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258th out of 706 books
—
7,153 voters
Terms of Endearment
An Oscar-winning story of a memorable mother and her fiesty daughter who find the courage and humor to live through life's hazards and to love each other as never before. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lonesome Dove created two characters who won the hearts of readers and moviegoers everywhere--Aurora Greenway and her daughter Emma.
Paperback, 416 pages
Published
June 1st 2000
by Orion mass market paperback
(first published 1975)
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I laughed, I cried.
What a versatile writer!
What a versatile writer!
I had never seen the movie and before doing so I picked up this book by the writer of "Lonesome Dove." That work cannot be too easily compared to this estrogen-drenched Fem-Power! novel which paints its heroine Aurora Greenway as a sassy matriarch deeply afraid of becoming a grandmother and too aware of her love life to stop and help all of her sisters in plight: mainly, her daughter and her maid, who suffer at the hands of stupid husbands. Aurora has all the suitors eating right out of her hand...more
I did not like it that much. The only good things about it was the superb writing and the memorable characters. However, I did not really like the plot. I got a feeling that this was supposed to be a mother-daughter book but it really wasn't. It was actually a mother and her suitors, and daughter and her love affairs. If this was published today they might be called sluts and bitches. The ending was actually pretty good but I think the author wasted a lot of pages for that. The beginning was too...more
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I have to say, I didn't like this book very much. I started it a long time ago, and just couldn't get into it. I just really disliked Aurora. I mean, normally I can read about people who have completely different outlooks to life than I have, and I can understand where they're coming from and empathize with them and so on. But I just couldn't get myself to want her to get anything she wanted. Emma was okay. I didn't really ever care about her either, though. So I made it through about a quarter...more
Aurora Greenway is one of the best characters ever written, in my eyes. She cracked me up. While she wasn't always a commendable friend, mother, lover or even person, she was human, flawed and still tried to do her best.
The only reason this book doesn't get 5 stars is because I didn't see enough reaction from Aurora with what happend at the end (no spoilers!). I would have liked to see perhaps more remorse- I think I wanted to cry but instead the ending didn't make much of an impact on me.
The only reason this book doesn't get 5 stars is because I didn't see enough reaction from Aurora with what happend at the end (no spoilers!). I would have liked to see perhaps more remorse- I think I wanted to cry but instead the ending didn't make much of an impact on me.
Aug 11, 2009
Lori Anderson
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
no one
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
1 like · like · see review
Oct 23, 2011
Christine Boyer
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Maybe women 40+
Recommended to Christine by:
Julie Grippo
This is the first novel where I'm having some trouble deciding whether I liked it or not. Like practically everyone else, I loved McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove". So I assumed this would be great as well. And there were aspects of greatness. I love lots of dialogue and this story had it! Also, all the characters were very real and well-developed. But it just didn't grab me as I thought it would. For a fairly short book, it took me forever to read - and that says something, too. I had never seen the m...more
I listened to this as a book on CD read by Barbara Rosenblat. She is amazing and bumps the rating of the book up from 3 to 4 stars. Every character has a wonderfully inflected accents and I really feel like I'm listening to a cast of several different real people as she switches between personalities. I'm not sure how she keeps it up for 13 cds.
Unfortunately, the book kind of slumps to the finish around disc 11, but it's so funny and involving up to then, it's still worth it. Each character is u...more
Unfortunately, the book kind of slumps to the finish around disc 11, but it's so funny and involving up to then, it's still worth it. Each character is u...more
Terms of Endearment is another novel, aside from the last 40 pages, that bears no resemblance to the movie adaptation. Where the movie defined the “chick flick” genre, the novel is decidedly less weepy. In the book, Aurora Greenway lives in a vortex of chaos, most of which she has taken on herself. Facing the south-slope of midlife with her first grandchild on the way, Aurora is a living contradiction in terms. She’s a widow who leads on her multiple suitors but has little desire to be caught, s...more
The writing is what makes this story. My very favorite thing about the book is Aurora's love of language and how she focuses on the way people speak. It's kind of uneven in plotting, and all of Aurora's dates made me yawn. Most of the first part of the book is focused on her dating life. The end turns to Emma, who I found much more interesting but whose motives were harder to understand. The end, even though I knew what was coming, felt like an easy way out to tie up things up.
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This book is almost an exact replica of my relationship with my own Mother and myself. It was stunning to me to read it when I did way back when because I kept stopping and thinking, "do we know Larry McMurtry", or "does my Mother know him."
The answer was no to both questions, but this book is on of the two (2) or three (3) books I reread every so often and still enjoy as if it were the first time.
I'm not great at explaining plots of books, I think because I much prefer to personalize what I fel...more
The answer was no to both questions, but this book is on of the two (2) or three (3) books I reread every so often and still enjoy as if it were the first time.
