A highly entertaining and informative study ... The rare authorized biography that keeps its subject at arm’s length ... An unmistakable sadness clings to Western Star, fitting given that much of its subject’s writing was a lament for the passing of the old-timers and their ways, and the subsequent dislocations of future generations left to grapple with a new and homogenized West.
Streitfeld occasionally shares a sweet personal remembrance of McMurtry ... These moments are a window on a different sort of book that Western Star might have been ... Instead, Streitfeld opted for a more traditional biography, albeit one that seems subtly colored by that friendship even when it isn’t addressed directly ... Streitfeld’s quest to tell McMurtry’s story once and for all turns out to be nearly as quixotic as Gus and Call’s trek to Montana ... Sometimes, Streitfeld seems to forget that the reader doesn’t already know McMurtry well, like he does ... Can sometimes feel like a conversation at a bar with a friend who lets their stories get away from them, arriving at the punch line before they finish the setup ... Streitfeld, a less industrious literary critic than Daugherty, occasionally quotes from user reviews on Goodreads and IMDb in lieu of his own analysis—a dispiriting habit, especially because he often hits the nail on the head when he makes his own attempts ... In the end, Streitfeld seems less interested in McMurtry’s prose than in the stories he told about himself.
Impressive ... Streitfeld’s writing is notable for its descriptive energy and reportorial straightforwardness ... After reading this propulsive book, it is hard to imagine anyone could have done a more thorough, honestly reported yet compassionate job of revealing so much of this elusive figure’s interior life, including his well-hidden tender side and his private generosity
