Murphy's Romance

by Max Schott

KIRKUS REVIEW Two short stories, previously published in Schott's recent collection, Up Where I Used to Live, sit like hearths in the midst of this novel; but Schott, like his Western contemporary characters, is sly and laconic enough to have built a cozy, just-the-right-size house around them that can be properly heated and lit--low flames and shadows being the essence of his art. Murphy Jones, a widower in his fifties from the deserted southeast part of Oregon, moves to the California desert and buys a stock auctionyard. He thus comes in close proximity to Toni Wilson--a lady horse trainer, 40, attractive, independent, and interested in Murphy solely as a friend; she's had plenty of husbands and lovers. So Murphy marries her aunt, Margaret, and is happy and concerned and playful with Toni thereafter; but he's still pretty regularly in the middle of her personal life, where it makes him sick to be. (But he's even sicker when he stays away.) He and Margaret help Toni to deflect one old suitor, Wendell, only to urge her to reconcile with another, Ben (whom she marries--and Murphy wishes he weren't quite so helpful). Everything is very simple on the surface, as Schott's style moseys along, clipped and relaxed and coin-true in dialogue. At the end of the book, though, you realize you've had a massive dose of subtle, touching, nearly Chekhovian psychology--and the effect is exalting. Because the aim is set so knee-level, affectationless, it takes a moment to see that Murphy's unrequited love is monstrous--and that Toni's known it all along. The little cautionary, awshucks stories that Murphy tells Toni's suitors exactly match the power of Schott's while-no-one's-looking talent for parable, the economy of poetry wearing the plain hat of gossip. Just a chip, then, this little book--but of gold all the way through. Pub Feb. 6th, 1979 Harper & Row

Genres: Romance

129 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I ended up mostly skimming through this book, mostly because (in spite of being a tough macho male) I liked the 1985 movie. Oddly I think the writers of the movie must have picked up a totally different book and only thought they were adapting Murphy's Romance to film. The two bear no resemblance to each other... and the movie's better.





***SPOILER WARNING-SPOILER BELOW ***





Murphy and Emma meet and become platonic friends...and stay platonic friends. Murphy eventually marries someone else, and wants to find Emma a husband. Wow... never fall for the whole "movie by the same name thing". I learned this long ago, but apparently.... forgot.

If you're a romance buff, try this yourself, maybe you'll like it. I'm not, I didn't care for it, only skimmed it. Maybe some of you will enjoy it more.

[Maryann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't finish it. I LOVED the movie and the book is nothing like it. Very disappointing. One of the few times I can say that the movie was way better than the book.

[Laura Stephens · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to enjoy this since Murphy’s Romance is one of my absolute favorite movies. I was so excited to find this book in a used book store on vacation. I snatched it up in disbelief as soon as I saw it! Couldn’t wait to read it. Once I started and quickly found it to be NOTHING like the movie, I was so disappointed. But it’s not just that. This is so boring, mundane and poorly written. I seldom give such a low rating but had to force myself to read and finish this; therefore, I have to rate it accordingly. So if you enjoyed Murphy’s Romance the movie, this is nothing like that and I do not recommend. The only commonalities are a woman who works with horses and a couple of character names. The script writer for the movie is genius to be as inspired as they were by this book.

[Kitty Myers · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I had never seen the movie first, I never would have bought a used copy of the book. It was expensive, too. The movie was great, and Max Schott was one of the writers. The movie is nothing like the book, and thank God for that, because the book is dreadful. The movie rates 5 stars, the book just 1.

[Sarah Rigg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like other reviewers on GoodReads, I picked this up after seeing the movie. I honestly don't remember much about it and only know I read it in 1987 because I mentioned it in my journal from that time.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Schott's work is completely different from the writing I usually enjoy but I feel like reading it has helped me become both a better reader and writer. A strange story of subtle, unnerving obsession with moments of incredible insight.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cowboy falls in love, she turns him down, he marries her aunt to be near her.

[Jerry Chalmers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewers who preferred the movie have missed the best of this novel.