Jonathan Evison is the author of the novels All About Lulu, West of Here, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!, Lawn Boy, and Legends of the North Cascades. He lives with his wife and family in Washington State.
A 2018 Booklist Editors' Choice Pick "Mike Muñoz is a Holden
Caulfield for a new millennium."
--The New York Times Book Review "Jonathan Evison takes a battering
ram to stereotypes about race and class in his fifth novel, Lawn
Boy . . . full of humor and lots of hope . . . Evison has written
an effervescent novel of hope that can enlighten everyone."
--Washington Post "Irresistible . . . funny, honest and real."
--Seattle Times "Evison meticulously evokes a richly detailed
marginalized world . . . moving, evocative and beautifully
written."
--The Providence Sunday Journal "Moving . . . Evison convincingly
evokes the small disasters and humiliations that beset America's
working poor. Mike's gradual growth into self-awareness is
punctuated by moments of human kindness and grace that transpire in
and among broken-down trucks, trailer parks, and strip malls.
Focusing on the workers who will only ever be welcome in gated
communities as hired help, Evison's quiet novel beautifully
considers the deterioration of the American Dream."
--Publishers Weekly, starred review "[A] deeply real portrait of an
everyday Joe just trying to find his way. Evison combines humor,
honesty, and anger with an insightful commentary on class that's
also an effective coming-of-age novel."
--Library Journal, starred review "In his bighearted portrayal of
Mike Muñoz, Evison has created an indelible human spirit content to
live authentically, which just might prove to be the true American
dream."
--Booklist, starred review "Evison brings genuine humor to Mike's
trials and tribulations. The writing is razor-sharp, and Evison has
an unerring eye for the small details that snap a scene or a
character into focus. The first-person narration turns Mike into a
living, breathing person, and the reader can't help but get pulled
into his worldview."
--Kirkus Reviews "Jonathan Evison's voice is pure magic. He is a
consummate world builder; in his unique universe, there is
heartbreak and love and tragedy, and--always--laughter. In Lawn
Boy, at once a vibrant coming of age novel and a sharp social
commentary on class, Evison offers a painfully honest portrait of
one young man's struggle to overcome the hand he's been dealt in
life and reach for his dreams. It's a journey you won't want to
miss, with an ending you won't forget."
--Kristin Hannah, author of The Nightingale "A triumph from the
ground up . . . finally a book that zooms in on social strata
without flinching or copping out. Lawn Boy takes us into the heart,
mind and body of Mike Muñoz as he makes a coming of age trek from
landscaping crew to navigating the dead American dream-- all the
way to reimagining a future on his own terms."
--Lidia Yuknavitch, author of The Book of Joan "Jonathan Evison can
write about anything and make it sing with hard-bitten empathy. I
love it that he writes about working men without condescension. I
had jobs like this. And you can tell that he did, too. Tough and
strangely sweet at the same time."
--Luis Alberto Urrea, author of Queen of America "In Evison's tough
and wry novel, Mike Muñoz is every person who wants a living wage
and a little dignity, 'the opportunity to think beyond sustenance
long enough to dream.' Jonathan Evison has written a fierce and
funny novel about a young man's attempts to transcend class and
poverty."
--Shelf Awareness "It's a difficult thing to write uproariously
humorous fiction that has heart, passion, and inspiration rolled
into it as well. The life of Mike Muñoz is a comedy of
self-inflicted errors and familial obstruction, but his positive
outlook toward achieving the American dream is infectious and
inspiring and will make you laugh and cry, often on the same page,
sometimes for the same reason."
--The San Diego Union-Tribune "A novel about a young man and the
changing American dream."
--New York Post "Few authors handle their characters with the
compassion that seems to come naturally to Jonathan Evison. The
Seattle novelist's latest work, Lawn Boy, explores the struggles of
the modern American Dream through Mike Muñoz, a young Chicano
landscaper in Washington state."
--Seattle Weekly "Evison's enthusiasm for his protagonist and his
book's message is evident on every page. It's the kind of book that
elbows its way into your head and forces you to think about your
world in a new way."
--Seattle Review of Books "The book explores the lives of people
like Mike with humor and compassion, wrestling with how you get
ahead when you can barely stop falling behind."
--Salt Lake City Weekly "A coming-of-age story wrapped in a
conversational critique of class and capitalism, with equal doses
of humor and heart planted here and there."
--Bainbridge Island Review "Joyful, funny, and life-affirming."
--Signature Reads "A swift, engaging read, with an alternately wry
and wistful sense of humor. But it also addresses painful territory
head-on, especially when it comes to American economic and cultural
inequality."
--Cascadia Magazine "Moving, hilarious, and uplifting . . . The
genius of the novel, and of its author, lies in the complexity of
emotions Mike's journey evokes, both from its hopeful beginning to
its unexpected fulfillment. But it's also in the nature of that
fulfillment--in the subtle sleight of hand Evison works to show
that the grass can be greener on either side of the fence."
--Four Corners Free Press "In this funny, angry, touching, and
ultimately deeply inspiring novel, the bestselling author takes the
reader into the heart and mind of a young Chicano living in
Washington State on a journey to discover himself, a search to find
the secret to achieving the American dream of happiness and
prosperity."
--Edmonds News (Edmonds, WA) "An entertaining read, with a few
surprises up its sleeve."
--BookReporter "Lawn Boy is an important, entertaining, and
completely winning novel about social class distinctions, about
overcoming cultural discrimination, and about standing up for
oneself."
--BookBrowse
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