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Content snapshot
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Violence
Barely any
No significant violence; a death in a car accident
Language
Some
Period-appropriate profanity and crude speech
Sexual Content
A lot
Multiple explicit sexual relationships including an affair between a teenager and an older woman; frank depictions of sex throughout
Substance Use
Some
Alcohol consumption is a regular social activity
Emotional Intensity
Some
Aimlessness, loss, and the vanishing of a way of life; the novel is suffused with melancholy
What this book is about
In Thalia, Texas — a sun-bleached town with one movie theater about to close — teenagers Sonny Crawford and Duane Moore navigate the early 1950s through sexual initiation, adultery, and aimlessness. Sonny has an affair with the coach's wife while Duane pursues the town beauty. McMurtry's elegiac, often darkly funny debut novel captures the death of small-town America with unsentimental clarity.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Explicit sexual content including an affair with a minor
Pervasive sexual activity among teenagers
Crude depictions of small-town cruelty
Reader Verification
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