Leaving Cheyenne

Literary fiction

First published: 1963
Print length: 298 pagesSimon & Schuster, 1992

Description

Across three first-person accounts, Gideon, Johnny, and Molly describe a love triangle that lasts through decades of change in Texas, from roughly 1920 to 1965. Their competing memories turn the same lifelong attachment into three different emotional histories, each shaped by desire, loyalty, resentment, and missed possibility. Around them, the old North Fort Worth cattle world gives way to a changing state: stockyards, cowboy hotels, cattle trains, and streetcars form the landscape of their youth and labor. Rather than treating romance as separate from history, the novel makes this tangled relationship the lens through which an era passes. Its shifting voices reveal how differently people can understand a shared life while remaining bound to one another.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Conversational · Direct · Lyrical

Pace

Measured

Tone

Intimate · Melancholic · Reflective · Wistful

Structure

Braided · Nonlinear

Focus

Character · Relationships · Voice

Emotional intensity

4 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 3 / 5
Ideas: 3 / 5
Structure: 4 / 5
Background knowledge: 2 / 5

Themes

Coming of ageLegacyLoveMarriageMemoryWork

About Larry McMurtry

Larry McMurtry was an American novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and bookseller whose six-decade career moved between the mythic Old West and contemporary Texas. His fiction is especially attentive to people living through the decline of familiar worlds. Early novels such as Horseman, Pass By and The Last Picture Show examine the narrowing prospects and social pressures of rural and small-town life, while Lonesome Dove and its related novels revisit frontier legend through aging Texas Rangers, hazardous journeys, and the stubborn demands of companionship. McMurtry’s storytelling is direct and descriptive, with character and relationships carrying as much weight as action. Wit, dark comedy, and dialogue often temper violence and loss, keeping even his large historical narratives grounded in ordinary human friction. He was notably prolific, sustaining a disciplined practice of writing a set number of pages each morning. The many film and television adaptations of his work reflect both its narrative reach and his close connection to screenwriting.