All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers

Last updated
All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers
Author Larry McMurtry
LanguageEnglish
Publication date
1972
Publication placeUSA
Preceded by Moving On  
Followed by Some Can Whistle  

All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers is a 1972 American novel by Larry McMurtry. It was his fifth novel.

Contents

McMurtry later wrote it was not until the book was published "that I became convinced that I was a writer and would remain one." [1] He wrote it in five weeks after Moving On and in 2009 stated, "The book was then and probably still remains the best entry point to my fiction, mainly because I was too tired to feel in the least self-conscious. I just spewed it out, and never, until now, looked back. All My Friends still, reads well." [2]

No film version has been made although in 2009 McMurtry wrote " It has been scripted about a dozen times. Musicians, particularly, seem to like it. James Taylor had it under option for a while, as did the Eagles." [3]

There was a sequel Some Can Whistle (1989). Some of the characters also appeared in Terms of Endearment and The Evening Star.

Reception

The Miami Herald called it "nearly a great book". [4]

The New York Times said the novel "is a much more powerful demonstration of this “memorable” aspect in McMurtry's work... It is a desperate and intimidating work and you are liable to finish with relief and then pick it up several days later to see if the man really said what he did." [5]

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References

  1. McMurtry p 13
  2. McMurtry p 77
  3. McMurty p 78
  4. "Waiting for Zapata". The Miami Herald. 9 April 1972. p. 7k.
  5. Harrison, Jim (19 March 1972). "Women impossible not to love and impossible to love right". New York Times.

Notes