Terms of Endearment

Terms of Endearment – Larry McMurtry

Before I begin the actual review of this book, a little bit of personal history (this is, after all, a blog).  When I was in Junior High and early Senior High, I was never a book reader. The only time I ever read a “proper” book was if I had seen the movie.  So I read ‘Jaws’ and the ‘Star Wars’ books, but other than that, the idea of reading a real actual book seemed awfully intimidating. Around my Sophomore year in High School, I picked up a copy of Stephen King’s The Stand, and I was able to put away that intimidating fear for good.

I mention this because I would guess that the reason many people picked up this book was because they saw the movie, and the movie was an Academy Award winning smash hit.  I also imagine a lot of those readers were probably disappointed.  For those who are a novice to the process of a novel becoming a movie, it can be quite jarring to see just how much can get changed.  There’s a lot of money involved when books become movies and those who write the checks want to ensure they get a proper return on their investment.  So often big changes are made for the big screen.

I did see the movie. January 1984. A long time ago. I remember it being a great movie (and a very good choice for a 17-year-old to take a date) but it was a long time ago.  I never would have picked up the book except for the fact that it was authored by Larry McMurtry.  A bit of a shock since McMurtry is mainly known for his ‘Lonesome Dove’ novel along with its sequels and his many other various western adventures.

And the book is very good. It’s funny and it’s sweet. It’s introspective and the characters are very well thought out. The story is about Aurora Greenway.  She’s a widow in her late forties and quite wealthy.  She’s not in any rush to get old or pine away for her deceased husband.  Whether it’s fear, loneliness, or a combination of the two, she has a light-hearted acerbic view of her latter-day life.  She’s determined to march to her own beat and not let anyone else dictate how she is to live her life.

The novel describes this 48-year-old as “buxom” and….well….she has plenty of suitors. Most of them are rich older men who chase her all over the place.  She must be some catch to have this much attention.  She has every one of these men wrapped around her little finger, and is quite happy keeping things as is.  One gets the impression that she’s afraid to settle with any of them since that will rob her of whatever youth she has left.  So these men chase her, woo her, buy her flowers and other expensive gifts, yet at the same time they scream an awful lot at her as she resists many of her advances.  Love has a way of making us behave rather stupidly.

Then there’s her 22-year old daughter Emma who lives across town in a garage apartment with her new husband Flap.  Emma seems an awful lot unlike her mother and the two have a rather odd relationship. There doesn’t seem to be much tenderness, yet you get the feeling that their constant bickering has been going on for the entirety of Emma’s life, so Emma never gets fazed with her mother’s consistent ill-natured comments.  As the story begins, Emma finds herself pregnant, and although Aurora never says so directly, we suspect that she’s horrified that she’s actually old enough to be a grandmother.  What will all of her suitors think?

Then there’s Aurora’s long suffering maid Rosie who although is an employee of Aurora, you can’t help but think that Rosie is the main person that Aurora needs in her life to keep her flamboyant behavior in check.  Rosie has a husband Royce who would never win any Husband-of-the-Year contest, and we read an awful lot of their putrid lives when Rosie isn’t working in Aurora’s mansion.

The last 50 pages of the book shifts focus, and we now read more about Emma. The story fast forwards ten years, and Emma and Flap have a less than stellar marriage. They now have three kids, a hard time tolerating each other, and a host of extra-marital affairs. It’s during this time that we finally see Aurora and Emma develop somewhat of a bond. It’s sweet but not really surprising. The wonderful thing about McMurtry is that even though insults roll off the tongue of Aurora constantly, we also know that deep down she really is just trying to desperately stop the wheels of time from aging her.

So regardless of whether or not you’ve seen the Academy Award film, the book is very sweet and will leave the reader feeling satisfied. Just don’t expect a carbon copy of the movie.