I'm not great at explaining plots of books, I think because I much prefer to personalize what I fel...more
Feb 24, 2011
Annike
rated it
1 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
to-take-to-the-charity-shops
I honestly didn't like it, but it intrigued me enough to want to know how it ends, so I did finish it, and gave it 1 star for that.
I didn't feel like any of the characters were remotely likeable. The women who were married were all in terrible marriages with abuse of some sort. The fact that they never left of their own accord makes me wonder about the author's attitudes towards marrriage and towards women. The men were largely useless - either lazy, abusive, aggressive, or undeveloped and ignor...more
I didn't feel like any of the characters were remotely likeable. The women who were married were all in terrible marriages with abuse of some sort. The fact that they never left of their own accord makes me wonder about the author's attitudes towards marrriage and towards women. The men were largely useless - either lazy, abusive, aggressive, or undeveloped and ignor...more
The first, and most important thing to learn, is that the movie and the book are not the same. I listened to this on CD--- a total of 13 CDs, and as far as I can tell, the movie covered the last two CDs. And made up the beginning. And if you're expecting a tearjerker, understand that you have to wade through the first 7/8ths of the book to get to that part.
I enjoyed a lot of this book--- Aurora is an entertaining woman who reminds me of some of the difficult but entertaining people I know. What...more
I enjoyed a lot of this book--- Aurora is an entertaining woman who reminds me of some of the difficult but entertaining people I know. What...more
I saw the movie years ago, and that probably influenced my evaluation of the book. The movie was SUCH a tearjerker, and the book just did not have that effect on me. Probably because I knew the ending. But also, I think, because (at least as I remember it), the character development was different in the movie. All that aside, it's a well told story. One thing I found particularly interesting was the meaning of the title. I had always interpreted the title in the sense in which that phrase is usu...more
Quite a strange book! Subject matter was at times very dark and intense but largely dealt with in a flippant, devil-may-care manner. At times the author used very delicate and subtle (sometimes downright obtuse) language to skirt around issues as sex and violence, at other times he used frank profanity to describe such happenings. Just as the characters finally began to unfold past their immense flaws and give the reader just a hint of hope that they might have some redeeming qualities yet, the...more
Terms of Endearment is no Lonesome Dove, but boy, can Larry McMurty make a girl cry!
I've never seen this movie (maybe I'll have to rent it now!) and I really didn't know what the story was about. I spent the first half of the book amazed at how well McMurty was writing about women, Aurora especially. While I adored his characters in Lonesome Dove so much, Aurora Greenway might be one of my all time favorites. Towards the end, I started wondering when we were going to hear more about Emma. My on...more
I've never seen this movie (maybe I'll have to rent it now!) and I really didn't know what the story was about. I spent the first half of the book amazed at how well McMurty was writing about women, Aurora especially. While I adored his characters in Lonesome Dove so much, Aurora Greenway might be one of my all time favorites. Towards the end, I started wondering when we were going to hear more about Emma. My on...more
They say Larry McMurtry is one of the best male writers to write from a female perspective. That couldn't be more true.
I've expressed disdain for schmoopy, sad lady novels before, but there is energy, feeling, and almost a certain leveling amount of detachment in this book that keeps it from being a typical "aw, sad" ending.
I liked it a lot, but I also read the sequel. And to me, reading the sequel means you liked it, but didn't treasure it as a lone, shining gem that couldn't or shouldn't be...more
I've expressed disdain for schmoopy, sad lady novels before, but there is energy, feeling, and almost a certain leveling amount of detachment in this book that keeps it from being a typical "aw, sad" ending.
I liked it a lot, but I also read the sequel. And to me, reading the sequel means you liked it, but didn't treasure it as a lone, shining gem that couldn't or shouldn't be...more
I could find nothing to like about any of the characters in this book and yet I was somehow unable to put the damn thing down. McMurtry is a versatile author and one of the few male writers who can write convincingly in the voice of a woman (or in this book's case, several women).
It's fun to read books set in your own city, a treat I suspect is limited mostly to people who live in New York, Chicago or LA. There aren't many books based in Houston, but McMurtry has written five of them. It's fun t...more
It's fun to read books set in your own city, a treat I suspect is limited mostly to people who live in New York, Chicago or LA. There aren't many books based in Houston, but McMurtry has written five of them. It's fun t...more
I'd give this 3.5 stars if I could. This wasn't at all what I was expecting--the book is very different from the film. Houston played a larger role in the book, and it's always interesting to be exposed to someone else's perspective on the place you live.
