| "Sonny looked at her curiously and she smiled at him, and honest, attractive smile, as she kept stroking the back of his neck lightly. He drank more bourbon and watched the intermittent lightning yellow the plains. He felt as thought life was completely beyond him. In a little while they crossed Red River, the slap of their tires echoing off the old stone bridge abutments. The water in the channel was shallow and silvery. "Anyhow, I know why Sam the Lion liked you," Sonny said, and it was Lois' turn to be startled. "Sam?" she said. "Who told you he liked me? Genevieve?" Sonny nodded. Lois was silent for a moment. "No, it was more than that," she said. "He loved me, honey." They were silent almost to Burkburnett, but Sonny noticed that Lois kepy wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands." "I get sad when I think about Sam for long," she said in explanation, her voice unsteady. "I can still remember his hands, you see. Did you know he had beautiful hands?" (252).
This passage is a perfect showing of Larry McMurtry's style of writing. The main portion of his book is dialogue between the characters. This keeps the reader interested in the story, and makes it much easier to read. McMurtry uses short, choppy sentences when he is writing what people are thinking and speaking. This helps keep the reader enthralled in the story, in addition to the dialogue.
In this specific passage, and all throughout the book, he describes the setting constantly. But he does it in the perfect, small amount, that is enough for the reader to understand what it looks like, but not enough to bore the reader. In this he describes the lightning and how it makes the plains look. This imagery is not too descriptive, but just enough to get the point across.
He also uses alliteration in some parts of the book. "The water in the channel was shallow and silvery." This helps to get a point across, to convey a feeling of slipperyness, like a snake.
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