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    Lawn Boy
    Lawn Boy
    Lawn Boy
    Audiobook8 hours

    Lawn Boy

    Written by Jonathan Evison

    Narrated by P.J. Ochlan

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    For Mike Muñoz, a young Chicano living in Washington State, life has been a whole lot of waiting for something to happen. Not too many years out of high school and still doing menial work-and just fired from his latest gig as a lawn boy on a landscaping crew-he knows that he's got to be the one to shake things up if he's ever going to change his life. But how?

    In this funny, angry, touching, and ultimately deeply inspiring novel, bestselling author Jonathan Evison takes the reader into the heart and mind of a young man on a journey to discover himself, a search to find the secret to achieving the American dream of happiness and prosperity. That's the birthright for all Americans, isn't it? If so, then what is Mike Muñoz's problem? Though he tries time and again to get his foot on the first rung of that ladder to success, he can't seem to get a break. But then things start to change for Mike, and after a raucous, jarring, and challenging trip, he finds he can finally see the future and his place in it. And it's looking really good.

    Lawn Boy is an important, entertaining, and completely winning novel about social class distinctions, about overcoming cultural discrimination, and about standing up for oneself.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateApr 3, 2018
    ISBN9781684413270
    Lawn Boy
    Author

    Jonathan Evison

    JONATHAN EVISON is an American writer known for his novels All About Lulu (winner of the Washington State Book Award), West of Here (New York Times bestseller, winner of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award and the Booklist Editor’s Choice Award) and The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving (currently in development for film). In 2009 and 2011 he was nominated by the American Book Association as “Most Engaging Author.” In his teens, Evison was a founding member and frontman of the Seattle punk band March of Crimes, which included future members of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. Born in San Jose, California, he now lives on an island in western Washington with his family. His latest novel, This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!, will be published in September 2015.