I decided to read this book for two reasons: a) we're reading Lonesome Dove for book club, and I thought I needed a intro to Larry McMurtry before attempting his masterpiece; b) I recently attended a Terms of Endearment screening and discussion...more
I decided to read this book for two reasons: a) we're reading Lonesome Dove for book club, and I thought I needed a intro to Larry McMurtry before attempting his masterpiece; b) I recently attended a Terms of Endearment screening and discussion...more
The characters grow on you with the exception of Emma - who you wish would quit being so laissez faire about her owns life. She's just so frumpy that you almost can't respect her. Why is she with her husband? They don't even like each other. I gradually grew to like Aurora and enjoy her random funny self-righteous comments. If she were in my life though she would be someone I would agitate on purpose to watch them dance in frustration and self-satisfaction like a performing monkey. Strangely eno...more
You'd think I would know better than to read a book that was the source material for a movie I'm not crazy about. I thought the movie was fine, although it didn't make me cry (and I hate Jack Nicholson). But I adored Lonesome Dove which I read in the winter, and since this is considered a modern classic (and Larry McMurtry is my best friend's favorite author), it seemed like a no-brainer to give it a shot. It started off badly as I began it on the very end of the longest flight in the world (Syd...more
This was the ideal subway read, as you would look up and realize that you're already almost at your stop. It was pulpy and engrossing, two qualities that easily distract you on the G train. The story isn't anything groundbreaking: mother and daughter love to bicker at each other, mother has an all-star line-up of suitors, and a Nicholas Sparks-esque twist at the end. (On the summary on the back of the book, they don't mind telling you Emma dies of cancer, even though none of that takes place unt...more
I just reread this book for the second or third time. I am awed by McMurtry's ability to create vivid, engaging characters. This is really Aurora Greenway's book. And she's just as compelling as Jake is in Lonesome Dove. All McMurtry's women seem to have sharp tongues, and Aurora is really (as she willingly admits) impossible. But what an engaging portrait. I think the descriptions of her meals first moved me to learn to love cooking.
I honestly don't understand the reason for all the accolades for this book. It was merely average. Just because a wonderful author writes it doesn't mean it's a wonderful book. I found Aurora annoying. Yes, the dialogue was excellently written (as McMurtry can usually deliver) but the constant droning of her made me tired. Her conversations could have been cut in half and the novel wouldn't have suffered. I wasn't able to relate to either Emma or Aurora.
I like books that bring to life eccentric people. Aurora is one of the most eccentric I've met in a book. She is NOT a person I'd like in real life. I found myself liking her in this book. The author made her human --she's awful, shallow, and self-centered beyond what most people are willing to reveal about themselves. But there's something to be said for not hiding ones true self. I'm glad I got to experience a person like Aurora through Larry McMurtry's wonderful prose. (and her cadre of quirk...more
I loved this book, and another by McMurtry called "All my Friends are Going to be Strangers." He's a fine writer, and truly captures the feeling of the part of the country he is from, and that he writes about. I lived there myself for 10 years and was amazed to find how little had changed there since he wrote "The Last Picture Show," which was set, I believe, in the fifties.
My husband told me I should read this book, so I did. He loves it, I was just OK with it.
One of the few books where I enjoyed the movie more. The book has a whole subplot that I found somewheat boring and kind of distasteful in parts. I was glad it was edited from the screenplay.
It was an OK read - enjoyed parts more than others though, so not a consistent read.
One of the few books where I enjoyed the movie more. The book has a whole subplot that I found somewheat boring and kind of distasteful in parts. I was glad it was edited from the screenplay.
It was an OK read - enjoyed parts more than others though, so not a consistent read.
I think if I didn't believe so strongly in marital fidelity this book might have done more for me. As it was, I had a hard time even understanding the people's relationships in this book, let alone finding them believable or even palatable. Aurora Greenway is a fascinating character, but I have to admit that I am beyond glad that she's not MY mother!
This book was divided into 2 parts. The first part was about Aurora Greenway, Emma's mother, and comprised 4/5s of the book. The second part was about Emma, and was only about 1/5 of the book. The part about Aurora was too long. It was mildly interesting, but nothing much happened. It took me 5 weeks to read it b/c it just wasn't very compelling. Then Emma's story was interesting, sad, and heartbreaking - but only about 30 pages long. I wanted to read much more about her.
Terms of Endearment is my first ever Larry McMurty book and I picked it because Lonesome Dove wasn't available at my library branch. It was so funny and engaging, that I almost didn't take note of how smart it was as well. There are many sad moments, but I think he balances them beautifully amid the quirky, redemptive, and thoughtful.
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Among many other accolades he was the co-winner of an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Brokeback Mountain in 2006.
Larry McMurty was born in Wichita Falls Texas in 1936. His first published book Horseman, Pass By was adapted into the film "Hud".
McMurty went on to publish many more novels, a number of which went on to become movies as well as a TV mini-series.
More about Larry McMurtry...
Larry McMurty was born in Wichita Falls Texas in 1936. His first published book Horseman, Pass By was adapted into the film "Hud".
McMurty went on to publish many more novels, a number of which went on to become movies as well as a TV mini-series.
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“It was inconsiderate, she thought, how blandly people mentioned the future in the sick rooms. Phrases like next summer were always popping out; people made such assumptions about their own continuity.”
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May 01, 2010 09:45am