Rating: 
Summary: Just another favorite from Larry McMurtry
Review: I don't intend to write a full-on review; I figure there are enough here already. I just wanted to add my five-star rating to the overall, and summarize how I feel about this book.It took a while to get started, but it subtly endeared its characters to me so much that I finished it off in a three-hour sitting. Before I knew it I loved the characters, I loved the book, and I was sad that it was over. And I guess that's that, huh?
Rating:
Summary: Just another favorite from Larry McMurtry
Review: I don't intend to write a full-on review; I figure there are enough here already. I just wanted to add my five-star rating to the overall, and summarize how I feel about this book. It took a while to get started, but it subtly endeared its characters to me so much that I finished it off in a three-hour sitting. Before I knew it I loved the characters, I loved the book, and I was sad that it was over. And I guess that's that, huh?
Rating:
Summary: Realistic description of rural Texas west of I-35
Review: I grew up on a ranch in Texas and this book hit home even more accurately than Horseman Pass By or The Last Picture Show. From the first page when Gid's dad shakes his leg to wake him from sleep, I identify with the narrative. I loaned the book to a friend who ranches in South Texas. He said it made him cry. If you want a glimpse of growing up on a ranch in Texas west of I-35, this is it.
Rating: 
Summary: Tiresome
Review: I love several of Larry McMurtry's early novels, such as Horseman, Pass By and The Last Picture Show. This novel is reminiscent of these great novels (all are set in Thalia, Texas), but falls short. As usual, McMurtry depicts quite flawlessly the atmosphere of growing up in Texas. The main character of Gideon is multi-dimensional and intriguing, but Molly and Johnny remain enigmas. That situation makes for a long read, especially once the main point of view shifts away from Gideon in the later half of the book. At this early point in his career, McMurtry also did not seem to understand women - seeming to view them as existing primarily to tease and please men. The story gains momentum and the characters become richer as it prgresses, but by that point, I was just wanting to get through the book.
Rating:
Summary: a unique concept well done
Review: I read this book some years ago and I was very impressed. I enjoyed just about all of Larry McMurtry's early (pre-Lonesome Dove) works. Indeed, I felt that his three greatest works were "The Last Picture Show", "Lonesome Dove", and "Leaving Cheyenne". After "Lonesome Dove", I think McMurtry lost a lot of his sense of reality as a writer. In "Leaving Cheyenne", McMurtry tells a common enough love triangle story but in a most unique method. The three characters tell their story from their perspective which, I'm sure, has been done before and probably with greater effect. However, what makes this book special and all the more enjoyable is that each perspective is given from a different point in time. Thus we have the serious young man's perspective, the pragmatic middle aged woman's perspective, and, finally, the fun-loving old geeser's perspective. Bear in mind that these three characters are all essentially the same age but looking at their lives together from a different point of maturity. It works, too. With the serious young man we sense the cold, calculated mistakes of a driven youth. With the pragmatic middle aged woman we see the acceptance that not everything works out the way you would want them to. With the fun-loving old geeser, we see that life is not judged by past mistakes; it's judged by how much fun you're having right now. I noted some very negative reviews on this book. To each his own. However, it is a short read and I think you may get the same impression I did. It's worth a try.
Rating:
Summary: a unique concept well done
Review: I read this book some years ago and I was very impressed. I enjoyed just about all of Larry McMurtry's early (pre-Lonesome Dove) works. Indeed, I felt that his three greatest works were "The Last Picture Show", "Lonesome Dove", and "Leaving Cheyenne". After "Lonesome Dove", I think McMurtry lost a lot of his sense of reality as a writer. In "Leaving Cheyenne", McMurtry tells a common enough love triangle story but in a most unique method. The three characters tell their story from their perspective which, I'm sure, has been done before and probably with greater effect. However, what makes this book special and all the more enjoyable is that each perspective is given from a different point in time. Thus we have the serious young man's perspective, the pragmatic middle aged woman's perspective, and, finally, the fun-loving old geeser's perspective. Bear in mind that these three characters are all essentially the same age but looking at their lives together from a different point of maturity. It works, too. With the serious young man we sense the cold, calculated mistakes of a driven youth. With the pragmatic middle aged woman we see the acceptance that not everything works out the way you would want them to. With the fun-loving old geeser, we see that life is not judged by past mistakes; it's judged by how much fun you're having right now. I noted some very negative reviews on this book. To each his own. However, it is a short read and I think you may get the same impression I did. It's worth a try.
