West of Here - Softcover

Riotously funny...wonderfully charming (New York Times Book Review)

[A] booming, bighearted epic (Vanity Fair)

[An] expansive, century-spanning novel...West of Here is the kind of work that begs to be called sweeping, with its large cast of characters encompassing multiple eras, sturdy American themes of community and nature, and a style that could be called cinematic...the big picture is pretty impressive (Entertainment Weekly)

...irreverent humor, lustrous prose, and unexpected moments animate a tale as vast as the land it inhabits. (amazon.com Best Books of February 2011)

An enjoyable, meaty read - a vision of a place told through the people who find themselves at the edge of America's idea of itself (Los Angeles Times)

Evison does a terrific job at creating a sense of place as he skips back and forth across the century, cutting between short chapters to sustain a propulsive momentum while juggling a sprawling network of plots and a massive cast of characters real enough to walk off the page. A big novel about the discovery and rediscovery of nature, starting over, and the sometimes piercing reverberations of history, this is a damn fine book. (Publisher's Weekly)

Any one of Evison's numerous major characters could have owned his or her own novel; that they coexist perfectly in this one, undiminished but without overwhelming one another, is testament to the book's greatness. (Booklist starred review.)

This book is a living, breathing testament to Evison's singular talent for creating portraits of people who may be fictional, but nevertheless are so vital that one is certain their names must be in a historic register somewhere. Like the people in his book, Evison's grand ambition seems to have been snatched out of thin air and made real in a way that is simply undeniable (BookPage)

Sprightly and enthusiastic. (Wall Street Journal)

[A] big booming ruckus of a novel ... Evison is a tremendously gifted storyteller. (San Francisco Chronicle)