Loop Group

by Larry McMurtry Narrated by C. J. Critt

Overview

Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times best-selling author Larry McMurtry is one of America's best novelists. Several of his books are modern classics, including Lonesome Dove and Terms of Endearment, which was adapted into an Academy Award-winning motion picture. Now McMurtry delivers a funny yet sobering road trip novel reminiscent of Thelma and Louise and featuring two of the most original women to appear in fiction for quite some time. Maggie runs a group that dubs voices for movies. She spends much of her time fending off her three pushy daughters, and gets her kicks with her far older Sicilian lover. Connie, on the other hand, has a taste for younger men. These two best friends are getting past their prime, which is why they plan to have one last great adventure. But on the road from Texas to California and back, the women get caught up in events beyond their control. Packing a .38 Special, they blaze their trail across the Southwest, bumping into one zany character after another.

Editorial Reviews

Liesl Schillinger

Clearly, more sincere praise of the mature woman is overdue. And McMurtry's adulation is more than sincere, it's heated. He doesn't shy away from the pleasures of sexagenarian flesh: in Los Angeles, Maggie and Connie get up to pretty much everything Debbie got up to in Dallas -- and they intend to continue shopping around.
— The New York Times

Publishers Weekly

In his 28th novel, Pulitzer-winner McMurtry again displays his knack for compelling characters and plots, this time as two women of a certain age take a road trip through Texas. Sixty-year-old widow Maggie Clary hasn't felt like herself since her hysterectomy; though her Hollywood company, Prime Loops, is doing well-they dub in the grunts and groans for movie soundtracks-she secretly wonders if she's going "bats." Maggie's three well-intentioned daughters have appeared on her doorstep for a Sunday morning "intervention." Though Maggie's diminutive Sicilian psychiatrist has improved her mood (thanks, in part, to their mid-session sex), she decides to follows the advice of a flirtatious waiter and try a change of scenery. Maggie invites fellow "looper" and best friend Connie (the two have been inseparable-and boy crazy-since they were 14), to join her on a drive to her octogenarian Aunt Cooney's Texas chicken ranch. Despite family troubles that threaten to sabotage their trip, the two stay the course on a road rife with reprobates, from a relentless "professional" hitchhiker to a mild-mannered car thief forever violating his parole. Aunt Cooney's brief appearance is among the high points of McMurtry's life-affirming tale: sporting an "old mashed-up" cowboy hat and an abundance of rouge, the gregarious granny greets her city slicker niece by yanking a pistol out of her pocket and firing shots into the sky. Agent, Andrew Wylie. (Dec. 7) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Maggie is divorced, nearing 60, and still gainfully self-employed on the fringes of the Los Angeles movie industry. Following a hysterectomy, she finds herself feeling low and disengaged from her former self and others. This particularly infuriates her three married daughters, who have always been able to count on Maggie's connection to them and her generosity to their families. In short, it's midlife crisis time, and something must be done. Maggie teams up with her sexy but aging friend Connie, and they light out on a cross-country trip to Texas. They fling caution to the wind, rail against growing older, and decry the loss of their wild, gallivanting, man-cruising days. While the novel's story line conjures images of Thelma and Louise, it rides an easier road, substituting raunchiness for rich narrative and complex characterization. Fun and sex-obsessed, McMurtry's latest (after entries in the "Berrybender Narratives") will find an audience. Recommended for large fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 8/04.]-Sheila Riley, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, DC Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Best friends since sixth grade and now they're hitting sixty, these two foxy Hollywood working girls. Their friendship is the heart of McMurtry's larky latest, fizzy enough to keep the fans happy. Sunday morning in Hollywood. Maggie Clary is alone in her bungalow, her lifelong home, when all three of her married daughters show up unannounced. They're on a mission to ease Maggie's "despair" following her hysterectomy. She still has her job as manager of a loop group, shepherding her volatile, druggy crew into the mix studios in the unglamorous world of post-production; and she still has a sex life, or did until she dumped the handsome young actor she caught going through her purse. Yet somehow the spark has gone. Might a trip with her old friend Connie revive it? This is an excellent setup, its tone raunchy in a cheerful, nonchalant way, as befits two sexual adventurers (not matrons, insists Connie) who've been "trolling for good-looking guys" since their early teens. And they don't have to be young studs (Maggie realizes she may be falling in love with her ancient Sicilian shrink, despite his S&M games). Once the ladies are on the road, driving to the Texas panhandle to visit Maggie's last living aunt, the writing goes thin. A white-bearded hitchhiker (a wrangler in Rita Hayworth's last movie) and a diminutive Indian who murdered his wife are colorful, but in an ersatz way. Aunt Cooney turns out to be a ruthless old crone overseeing her agribusiness (two million hens), and Maggie and Connie beat a hasty retreat back to LA. A short final section feels overly rushed, making Maggie's closing affirmation of her friendship with Connie less moving than it might have been. The proportions may bewrong, but there's something here for everyone: An affectionate peek at the workers clinging to Hollywood's lowest rung; campy sex; drama on the highway; and canny insights into the dynamics of family and friendship. Agent: Andrew Wylie/The Wylie Agency

From the Publisher

"Loop Group is a playful, naughty, surprising book, painted on a small scale but still big (and only sometimes melancholy) fun."

— The Seattle Times

"Entertainingly offbeat."
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"McMurtry's plot is wacky, the style is deadpan and friendly to the two women, and the effect is compelling. This may prove to be the funniest book of the year."
— Newhouse News Service

JUNE/JULY 05 - AudioFile

The latest novel from Pulitzer Prize winner Larry McMurtry is nonstop fun. Reader C.J. Critt clearly loves the story, and her joy reading it shines through in every word. The story follows two lifelong friends, Maggie and Connie, on a road trip from California, where they dub voices for movies, to Texas. Along the way the colorful women encounter a zany cast of characters and confront some of life’s most difficult issues. The fun for Critt never ends. While she brings personality to the lead characters, Critt is also marvelous with the many supporting characters, whose personality quirks she highlights with alacrity. Perhaps the most memorable is Aunt Cooney, Connie’s octogenarian aunt, a Texas chicken farmer whose indomitable spirit Critt captures superbly. D.J.S. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170529018
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	03/06/2008
Edition description:	Unabridged

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