭here鈥檚 one big problem with old.鈥� What would that be, the cowboy asks? 鈥淚t ain鈥檛 reversible.鈥�
The 鈥淟onesome Dove鈥� author has bidden goodbye to beloved characters before, and he gives 鈥淩hino Ranch鈥� a wry blend of humor and insight 鈥� as well as lots of dead-on dialogue. The novel will also come as a welcome relief for fans who felt that his fourth novel about Duane, 2006鈥檚 鈥淲hen the Light Goes,鈥� wasn鈥檛 the send-off for which they were hoping. Not every character gets a long good-bye, but, when they aren鈥檛 making sex jokes, the overall tone is one of matter-of-fact elegy.
Take the following exchange between Willy and Duane: 鈥淚鈥檝e begun to think that maybe happiness is too much to ask,鈥� Willy said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not too much to ask,鈥� Duane said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just that it tends to be temporary.鈥�
McMurtry has never been one to ask readers to feel sorry for his characters, and he鈥檚 not about to start now. And for readers sad to see the end of Thalia? Well, 43 years is a pretty good chunk of temporary.
Yvonne Zipp regularly reviews fiction for the Monitor. She blogs at dogeareddosiers.blogspot.com.