by Larry McMurtry, 2006

I listened to this audiobook on a long, three-day trip from Florida to New England and that is the only reason I finished it.  This effort by Larry McMurtry is feeble.  It is an attempt to portray the life of Nellie Courtright, a supposedly beautiful, crafty, and brave female in the town of Rita Blanca starting in the year 1876.  The book relates her adventures and her encounters with virtually every wild west character that one can imagine: Buffalo Bill Cody, Wild Bill Hickock, Billy the Kid, General William Sherman, the Earps, Jessie James, etc.

The primary problem with the book is that it is BORING.  While I listened to it I found myself continually waiting for something at least a little bit interesting to happen.  Instead, McMurtry managed to make even supposedly exciting events extraordinarily uninteresting.

I understand that Wallace Stegner was one of McMurtry’s teachers at Stanford.  Wallace must have rolled over in his grave when this book was published.  Stay away.