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Boone's Lick is a 2000 American novel by Larry McMurtry about a family that travels from Missouri to Wyoming. It includes a depiction of the Fetterman Massacre and an appearance by Wild Bill Hickok.

Reception

January Magazine said "What is remarkable, however, is how little interest McMurtry manages to drum up over so many fictionalized miles."

Publisher's Weekly said "More an amusing fable of family strife than a serious story with memorable characters, this piece does not approach the substance or quality of McMurtry's better works, but his ardent fans will undoubtedly appreciate the warmth, compassion and humor that the narrative exudes."

Austin Chronicle said "For the thousands of readers who have read his fiction over the years, even a slighter work like Boone's Lick offers riches."

Entertainment Weekly said "Though ”Boone’s Lick” lacks the proportions its epic setting suggests, at least there's fine poetry on the human scale."

The New York Times thought the novel "reads at times like a movie treatment: the author provides the setup, leaving it to the movie people (or the imaginative reader) to fully inhabit this world, supplying the necessary nuance, texture and subtlety. Still, to McMurtry's fans, the act of following the narrative meanderings of Boone's Lick will be like slipping on a comfortable old sweatshirt."

References

1. Kingston Pierce, J. (January 2001). "Saddle Sore: Review | Boone's Lick by Larry McMurtry". January Magazine.
2. Review of novel at Publishers Weekly
3. Review of novel at Austin Chronicle
4. Review of novel at Entertainment Weekly
5. Review of book at New York Times

• 2000 American novels
• Novels by Larry McMurtry
• Western (genre) novels