Author | Larry McMurtry |
---|---|
Language | English |
Publisher | Simon and Schuster |
Publication date | 1983 |
Publication place | USA |
Pages | 254 |
Followed by | The Late Child |
The Desert Rose is a 1983 novel by Larry McMurtry about a Las Vegas showgirl. [1] It was his ninth novel. McMurtry wrote the book after visiting Las Vegas to research a film script about that city. The movie was never made. [2]
The Los Angeles Times called it "warm and funny". [3]
McMurtry always had a great deal of affection for the book saying that he suffered "a literary gloom that lasted from 1975 until 1983, when the miracle of The Desert Rose snapped me out of it." [4] He wrote the book in 21 days saying it was "a book that seemed to flow out of me as rapidly as I could type. The Desert Rose was supposed to have been a screenplay, but, to my intense relief, it came out a novel. I had hardly written a sentence I liked for eight years: to actually enjoy my own prose again was a big, big deal." [5]
McMutry reflected, "I have been interested all my life in vanishing breeds... My interest in the melancholy of those who practice dying crafts has been lifelong and is evident in many books. The Desert Rose, for example, was written at a time when there was a shift in taste in Las Vegas, away from the big-bosomed showgirls. Small-breasted dancers came to be preferred, and Harmony, my showgirl, was out of a job, like the cowboys in my other fiction." [6]
McMurtry later wrote a sequel to the book called The Late Child .
Lonesome Dove is a 1985 Western novel by American writer Larry McMurtry. It is the first published book of the Lonesome Dove series and the third installment in the series chronologically. It was a bestseller and won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In 1989, it was adapted as a TV miniseries starring Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall, which won both critical and popular acclaim. McMurtry went on to write a sequel, Streets of Laredo (1993), and two prequels, Dead Man's Walk (1995) and Comanche Moon (1997), all of which were also adapted as TV series.
Larry Jeff McMurtry was an American novelist, essayist, and screenwriter whose work was predominantly set in either the Old West or contemporary Texas. His novels included Horseman, Pass By (1962), The Last Picture Show (1966), and Terms of Endearment (1975), which were adapted into films. Films adapted from McMurtry's works earned 34 Oscar nominations. He was also a prominent book collector and bookseller.
Leslie Marmon Silko is an American writer. A woman of Laguna Pueblo descent, she is one of the key figures in the First Wave of what literary critic Kenneth Lincoln has called the Native American Renaissance.
Irving Paul "Swifty" Lazar was an American lawyer, talent agent and dealmaker, representing both movie stars and authors.
Duane's Depressed is a 1999 American novel by Larry McMurtry. McMurtry said it was one of his favorite works.
All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers is a 1972 American novel by Larry McMurtry. It was his fifth novel.
Moving On is a 1970 American novel by Larry McMurtry. His fourth novel, it focuses on Patsy Carpenter and her husband Jim in contemporary Texas.
Anything for Billy is a 1988 American novel by Larry McMurtry about Billy the Kid.
Terms of Endearment is a 1975 American novel by Larry McMurtry. It was his sixth novel and was adapted into a popular 1983 film.
Texasville is a 1987 American novel by Larry McMurtry. It is a sequel to his earlier The Last Picture Show and features several of the same characters a number of years later.
Rhino Ranch is a 2009 American novel by Larry McMurtry.
When the Light Goes is a 2007 American novel by Larry McMurtry.
The Evening Star is a 1992 American novel by Larry McMurtry. It follows on from Terms of Endearment.
Some Can Whistle is a 1989 American novel by Larry McMurtry. It is a sequel to All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers. McMurtry admits there was some uncertainty from the earlier novel whether the lead character died but he "put to rest the vexed question of Danny Deck’s survival" by writing a sequel.
Somebody's Darling is a 1978 American novel by Larry McMurtry. It was his first Hollywood novel and in 2005 he called it his "worst book".
Telegraph Days is a 2006 American novel by Larry McMurtry.
Loop Group is a 2005 American novel by Larry McMurtry. It is one of his favorite novels.
Cadillac Jack is a 1982 American novel by Larry McMurtry. He called it his "book about scouting" inspired by his years as a book scout.
The Late Child is a 1995 American novel by Larry McMurtry. It is a sequel to The Desert Rose.
In a Narrow Grave: Essays on Texas is a 1968 collection of essays by American writer Larry McMurtry.