The novel is unbelievable in so many ways, but the thing that stood out for me while I was reading it is how the novel weaves in and out of all the different characters' perspectives. Not only is it epic from a story perspective, but the prose's third-person omniscient perspective is just so well done.
Every major character is fully realized; you get to know them and understand them on a fundamental level. You love them. You hate some. Some are so sweet you just want to hug them. Your heart breaks for them.
But the other incredible thing is there are also hundreds of minor characters that just show up for brief moments, but that are detailed in a way I've never seen before. McMurtry gives them names and lives when other authors would just use those characters in service of the main characters. It could be just a single paragraph, but McMurtry fills out the world with them.
It's such a wonderfully "alive" novel. I would recommend it to anyone.
by dhowl