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    Reviews for Lawn Boy

    4/5

    110 ratings18 reviews

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    • 3/5
      The reading is robotic. Doesn't capture the character nor certainly the humor of the writing.
    • 5/5
      Not what I expected, but I loved it ?! it was worth the read!
    • 5/5
      How do people climb out of poverty? Funny but sad.
    • 3/5
      I don't understand why this book is on the most banned list for schools in backward states. I had expected a far more compelling read.
    • 3/5
      Dragged on a bit, predictable. Had to force myself to finish.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. I usually don’t enjoy realistic fiction but always try to read books from the top 10 Banned Books in the USA each year. This book was angry and inspiring and sad and funny. I actually cackled out loud a few times. And the ending? ???
    • 5/5
      Mike Muñoz is in his early twenties, lives with his mom and his special needs brother in a rented trailer on the res, and works a minimum-wage landscaping job. When he quits his job out of protest for mistreatment (he didn't sign on to pick up yards full of dog turds), his bleak prospects for the future get even dimmer. So he spends the book on a rollercoaster of promising job leads and rotten luck, struggling with old friends and making new ones, all the while trying to suss out who he really is, who he wants to be, and realizing his own self worth. Think Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London for a different time and a different kind of outsider. I struggled through the first two thirds of this one, forcing myself to read on despite being annoyed at most of the characters and the dismal tone of events, but I was caught up just enough in the main character that I needed to know how things turned out for him. And I'm so glad I stuck with it, because it turned out to be one of those rare novels in which the last 100 pages turn everything around and transform the story from generally disagreeable to one of my favorite reads so far this year.
    • 3/5
      Mike Munoz, Evison’s “lawn boy”, is a down on his luck, well-read, Chicano twenty-something living with his waitress mom and autistic brother. He’s barely getting by making low wages on a landscaping crew while dealing with all the classic coming of age struggles: finding oneself, exploring sexuality, friendship, family, etc. Evison goes deeper, too, to explore issues of class and race, but his straightforward and very entertaining style makes Lawn Boy very enjoyable and fun. Without including a spoiler, Evison handles one of the major plot points quite clumsily, and the issue ends up feeling very unbelievable after spending so much time in Mike’s head. This unevenness makes the book problematic for me, but I would still recommend it as a funny book with a little substance
    • 5/5
      Mike does a lot of growing up in this book. He gets taken advantage of, takes care of his special needs brother, looks for work and sometimes gets it, deals with broken down cars, falls in love with an unlikely friend, moves out of his mom's house to the shed, watches his mother fall in love, and always worries about money. Excellent book.
    • 5/5
      Very inspiring book. Finished it last night. A good story but so much more than that. Recognize what’s important to you. Realize that no one accomplished anything alone and appreciate that. Keep moving toward what you want. And realize that life is more difficult for some of us than many of us can even imagine but we all still want the same things really. And it makes me want to go start making lists. I should say I didn't love every second of it. I'm a mom and so scenes like the one outside the pet store was one second I didn't love. But making mistakes, being imperfect and aspiring to be more is really part of the story, so it's good.
    • 5/5
      Mike Munoz wants nothing more than to cut lawns and do landscaping but as a perceived "Mexican" he is trundled into doing other services and chores. When he is asked to picked 'doggy-do' he quits in protest. He returns to his life: living on the Reservation (altho' his family is not Native American), sleeping in a tiny shack, minding a disabled 300 lb. brother, worrying about his mother who works two jobs and hanging out with friends who would be enemies to anyone else. He pursues a series of dead-end jobs and can't seem to catch a break... well, until he does. In the meantime, Mike develops a social conscience, a clearer sense of his own identity, and forges a path for himself. This is a clear, unflinching look at life lived at the poverty line; casual deprivation, hardships, and injustices. It would all be too much if not for Mike's sardonic humor and honesty. This reader rooted for Mike to find his way and attain his version of the American Dream; you will, too. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Mike Munoz is a twenty-three year old half Mexican who can’t catch a break in life. “Old Mike Munoz would like to figure out who the hell he actually is, what he’d actually like to do with his life.” He calls himself a “tenth generation peasant with a Mexican last name, raised by a single mom on an Indian Reservation.”He lives with his mother and his 300 pound special needs brother, who he has pretty much been stuck with looking after his whole life. His father left long ago and so did the two stepfathers that followed him. “Expectations for Mike Munoz had always been low. To a large degree we are products of our own environment.” That statement sums up what a huge chunk of the book is about. Mike is barely making ends meet and struggles from job to job, always broke and down on his luck. “I was taught to always expect and prepare for something less, because eight times out of then that’s what’s coming. To actually expect anything bigger or better was simply beyond my reach.”“Sometimes it’s pretty hard to see past your immediate struggles.”He has a loser, douche-bag best friend that he has grown up with named, Nick who he has a sort of love/hate relationship with. “It’s just that no matter a narrow-minded dickhead he is, he’s family. All these years, I’ve had no choice but to accept him, in spite of his bigotry and shallowness and willful ignorance. No matter how deep the infection runs, family is family.”Mike is “fleetingly content, most of the time broke, sometimes hopeful but ultimately powerless.” Mike finds peace, safety inspiration and comfort in the library and the books that he reads. He develops a friendship with the librarian, Andrew. He feels at home with Andrew and they have energetic conversations that make Mike feel like maybe he can be someone after all. Mike says of himself, “If only Mike Munoz was able to think beyond the confines of his experience, if he could only summon the courage and the wherewithal to break the patterns that defined him, raze the walls that imprisoned him. If only he could believe in himself.”As the story develops, Mike grows into himself and develops his identity. “Was I a traitor for empowering myself, for indulging a sense of self-worth? For finally holding out for something better.” “Whoever you are, whatever your last name is, wherever you came from, whichever way you sway, whatever is standing in your way, just remember; you’re bigger than that. You contain multitudes.”
    • 4/5
      Mike Munoz is in his early 20s and the only thing he likes to do is cut lawns and do other landscaping duties, but these menial jobs barely pay the bills and when he is fired from his lawn service company, he has to really decide what to do with his life. This is a fine story about a young Chicano man, trying to make his way, in Washington state, as he deals with poverty, a mentally-challenged brother and many shiftless, friends and family, who weave their way through his life. It is funny and poignant and you will be rooting for Mike, all along the way. This is my first book by Mr. Evison and I am looking forward to reading more of his work.
    • 4/5
      This guy can really write! Great characters and development of ideas fill his books. This is quite a unique story and filled with both angst and hilarity.
    • 5/5
      AH-MAZING!!! I LOVED this book!! I will defnitely get myself a finshed copy (I won an arc through Goodreads). So many great laughable moments and lessons to take to take to heart. I did a lot of noting and dog-earing. :o) I don't think you'll regret picking this one up so go buy it now!
    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this book. I laughed so hard. I sped right through this highly enjoyable read."They moved Disneyland" was just one of the first things that had me laughing out loud.A tale of a California Mexican who lives in a trailer with his older brother (who has mental deficiencies) and his mother on an Indian reservation. If it weren't for bad luck, Michael would have none at all."We occupied space" another quote that had me cracking up.I laughed out loud several times while reading this. The jabs on Freddy were especially funny. Of course, there was quite a bit to work with. I was still laughing the next day after reading when something reminded me of Freddy. Good grief, he certainly steals the show. What a life he has! Ha!! He does come through in the end. Who would have thunk it?A hilarious read that held me spellbound while living life through Michael's eyes. Excellent read!Huge thanks to Algonquin Books and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
    • 4/5
      It's the relationship that develops at the end that really struck the only false note for me. The relationship itself was actually sweet, but how it got there...just something about it didn't quite ring true. But that was just a single flaw in what is otherwise a small gem of a book.
    • 4/5
      This novel is bighearted, pretentious, and thoughtful--just like its narrator, a Chicano landscaper in his early twenties in suburban Washington state. Mike is barely holding on, financially and socially, but he's holding out for what he wants--a sense of purpose on his own terms. He may just be able to achieve it, with help from a motley collection of friends and family. By the end of the story, Mike is out to save the world, as his motto says, one lawn at a time.