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Rating: 
Summary: Sharp writing, wonderful insights, a period piece...
Review: A wonderful character study, a period piece first published back in 1982, filled with wit and satire and mighty fine writing. Best book/antique scout book I've read since John Dunning's BOOKED TO DIE. It also reminds me of Paul Theroux's more recent HOTEL HONOLULU in tone, and as in that funny novel, some of the chapters here could stand alone as short stories.I picture Cadillac Jack as looking like Kinky Friedman or Richard Boone, narrating the story in a Texas accent, boots propped up on the liar's bench, eyes arcing under the cowboy hat in a bet-you-can't-top-this-one slant. What a pleasant surprise! An amazing character. An amazing yarn.
Rating:
Summary: Sharp writing, wonderful insights, a period piece...
Review: A wonderful character study, a period piece first published back in 1982, filled with wit and satire and mighty fine writing. Best book/antique scout book I've read since John Dunning's BOOKED TO DIE. It also reminds me of Paul Theroux's more recent HOTEL HONOLULU in tone, and as in that funny novel, some of the chapters here could stand alone as short stories. I picture Cadillac Jack as looking like Kinky Friedman or Richard Boone, narrating the story in a Texas accent, boots propped up on the liar's bench, eyes arcing under the cowboy hat in a bet-you-can't-top-this-one slant. What a pleasant surprise! An amazing character. An amazing yarn.
Rating: 
Summary: Slight But Entertaining
Review: Surprisingly, master storyteller Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove, Terms of Endearment) has written a book with virtually no plot. Cadillac Jack describes a month or so in the life of an antiques dealer on the road. In Jack's world, all people are eccentrics with funny names like Pencil Penrose and Sir Cripps Crisp, and all women he finds attractive are willing to sleep with him at the drop of a hat. Set in the pre-AIDS era, the book reflects a cavalier attitude about sexual responsibility that may appall late 1990's sensibilities. Nevertheless, Cadillac Jack is amusingly written, especially when it describes the bizarre and wonderful antiques that are the real objects of Jack's passion. Not bad, but compared to McMurtry's epic works, Cadillac Jack has a flat tire.
Rating:
Summary: When offered a coffeecup do not expect to find a beer inside
Review: These are the words of our classic Anton Chekhov. Does McMartry advertise Cadillac Jack as another Terms of Endearment? Why it's wrong to be entertained and ask yourself - So what?- when the book is finished? The book is funny,unpretentious and concise. I made myself finish Moving On, dropped all these prequels & sequels to Lonesome Dove and Terms of Endearment halfway through, gasping at McMurtry's productivity, enjoyed his Pulitzer Prize winner and the book the Oscar winner is based on. But it's the books like Cadillac Jack and Anything For Billy that gave me a few precious hours of enjoyment and relaxation. They are well above the mass market fare but they do not plan to enter the Booker's shortlist, perfectly satisfied with being what they are.
Rating:
Summary: When offered a coffeecup do not expect to find a beer inside
Review: These are the words of our classic Anton Chekhov. Does McMartry advertise Cadillac Jack as another Terms of Endearment? Why it's wrong to be entertained and ask yourself - So what?- when the book is finished? The book is funny,unpretentious and concise. I made myself finish Moving On, dropped all these prequels & sequels to Lonesome Dove and Terms of Endearment halfway through, gasping at McMurtry's productivity, enjoyed his Pulitzer Prize winner and the book the Oscar winner is based on. But it's the books like Cadillac Jack and Anything For Billy that gave me a few precious hours of enjoyment and relaxation. They are well above the mass market fare but they do not plan to enter the Booker's shortlist, perfectly satisfied with being what they are.
Rating:
Summary: Life was meant to be lived;and CJ sure knew how....
Review: This was the first McMurtry novel that I read.I like earthy stories;and boy was this a dandy.If you enjoy novels like Cannery Row,Tobacco Road or anything by Kinky Friedman you should like Cadallic Jack.I enjoyed it so much,I started reading the rest of McMurtrys novels.So far, I found it the most humurous,entertaining and lighthearted of the ones I've read.He has written the episodes so well you feel you are travelling right along with him and loving every moment of it.
I assume a lot of these stories are fictional ,in whole or in part,but are probably based on some of the authors experiences.
What I have come to like about McMurtry's books is that they are all so different from one another;and I think this one is the most different.
If there is any truth about this character,there should a law against it;nobody should be allowed to have that much fun--not one person.
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