Specktor writes honestly and cogently about each artist’s life as he weaves in his own foibles and experiences as an artist, father, son, and friend ... Specktor masterfully orients the reader within the West Hollywood landscape ... The only flaw in Always Crashing is that, at times, the author’s flashbacks distract the reader from the organic flow of the prose, necessitating a reread. However, Specktor accomplishes what he set out to do: to provide an intimate study of nine artists of diverse talent who had an impact on him.

Specktor makes a habit of stripping away the protective coating of euphemism. But it isn’t all subtraction; he also offers moments of nurturing clarity ... Writing through his troubles, Specktor offers consolatory beauty.

This​ is a fabulous book, beautiful, generous, sombre and wise, a wistful romance about a man writing a book like Always Crashing in the Same Car. Don’t fall for that subtitle—a mere concession to academic access and what used to be called the zeitgeist. As if a book as good as this can really be expected to flourish. As if, even in LA, there is a crowd waiting for a medita ... in some ways a work of critical commentary, as mind-expanding as a perfect peach (eat it now—by tomorrow it may be going off). But it is also a novel posing as a memoir, with scenes so gentle that the foreboding takes a second or so to creep in ... In the rest of this book, this elegy to failure, Specktor will deliver essays on some of the lives and losses he has been captivated by, held under the sway of people who were never exactly there. There’s a moment’s misgiving as we wonder if this is a set-up for pure puffery. Don’t fret: the peaches are all from the same tree, with secrets about creative careers piercing the reverie of what it has been to be Matthew Specktor, ever yearning and searching for ‘success’, knowing all the while that the swimming pool was waiting. The book is not reliable as biography, but the lives discussed did not organise themselves around facts, or any thought that these people knew what was happening to them. We know the scenario is evolving out of reach. We make stuff up.

Matthew Specktor explores the pulls—and perils—of chasing success in Always Crashing in the Same Car, an eloquent account of dark nights of the soul that mirrors the writing of his early idol, F. Scott Fitzgerald ... The other snapshots here are equally adept, combining melancholy with the saving graces of humor and hard-won perspective.

Each chapter profiles an artist whose fascinating accomplishments, excesses, and tragedies are used as an anchoring device to parallel or contrast with related themes in Specktor’s own life. The result is an unflinching, honest account of Specktor’s life, as well as a tender ode to failure ... Specktor examines and embraces the grittiness of his own experiences, calling out the consequences of fame that may far exceed the ephemeral rewards. In doing so, Specktor takes control of his own narrative ... What echoes long after the credits roll is the intimate investigation of one man’s imperfect life, the successes and failures, and most importantly, the realization that who we are now is everything.

... written with poetic charm ... Specktor has a skill for jarring integration ... As a critic of both films and literature, Specktor has a balanced touch, lauding actors and writers deservedly but finding those accomplishments often to be in the context of lesser achievements ... . Specktor’s skill also shines as a writer who is writing about other writers—surely a challenge, yet one that Specktor takes on with an understanding of heartfelt yearning for success, appreciation, even stardom ... As each chapter is a slice of biography from a particular perspective...the stories feel somewhat incomplete. In the specificity of his detail, and his discussions of how his attention, in a state of grief, edged into obsession, which inspired research, Specktor makes clear the thoroughness of his study ... To draw the reader in, then inspire the reader to search online, to watch the films, to listen to the albums, indicates a quality book.

Across these essays, which create a fascinating blend of memoir and criticism, he weaves his experiences of divorce and loss between profiles of creative Los Angeles figures and their successes and failures ... Specktor provides his readers with a voluminous list of recommended books and films to complete this engagingly conversational, confessional, rueful, and wonderfully researched work.

Specktor, a novelist and film critic, calls on both skills in this fascinating look at Hollywood ... This enthralling work deserves a central spot on the ever-growing shelf of books about Tinseltown.

Personal moments are the strongest in the book ... But whenever he reveals a bit of himself, Specktor quickly pulls back to the comfort of film history or deep descriptions of his Hollywood neighborhood. Specktor delivers interesting pieces of criticism, reporting, and self-help in this unique memoir, but the whole falls short.