Anything for Billy explained

Anything for Billy
Author:Larry McMurtry
Country:USA
Language:English
Subject:Billy the Kid
Pub Date:1988

Anything for Billy is a 1988 American novel by Larry McMurtry about Billy the Kid.

It was one of a series of what McMutry called his "frontier yarns", others including Boone's Lick and Buffalo Girls. He said Anything for Billy was a parody of dime novels.[1] He also wrote that Anything for Billy and Buffalo Girls "I tried to subvert the Western myth with irony and parody."[2]

Reception

Kirkus Reviews wrote, "Stuffed with excitement, humor, tragedy, and leathery Western lore; centerpieced by McMurtry's vibrant portrait of Billy, scary, pathetic, yet darkly if oddly sympathetic; told in a warm, wise voice that you wish would never cease: this is a golden, always surprising yarn, and a welcome return by McMurtry to the high-stepping form of Lonesome Dove."[3]

Publisher's Weekly said "This tale of random violence, unlikely romance and quicksilver friendships in the old West is a rip-roaring gamble with a tear in its eye, and it pays off in spades."[4]

Notes and References

  1. Book: McMurtry, Larry. Literary Life: A Second Memoir. 2009. Simon & Schuster. 152.
  2. Book: McMurtry, Larry . 55. Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen : reflections at sixty and beyond. 2001 .
  3. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/larry-mcmurtry/anything-for-billy/ Anything for Billy review
  4. https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780671642686 Anything for Billy review