Helpful Score: 4
Overall, I really enjoyed this story of the old west told from the perspective of a plucky female. Although this was definitely not up to the standards of McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove" series, it was still full of action, humor, and fun. Nellie Courtright was a memorable character and her exploits which involved a cavalcade of Western legends including George Custer, Wild Bill Hickock, Buffalo Bill, and the Earps was always interesting. I would overall give this one a mild recommendation.
Helpful Score: 2
McMurtry's tales are great. Not quite to the standard of Lonesome Dove, but a good western read about a spunky lady.
Helpful Score: 1
I am McMurtry fan and found this book enjoyable. How he can make the old Wild West come alive with his embellished characters! Light reading -- great for a summer's night.
Helpful Score: 1
McMurtry's tongue-in-cheek biography of a spirited young woman in the wild west tries hard but really doesn't ever get off the ground. His heroine, Nellie Courtright, flirts (and sometimes more) with virtually every historic character from General George Custer to Louis B. Mayer, witnesses the Gunfight at the OK Corral, manages Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, and otherwise Zeligs herself through the 19th century but really never engages the reader's emotions.
Enjoyable tale of a young woman telegraph operator in the Wild West who encounters famous people and outlaws.
A light, frothy Western. Not on par with some of his other Westerns, but entertaining.
Can McMurtry write a bad novel?? This one is pretty much like all his others. A little unbelievable at times, but reads quickly and holds your interest.
I was not sure how I'd take to it, as it was my first Western type read, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Larry McMurtry is the author of Lomesome Dove, Brokeback Mountain and many others
by author of Lonesome Dove
