Buffalo Girls

By: Larry McMurtry

Narrated by: Betty Buckley

Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

In a letter to her daughter back East, Martha Jane is not shy about her own importance: "Martha Jane -- better known as Calamity -- is just one of the handful of aging legends who travel to London as part of Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show in Buffalo Girls." As he describes the insatiable curiosity of Calamity's Indian friend No Ears, Annie Oakley's shooting match with Lord Windhouveren, and other highlights of the tour, McMurtry turns the story of a band of hardy, irrepressible survivors into an unforgettable portrait of love, fellowship, dreams, and heartbreak.

©2001 Larry McMurtry (P)2004 Simon & Schuster

Exceptional

I love all of Larry McMurtry's books and buffalo girls did not disappoint. It has all his familiar western characters and this time they are routed in history. Betty Buckley does an outstanding narration that is funny, heartfelt, sad and wistful - she really evokes the feeling of the dying Wild West and all it's pathos. If you are a fan of McMurtry and love tales of the old west this recording will enthrall you.

Great Story

Just finished this audio and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. The story was interesting and kept me engaged the entire time. I live in the Wyoming and South Dakota area, so I am familiar with the characters. My only complaint is that when referred to the city of Belle Fourche, the name with mis.
pronounced

Fun story, very good narration

What made the experience of listening to Buffalo Girls the most enjoyable?

The Narrator sounded like an old drunk- just like Calamity.

What other book might you compare Buffalo Girls to and why?

Haven't found one yet

What does Betty Buckley bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

A voice that brings all the characters come alive.

If you could take any character from Buffalo Girls out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Calmity's friend Dora. She almost starved as a child and she kinda turns me on.

Any additional comments?

Heaps of fun on a long driving trip. Kept me smiling the whole 5 hrs !

Sad but great!

What did you love best about Buffalo Girls?

The character's story telling was so good. You laughed and cried with them. It had some history in it that really helped to tell the story and entertain.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

The "voice" the author gives the characters, especially the character of no ears and the voice the narrator used didn't match in my head, but overall, she did a good job.

If you could take any character from Buffalo Girls out to dinner, who would it be and why?

No ears, for sure! He seemed so interesting and had such insight, but kind of from an unusual perspective and with odd ideas and thoughts. I would love to have a conversation with him!

Any additional comments?

Larry McMurtry is awesome! As always!

Masterpiece

This audiobook production of Buffalo Girls blends fact, fiction and legend. It is both rollicking fun and achingly sad. Calamity Jane is the star of this tale. She is joined by her contemporaries Bill Cody, Dora Dufran and others as they live through the last days of the Old West and the development of the Wild West mythology. This is as fine a love letter to the passing of the western way of life as Lonesome Dove

Come sit by the fire and listen to a story...

I did not expect to like this book so much.
As a kid I read about the Wild West and this book had good reviews (and was on sale), so I started it and was immediately brought in by the "camp fire".
This is as good a combination of reader and story as you will ever find.
The characters are richly written. With all their prickles, bad habits, really bad decisions, reverses and tragedies, each one is sympathetic and real, but would not make easy friends.
This is an interesting study on what happens when an era ends, but the people who lived it are still around. Where do they go? What do they do now? Take it on the road? There are no more absurd contrasts than a bunch of wild west cowboys and Indians in the middle of Victorian England, but here they are. And then the anticlimax of coming home to what?
Heartrending and real with romance thrown in, this book imagines all the possibilities with kindness and humor and all too human sadness.

Worth the read

I went back and forth on whether to rate the story three or four stars. For McMurtry it's only a three. But since I like McMurtry his threes are more like fours for anyone else.

My inclination is to compare this to Lonesome Dove. But really, it's not Lonesome Dove and not meant to be. We'll just stipulate that LD is better, that everyone should listen to it and move on to Buffalo Girls.

McMurtry has written a sad lonely book. He's borrowed history and molded it into a shape that suited him. In doing so he's given himself a new canvass to work with. This book will not move into the future with you. You won't look back and think of it later, most likely, but it still has things to say and will entertain you absolutely while it says them.

The best thing about Buffalo Girls is Betty Buckley's performance. Her husky broken voice creates the landscape and takes you back in time and due west. (Unless you're from California, in that case you'll have to head east.)

Definitely worth the credit.

Great book! Audio is a little fuzzy

I love the book, but I found myself having to turn the volume up louder than I'd like because it was hard to understand sometimes. I'm not sure if it was the narrator or the recording

Excellent

this is second time, I read this book, it is amazing
I have described it to many friends

The very best in every sense.

My very favorite..Narrator Betty Buckley knocked it out of the park. Writing was absolutely masterful.