Rating: 
Summary: Instead of Leaving Cheyenne, I say Leave This Book Alone
Review: If you want to enter into the world of three of the most boring characters ever, by all means read this book. This is a world where cowboys drop by to see lonely women and (wonder of wonders)HAVE SEX WITH THEM! Yes, the cowboys desire adventure and they even go off once to sell some cattle. But in a bizzare plot twist, one turns around after a few weeks and believe it or not, returns home and has some more sex with the lonely lady. The fact that none of the characters has much more to say than "I sure missed Gid," or "I really loved Molly," really keeps you flipping those pages. I am a great fan of this writer and I'm open minded to seeing all sides of his creative world, but as I read this book I kept getting the idea that he was trying to corner the Jackie Collins crowd. Read Lonesome Dove again instead.
Rating:
Summary: A struggle to read.
Review: It took quite a while for me to get into this book. I just finished reading Texasville prior to starting Leaving Cheyenne. I was expecting more after reading Texasville. The book was written in the manner that an uneducated early Texas settler might speak, thus making it hard at times to understand. The story is told in three intervals with each character contributing his/her point of view. Too much emphasis was put on Gid (the main character) to leave so abruptly and shift to the thoughts of the other characters. And their parts were too short in comparison to Gid's. The characters have potential and the book worked off of a similar plot, I thought, to The Man Who Rode Midnight by Elmer Kelton. I suggest reading Elmer Kelton's book before this one.
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Summary: Growing old together. . .
Review: Larry McMurtry grew up among ranchers and cowboys, and his familiarity with this rural world makes his early novels set in and around Thalia, Texas, genuinely alive with rich detail and believable characters. He knows this world as it's seen and understood by the people who live there, both young and old. Most revealingly (and colorfully) he knows how they really talk to each other and to themselves -- not in the stereotypical ways often ascribed to country people. You read "Leaving Cheyenne" slowly (the reference is to an old cowboy ballad, not the town in Wyoming), savoring the re-creation of real times and places, even when the story itself may move with no great urgency. The insights into characters and the observance of their behavior make them come alive on the page, and you simply enjoy the portrayals of them, their values, beliefs, and experiences. Part I of this novel is told from the point of view of Gideon, a rancher's son, about 20 years old, around the year 1920. There is his friend Johnny, from a neighboring ranch, and the two of them compete for the affection of Molly, a barefoot, independent-minded girl who willfully and unwisely marries another boy, an oilfield roustabout. In Part II, it is 20 years later, during WWII, and Molly, now widowed, remains friends with the middle-aged Gideon and Johnny, each of whom happens to have fathered one of her two sons. This part is told from her point of view. Gideon has married another woman (also unwisely) and has become a prosperous rancher, while Johnny works for him, content to be a happy-go-lucky cowboy. Molly lives alone, her sons off to war, and yearns for the company of each of her two old friends and lovers. In Part III, it is again 20 years later, about 1960 (the novel was published in 1962), and the three characters are now much older. Told from the point of view of Johnny, this section is farcically comical. Meanwhile, Gideon is haunted with guilt for his infidelities with Molly, and Johnny, as he says, has never lost a night's sleep feeling shame for anything he's ever done. Written in 20-year jumps, the novel gives a sense of how quickly life passes and how people remain the adolescents they once were even as they age. We see that choices made in haste cannot be undone and can leave a life-long legacy of regret. Yet there is also solace in affection, loyalty, and tenderness of heart. The novel celebrates the special quality of friendship among friends who have lived their whole lives together in the same small rural community. And over the years, there is the land -- and working the land -- to ground their rural lives with purpose. I recommend this novel, along with the author's "Horseman, Pass By," to anyone with an interest in cowboys and ranching. McMurtry captures rural western life and character in rich detail.
Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest short novels of our time
Review: Perhaps one of the least known(popular)but greatest works from McMurtry. Three life stories are woven thoughout this tale as this story picks up where Horeseman Pass By leaves off, with regard to character development. If you are a fan of Lonesome Dove, Moving On or All My Friends Are Going To Be Strangers, you cannot help but marvel at this earlier work which puts most modern works to shame. The characters and scenery are depicted with a subtle brilliance and the prose is magnificent. This book could be described as a blend of both Faulkner and McCarthy with regards to writing-you can feel the influence from the former and on the latter. Pardon my long winded comments. Buy the book and revel in it's brilliance.-
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