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Rating: 
Summary: A delightful, humorous "impossible to put down type of book"
Review: "Thomas McGuane lives here" I was told last year during a Montana visit. "Who cares?" say I, never having heard of him. Oh, how I wish I had known, wish I had read this wonderful book and taken the time to visit Mr. McGuane and thank him for wonderful vacation reading a year later. Raced through this book; raced back to the bookstore for "Some Horses", embarked on "An Outside Chance" and contemplated sending Mr. McGuana a fan letter! Seldom does a book make me laugh out loud and have to put it down until I recover. This book is delightful and you wonder how anyone can possibly think up a story like this.
Rating: 
Summary: Quirky, well written book worth a look
Review: I picked this up at yard sale for a quarter, so my expectations were pretty low. At first, I thought it was flaky, but after I got into it, it's really quite funny with very sharp dialogue and memorable characters. An interesting view of the modern West, without sentimentality. Joe Starling is a womanizing artist, who can't keep out of trouble with women or his pants zipped so to speak. He returns home to Montana imagining getting back to his roots, but women problems and family problems derrail his plans. If there is a flaw, it's that Joe is completely unbelievable as a painter -- it just seems like a device to work into the story. He doesn't talk or act like an artist, nor does the beauty of Big Sky country cause him to do as much as break out a pencil to sketch all through the novel. The author might just as well have made him a used car salesman. But the dialogue is sharp and funny, and his raunchy misadventures with old girlfriend Ellen and live-in lover Astrid have a nice sexy charge to them. A different kind of novel and one I would probably re-read just to enjoy the quality of the writing.
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