Customer Reviews

All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers: A Novel

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This novel, McMurtry's fourth, is his most tender and charming. Danny Deck is a young, perpetually perplexed writer to whom things seem to inexplicably happen, yet Danny, who narrates the novel, never presents himself as a victim, and McMurtry successfully keeps the novel from becoming sentimental. McMurtry's finest achievement in this novel, however, is his evocation of a Texas no one else has ever written about--the young, academic, urban, sixties generation of Texans. If you didn't believe such a thing existed, this novel will convince you otherwise. That world gives this novel a funky charm (its frank sexual content was somewhat controversial in some circles when it was published.) Look for the usual McMurtry themes and characteristics, including well-drawn women characters and a perverse spin on the "old cattleman" in the character of mean-as-hell, 92 year old Uncle Laredo, who "was obsessed with last things." Chapter Thirteen, which concerns Danny's visit to Uncle Laredo out in Van Horn on his way back from San Francisco, is one of the funniest pieces of writing I've ever read, one of the very few times I've actually laughed out loud reading a book. The book is the first of a trilogy (which years later became a tetralogy, then a quinology, etc.) written in the late sixties and early seventies along with "Moving On" and "Terms of Endearment." It's my favorite of all of McMurtry's novels

One of the best books ever written. This is McMurtry at his finest. I have missed Danny Deck (main character) since I read the last line of this novel. This is the first McMurtry book I ever read. I later read every fictional book he wrote just to hear his "voice" again. This says volumes seeing that I normally have no interest in western genre; but I'll read the western ones because I grow to care for his characters as they dance off of the pages. After reading this book you should also read Terms of Endearment, Evening Star and Moving On for some of the same characters. This book really should become a film. Thank you Mr. McMurtry!!!

As is usually the case when I get excited about an author's work I tend to delve into all the work in order to see which way he or she is heading. That is the case here with Larry McMurtry. I have just finished reading his The Last Picture Show trilogy (The Last Picture Show; Texasville; and, Duane's Depressed) about coming of age in small town Texas, having one's mid-life crisis there and, in the end, struggling against the strains of mortality there, as well. The cumulative effect of this work was a five-star review. Here we step back to early McMurtry and while the promise is certainly there as well as his quirky look at modern life this is the work of a rising author star not of a master writer.

Why? Well, for one thing the subject matter. All fictional writing in the final analysis may be autobiographical, consciously or unconsciously, but here the trials and tribulations of a young Texas writer who heads to California to find himself after the first budding of prominence with the publication of his first book and a movie offer is, well, just a little too precious. Moreover, the inevitable romantic problems of twenty-something males (and, by now in 2008, females) has been done to death. Nothing really jumps out here other than some cogent observations about the foibles of human nature as strained through the California blender. My advice to Danny, the protagonist writer here is -Go east, young man, go east back to Texas. That's where your pot of gold is, Larry, oops Danny. Do you need to read this book? If you have time. Do you need to read The Last Picture Show trilogy. Damn right. That's the different in a nutshell.

Early McMurtry, 1971, I believe, and the first of his books I ever read. Funny, incredibly funny, I laughed out loud over and over, and then really very sad. A book about the struggle between wanting to have a life and trying to be a writer--or, art vs. life. A brilliant novel, touching, clever, resonant. A MUST READ!!!!!

I read this book when I was 23 and found it profounding, educational & entertaining. It made a huge impact on my life at the time. Every young man looking for a direction in life should read about Danny Deck. A great read and the best book I ever read.

Danny Deck is symbolic of the confusion that living life brings to us. I think everybody has wanted to run away at times and Danny does. Danny let's us run away and enjoy the craziness of life and the twists and turns it brings us. You'll feel for Danny and won't want the end to come. My favorite McMurtry read, barely beating out Lonesome Dove.

I adored this book. The characters, especially Danny, are extremely believable and intriguing. This is one of McMurty's best. This book introduces wonderful characters like Danny and Jill, but it also brings us back with Danny's friends, Emma and Flap Horton. I strongly recommend this nostalgic piece of fiction.

Danny is an amiable, aimless young writer looking for a life. Superb dialogue. Lots of zaniness, sort of like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Lot of road trips to somewheres. A thread of vague sadness runs through it though.

Funny and sad, from start to finish. Who wouldn't love Danny Deck, reluctant writer, adrift in the real world, trying to make a go of it as an artist??? Early McMurtry, worth a very serious look, surely this gives some insight into the author's own conflicted beginnings as a writer. LOVED EVERY WORD!!! And the sequel was pretty darn good, too....

This is a fun one, especially on audio tape. The dialogue is hilarious, and you get involved in the pitifulness of the main character. Buy it!!