Something to Be Desired

By Thomas McGuane

A funny, rueful, and beautifully rendered portrait of American manhood on the rocks from the highly acclaimed author of Cloudbursts and Ninety-two in the Shade

In life Lucien Taylor has made several mistakes, but the two most grievous are as follows: leaving his wife and son to take up with his old flame, Emily; and putting up Emily's bail when she is arrested for murder. The upshot is that Lucien is left stranded in Montana, with a malodorous hot spring and a squandered sense of purpose.

As told by Thomas McGuane, Lucien's attempt to recoup his losses makes for a book that says volumes about the lives of dogs and falcons, the yearnings of sons for fathers, and the skeptical truce that men and women sometimes reach when they get tired of fighting.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jun 13, 2012
• ISBN: 9780307822000

Thomas McGuane

Thomas McGuane is the author of several highly acclaimed novels, including The Sporting Club and The Bushwhacked Piano. He has also written several works of nonfiction that stem from his passion for sport and the outdoors, including An Outside Chance,The Longest Silence, and Some Horses. He lives in Montana.

Reviews for Something to Be Desired

[zmagic69 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

No one writes about males self destructive behavior and then their attempts at redemption better than this author. The fact that he does it with a wonderful eye for detail and a healthy dose of humor is a bonus.

[hagelstein_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lucien Taylor, of Montana, as a boy artist “drew what he thought he was seeing” and “dreamed of consequentiality, and of romantic unrest.” As an adult he still sees things in his own way. He also achieves his two goals, in his own way.A child of divorce and parental hardship himself, Lucien of course makes a mess of his own marriage and fatherhood. He has a woman problem. Or many of them He’s the recipient of one of the best one-night-stand departing lines ever: “You sickening fuck,’ she said. ‘I feel like a sewer.’” Along the way he reunites with his first love – now apparently a murderer of husbands – and finds respectability as a resort owner and employer. McGuane’s writing is luminous and sensuous, but honestly so, with no pretense. To read this book, as with all of his, is to glide on a current of perfectly placed words.