Vous voulez voir cette page en français ? Cliquez ici.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
27 used & new from CDN$ 0.01
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
The Desert Rose: A Novel
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book

The Desert Rose: A Novel (Paperback)

by Larry McMurtry (Author) "HARMONY IS driving home, eastward out of Las Vegas, her spirits high, her head a clutter of memories ..." (more)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 19.00
Price: CDN$ 13.87 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details
You Save: CDN$ 5.13 (27%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Usually ships within 4 to 6 weeks.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca. Gift-wrap available.

12 new from CDN$ 4.21 15 used from CDN$ 0.01

Product Details

Product Description

Review

The Washington Post Book World

Beautiful....Unquestionably one of [McMurtry's] best novels.



The New Yorker

Sad and sweet yet rigorously unsentimental. Mr. McMurtry has the power to clutch the heart and also somehow to exhilarate.



Los Angeles Times

Warm and funny...McMurtry can transform ordinary words into highly lyrical, poetic passages...and presents human dramas with a sympathy and compassion that make us care about his characters in ways that most novelists can't.



Product Description

Pulitzer Prize-winner Larry McMurtry writes novels set in the American heartland, but his real territory is the heart itself. His gift for writing about women -- their love for reckless, hopeless men; their ability to see the good in losers; and their peculiar combination of emotional strength and sudden weakness -- makes The Desert Rose the bittersweet, funny, and touching book that it is.

Harmony is a Las Vegas showgirl. At night she's a lead dancer in a gambling casino; during the day she raises peacocks. She's one of a dying breed of dancers, faced with fewer and fewer jobs and an even bleaker future. Yet she maintains a calm cheerfulness in that arid neon landscape of supermarkets, drive-in wedding chapels, and all-night casinos. While Harmony's star is fading, her beautiful, cynical daughter Pepper's is on the rise. But Harmony remains wistful and optimistic through it all. She is the unexpected blossom in the wasteland, the tough and tender desert rose. Hers is a loving portrait that only Larry McMurtry could render.

See all Product Description
Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
HARMONY IS driving home, eastward out of Las Vegas, her spirits high, her head a clutter of memories. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Tag this product

 (What's this?)
Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.
Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags
 

Customer Reviews

11 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most helpful customer reviews

 
5.0 out of 5 stars Looking for love in all the wrong places..., Feb 20 2004
By J. Guild (Toronto,Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Not a typical McMurtry novel;but then again none of his are.I've had this book for a long time as well as it's sequel "The Late Child"and for a change of pace decided to give it a try.
It is a great read.Somewhat like "Tems of Endearment";but more along the lines of "Cadillac Jack";which was my first McMurtry novel and probably my favorite.As a matter of fact I would'nt have been surprised if he has shown up somewhere;maybe at one of Myrtle's garage sales.
McMurtry has put together a great bunch of characters who all belong with one another.Kind of like the cast you find in a novel by Erskine Caldwell,Kinky Friedman,Hunter Thompson or even Steinbeck.These characters come from a different slice of life . These are the personal lives of the people who live very public lives in the Las Vegas entertainment world.In spite of it all, these are real people.Mc Murtry shows it is a tough world and eats up the workers and gamblers and spits them out when they reach the end of their prime or run out of cash.Rather than being Rednecks I guess you'd have to call them Pinknecks.They are somewhat akin to those loveable characters we know as Carnies.
Anyway, the book is a great,fast moving read with a surprise on every turn of a page.A lot of characters and I'm glad I made notes as they appeared so I could keep track of them.
Liked it so much I'm reading "The Late Child " next to see what happened to all these characters.It's surprising that so much time went by between this book and the sequel--12 years.
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning, lyrical novel, Jun 15 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The Desert Rose (Paperback)
Poignant, beautiful, complex character-driven novel a must for McMurtry fans.
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning, lyrical novel, Jun 15 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The Desert Rose (Paperback)
Poignant, beautiful, complex character-driven novel a must for McMurtry fans.
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 		 Most recent customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars A Faded Rose
I love McMurtry's writing -- but this is far from his best. The weakness in this book is the main character: Harmony is powerless, easily intimidated and willfully blind to what... Read more
Published on Jun 4 2001 by Miriam

1.0 out of 5 stars THE DESERT ROSE
I must admit I became a Larry McMurtry fan when I read Lonesome Dove, my first McMurtry novel. Since then I have been disppointed in most of his books I have read. Read more
Published on Aug 23 2000 by WILLIAM GAYDON

4.0 out of 5 stars A Touching Story
Harmony is one of my favorite McMurtry characters-she's savvy, saucy, and sweet all at the same time- even if I didn't necessarily agree with her choice in men! Read more
Published on Jun 2 2000 by Eva

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Mcmurtry's best
I read this book after reading Lonesome Dove, and was not tremendously impressed. I'm a big Mcmurtry fan, having read several of his other books, and must say that this one is a... Read more
Published on Aug 4 1999

3.0 out of 5 stars Fun to read, but not one of McMurtry's best
This novel is good for summer reading, but not one of McMurtry's best. It does not have the grandeur of the Lonesome Dove series, or the poignancy of THE LAST PICTURE SHOW... Read more
Published on Jun 7 1999 by Craig Childs

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite McMurty stories...
The main character Harmony is off the wall, naive, jaded, irresponsible, loyal, and filled with goodness. Read more
Published on Mar 29 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved this book!!
I loved all of the quirky characters in this book. Harmony's optimism in the face of the reality of her life is inspiring. Read more
Published on Feb 25 1999 by mihelik@wdni.com

2.0 out of 5 stars One of Larry's Many Trashy 80's Novels !!!
I have read many of McMurtry's works from the 80's and find them to be quite trashy and immoral and other such nonsense. Read more
Published on Jan 20 1999 by Temshaa@aol.com

Only search this product's reviews


Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject


















i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.