It's mainly brutal, I'd say, and lonely, and dangerous. It's through Lonnie's eyes that we see the both the brutal and the beautiful aspects of ranch life. He's old, and is the grandfather of the narrator, 17 year old Lonnie. The story is set in Thalia, Texas (the same little town I visited in The Last Picture Show), on a cattle ranch belonging to Homer Bannon, a tough, grizzled horseman. It's also a gorgeous commencement to my reading year. This, the first of thirty-something novels he'd write in his life, is a gorgeous commencement to a remarkable career. Larry McMurtry wrote this brilliant coming-of-age novel in 1962 when he had barely come-of-age himself, at just 25 years old. Today, memorable characters, powerful themes, and illuminating detail make Horseman, Pass By vintage McMurtry.

Never before had a writer managed to encapsulate its environment with such unsentimental realism. When first published in 1961, Horseman, Pass By caused a sensation in Texas literary circles for its stark, realistic portrayal of the struggles of a changing West in the years following World War II. Caught in the middle is the narrator, Homer's young grandson Lonnie, who is as much drawn to his grandfather’s strength of character as he is to Hud's hedonism and materialism. Horseman, Pass By tells the story of Homer Bannon, an old-time cattleman who epitomizes the frontier values of honesty and decency, and Hud, his unscrupulous stepson. In classic Western style Larry McMurtry illustrates the timeless conflict between the modernity and the Old West through the eyes of Texas cattlemen. From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Lonesome Dove comes the novel that became the basis for the film Hud, starring Paul Newman.

Moving on by larry mcmurtry