An impressive short novel. I would be surprised if this is over 60k words. In that short span McMurtry tells a powerful story of the 1955 era Texas cattle country. Seventeen-year-old Lonnie tries to make sense of his relatives and friends as catastrophe grips his grandfather's farm.
This is the novel that the movie "Hud" was based on, although the novel and the movie are very different. There are more characters in the novel, and the figure of Hud is different. In the novel, Hud has no redeeming characteristics; he never tries to befriend Lonnie. The cinema Hud seems to be an amalgam of several of the characters from the novel. In addition, the cook in the novel is a black woman, and Hud accomplishes the rape that is only threatened in the movie. That's Hollywood.
Which is better? I think the movie gets the edge. In the novel Lonnie is coming to terms with everyone around him, in the movie the conflict is more clear, as is the contrast between Hud and the grandfather.
But they are both great - read the novel first, then see the movie.
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