afflatus The creative writing of Steven E.A.

All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers : A Novel by Larry McMurtry

My rating: 4 of 5 stars I enjoyed the eccentricities, realism, and also the fantasy of living a life like Danny Deck's. Danny doesn't ever seem to know what he wants and is sort of a drifter. He drifts from one area of his life to the next, going through the routines and rituals, but ultimately a bit distant from everyone he encounters. This leads this story to be both plot and character driven. Danny decides to move from Texas to California. He decides to leave Sally (his wife) , he decides to come back to Texas, he decides what women he sees and who he sleeps with. But the whole time he's making these decisions and driving the plot forward, I couldn't help but notice that what a lot of he actually did was based on what happened to him. There's almost a sort of nihilism to Danny Deck. He just lets what happens happen. He doesn't do a lot to try and change it. It suggests this character doesn't care because Danny feels that there's no meaning to anything. This is evidenced by his quick marriage to Sally. They were married because it was convenient. Because her parents couldn't stand her living with a man unless they were married. Danny just goes with it. There's a big pile of people high on mescaline? Danny just goes with it. There's a farmhand that fucks holes in the ground, camels, and anything else with a hole? Danny just goes with it. He's drunk and his best friend's wife wants to have sex? Danny just goes with it. This wasn't a negative aspect of the book, in fact, I liked it very much. I found myself thinking that this was testament to the excellent writing skills of McMurtry. He can write as a character. In essence, acting the part to write the novel in first person. As a mediocre, wannabe writer, I find this extremely difficult and often find myself, instead of writing the character, writing myself into the character. While I don't know a lot about Larry McMurtry, I would assume that he is not entirely a Danny Deck. I'm sure he used some of his own biography to create Danny, but Danny is a creation all his own. This was a very good piece of writing from McMurtry. I look forward to reading his other creations. View all my reviews >>