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]
References
^McMurtry, Larry (2009). Literary Life: A Second Memoir. Simon & Schuster. p. 152.
^McMurtry, Larry (2001). Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen : reflections at sixty and beyond. p. 55.
