Reviews

Lawn Boy, by Jonathan Evison

kerryanndunn's review against another edition

5.0

This book just made me happy. It’s as simple as that. Do you want to be happy? Read this book. I love Jonathan Evison’s humor and heart. I’ve always loved his quirky yet relatable characters and Mike Muñoz is a delight of a character. He made me both laugh out loud and well up with tears over the course of his struggle to find himself. And then there are all the little side characters: every one of them distinctly drawn and well developed. I felt like I knew them all. Once again, Jonathan Evison shows us that he can write completely different stories with each novel he puts out into the world, but they all have his distinct voice, cadence, and soul.

c100's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

triftwizened's review

5.0

In this world, Mike would be tested again and again, his efforts often consigned to futility, his success borne back by the ceaseless tide of cultural and financial inequity. Yet Mike would ultimately overcome, because he learned to engage the world on his own terms.

A better summary than anything I could come up with, which I pulled from the essay that was the equivalent of an author’s note in the back of the book.

I didn’t expect to enjoy this nearly as much as I did. The first 20-ish percent, I was really on the fence about this. But I really grew to care for the MC and his brand of humor. Mike is surrounded by people who are absolutely wacky (and sometimes offensive. There’s a character who is homophobic and racist and just an awful piece of shit, but in the most bizarre of ways. At any rate, there’s a scene relatively early on where Mike shuts Nick down and it was amazing). And I just… really enjoyed this.

derekreadsbooks's review

fast-paced

2.5

mitabird's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

anna_delong's review

5.0

I picked this one up because it was the 2nd most-banned of 2021.

It's honestly a fantastic book. I don't always enjoy 1st person, but Evison's prose just perfectly captures the working-class struggles of a Mexican-American kid in the early throes of adulthood. The characters are thoughtful caricatures as much as they are portraits of small-town America. It's beautifully told and carefully worded. I fell into his world with ease.

Oh yeah, it's also super gay

queerjennareads's review

challenging reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

lrlong11's review

2.0

This book was a rough one to start. It was depressing, the main character is perpetually down on his luck. I kind of thought there wasn't going to be a story arc, just plain negativity the entire book. I'd say about 2/3 of the way through things started to turn around and actually gain my interest. By the end of the book I appreciated the whole thing more, but man it was rough going to finish this one.

lbw's review

funny inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

This book came into my hands when a library customer who had checked it out because she’s reading books that have been challenged showed me that a previous reader defaced it by blacking out the granddaddy of curse words whenever it appeared for the first third of the text. We marveled at the gall. She said, “And language isn’t even why it was challenged.” I had to delete it but decided to read it, too.

I had to look up why it was challenged: sexually explicit LGBTQ content. (Ummm, no.

Spoiler

There is a really tame, same sex, budding love story near the end.

) The most “dangerous” ideas were the main character’s early views on economic inequality, but

Spoiler

the main character also buys in to the idea of climbing the ladder of success and at least a bit to seeing success equivalent to money by the end of the story….so how revolutionary is that?

Regardless of all that, it is a coming of age novel about a likable working class young man. I liked it.

yourdailyremindertoread's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes