Lawn Boy

(Hardback, Large Print Edition)

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Description

For Mike Muoz, a young Chicano living in Washington State, life has been a whole lot of waiting for something to happen. Years out of high school and still doing menial work, just fired from his latest gig as a lawn boy on a landscaping crew, he knows that hes got to shake things up if hes ever going to change his life. But how This funny, angry, touching, and inspiring novel takes us into the heart and mind of a young man on a journey to discover himself.

Reviews

"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 Munoz, Evison has created an indelible human spirit content to live authentically, which just might prove to be the true American dream."
--Booklist, starred review

"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 Munoz 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
"[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

"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 Munoz 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
"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 Munoz 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
Praise for Jonathan Evison:

"Stealthily powerful . . . so poignant yet improbably funny." --The New York Times (on The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving)



"An entertaining picaresque and a moving story of redemption." --The New Yorker (on The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving)



"Brisk, often comic, always deeply sympathetic." --The Washington Post Book World (on West of Here)