November 8, 2004
In his 28th novel, Pulitzer-winner McMurtry again displays his knack for compelling characters and plots, this time as two women of a certain age take a road trip through Texas. Sixty-year-old widow Maggie Clary hasn't felt like herself since her hysterectomy; though her Hollywood company, Prime Loops, is doing well—they dub in the grunts and groans for movie soundtracks—she secretly wonders if she's going "bats." Maggie's three well-intentioned daughters have appeared on her doorstep for a Sunday morning "intervention." Though Maggie's diminutive Sicilian psychiatrist has improved her mood (thanks, in part, to their mid-session sex), she decides to follows the advice of a flirtatious waiter and try a change of scenery. Maggie invites fellow "looper" and best friend Connie (the two have been inseparable—and boy crazy—since they were 14), to join her on a drive to her octogenarian Aunt Cooney's Texas chicken ranch. Despite family troubles that threaten to sabotage their trip, the two stay the course on a road rife with reprobates, from a relentless "professional" hitchhiker to a mild-mannered car thief forever violating his parole. Aunt Cooney's brief appearance is among the high points of McMurtry's life-affirming tale: sporting an "old mashed-up" cowboy hat and an abundance of rouge, the gregarious granny greets her city slicker niece by yanking a pistol out of her pocket and firing shots into the sky. Agent, Andrew Wylie.
August 1, 2004
Unlike Leonard, McMurtry is not in true Western mode here. But his characters two women of a certain age named Maggie and Connie do find themselves heading for the Texas ranch of Maggie's aunt, frantic for one last adventure.
Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
October 15, 2004
Few contemporary novelists can handle a road saga like McMurtry. His most memorable works of that genre, " Lonesome Dove" (1986) and the Berrybender Chronicles, are massive, sprawling epics set against an untamed frontier. His latest book is on a smaller scale, but it is a gem, with two memorable characters and delightful vignettes. Maggie and Connie are two 60-year-old women who eke out a marginal existence in contemporary Los Angeles as loopers--dubbing voices and sounds for B-movie tracks. Friends since grade school, they both fear life, especially their love life, has passed them by. Hoping to jump-start their lives with a bit of adventure, they decide to drive a van cross country to visit Maggie's aunt, who runs a Texas chicken farm. Their brief odyssey is filled with wondrous scenes of natural beaty, visits to amusingly odd museums and tourist traps, and encounters with a variety of eccentric and occasionally dangerous characters. What makes this work special is McMurtry's gift for creating a genuinely likable, believable pair of protagonists and weaving an often touching fabric around their intertwined relationship. Maggie and Connie can be frustratingly self-absorbed, even whiny, and they often irritate each other, but their shared experiences over decades help make this a quirky but enjoyable buddy story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)
February 7, 2005
In this somewhat scattered narrative, 60-year-old Maggie Clary wonders if she will ever truly feel like herself again, now that she's had a hysterectomy. True, she still runs a successful company that dubs grunts and voices for low-budget Hollywood movies, and the operation certainly hasn't affected her sex life. She owns her own home in the heart of Hollywood, and knows how to have a good time smoking pot and cleaning her pool. Even the fact that she can count on the support of three relatively stable adult daughters and her best friend, Connie, doesn't stop Maggie from experiencing great doses of existential angst. Narrator Critt successfully captures this bunch of at-ends characters. Each of Maggie's daughters speaks with her own slightly different Valley Girl accent when agonizing with or about their mother. Connie sounds more like a petulant teenager than a mature woman, which, given her lifestyle and concerns over men and booze, accurately represents her character. But Critt's particular strength is her handling of Maggie's slightly fusty middle-aged inflections, endowed as they are with a sparkle that conveys the spirit of a woman who is at once depressed but still very much grappling with life, Hollywood-style. Simultaneous release with the S&S hardcover (Forecasts, Nov. 8, 2004).
October 15, 2004
Maggie is divorced, nearing 60, and still gainfully self-employed on the fringes of the Los Angeles movie industry. Following a hysterectomy, she finds herself feeling low and disengaged from her former self and others. This particularly infuriates her three married daughters, who have always been able to count on Maggie's connection to them and her generosity to their families. In short, it's midlife crisis time, and something must be done. Maggie teams up with her sexy but aging friend Connie, and they light out on a cross-country trip to Texas. They fling caution to the wind, rail against growing older, and decry the loss of their wild, gallivanting, man-cruising days. While the novel's story line conjures images of Thelma and Louise, it rides an easier road, substituting raunchiness for rich narrative and complex characterization. Fun and sex-obsessed, McMurtry's latest (after entries in the "Berrybender Narratives") will find an audience. Recommended for large fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 8/04.]-Sheila Riley, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, DC
Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.