[2] Salon Books wrote, "As a critic, McMurtry is far too peripatetic; his desultory analysis of Benjamin amounts to something like a raveled sweater full of aimless tangled threads.
Better to view him here, I think, as a memoirist -- and more just, as well, since the majority of the book is devoted more to his history and to that of his grandparents, first-generation Texas pioneers, than to the bricks and mortar of analysis.
"[3] Publishers Weekly called it a "digressive, erudite and frequently glum assessment of his career and the importance of storytelling... a thoughtful, elegant retrospective on Texas, his work and the meaning of reading by an author who has the range to write with intelligence about both Proust and the bathos of a Holiday Inn marquee.
"[4] The Los Angeles Times wrote the book contained "brief illuminations of themes McMurtry has treated at length in his novels.
"[5] Kirkus said "it’s philosophy, literary criticism, and memoir all rolled up into one neat package, and McMurtry’s constant readers will find much pleasure in these pages.