House of Earth: A Novel
“Powerful…Happily, many good things happened, and the book is finally with us.” (Larry McMurtry,New York Review of Books)“Its voice is powerful, and to read it is to find kinship with an era whose angers and credulities still seem timely…There is a surprising electricity inHouse of Earth.” (USA Today)“The style ofHouse of Earthis strange and lyrical…House of Earthbecomes an invaluable addition to the literature of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, one with an eerie relevance in today’s America.” (Dallas Morning News)“Guthrie demonstrates an easy facility with language and the words of the people of the Great Plains. The opening lines strike a note of simple poetry…House of Earthwill certainly be essential reading for Woody Guthrie fans.” (Christian Science Monitor)“House of Earthis an artifact, of course, but so is any buried treasure…House of Earthis well constructed, like a good song or house should be, but it’s also a bit flawed and unruly, exactly the way American literature has always been.” (Minneapolis Star Tribune)“What a combo! Johnny Depp and Woody Guthrie…This belongs on a shelf alongside Steinbeck’sThe Grapes of Wrath,…” (New York Post)“House of Earthis so alive it is hard to realize that its author has been gone for 45 years….Stark, original, brutal in spots, lyrical in others, often very funny.” (Times(London))“A heartfelt story about grinding poverty …This novel, more than a curiosity, is both welcome and timely.” (Daily Telegraph(London))“The book is an eccentric hymn to the everythingness of everything, a sort of hillbillyFinnegans Wake…it offers intimate, often startling access to the peculiar intellect and capacious soul of a 20th-century icon.” (Guardian)“With Guthrie’s ear for language and eye for human passions,House of Earthis an engaging and poetic story about struggle that still rings true today. Its revival is welcome.” (Independent on Sunday)“Guthrie’s straight forward depiction of his raw rural characters are reminiscent of not any of his fellow Americans so much as they are of Mikhail Sholokhov. The folksy, incantatory exuberance is all Guthrie…An entertainment -- and an achievement even more than a curiosity, yet another facet of Guthrie’s multiplex talents.” (Kirkus Reviews)“Almost more a prose poem than a novel, this is an impassioned tirade against agribusiness and capitalism. Like Guthrie’s songs, the novel presents concerns of the Everyman…readers who appreciate Jon Steinbeck and Erskine Caldwell, as well as fans of Guthrie’s music, will want to reach for this folksy novel.” (Library Journal)“With dialogue riche in ‘hillbilly’ vernacular and a story steeped in folk traditions, Guthrie’s drought-burdened, dust-blown landscape swirls with life…His heritage as folksinger, artist, and observer of West Texas strife lives on through these distinct pages infused with the author’s wit, personality, and dedication to Americana.” (Publishers Weekly)“Told in the unmistakable vernacular of Woody, at once earthy and erudite,House of Earthis less a novel than an extended prose poem interrupted by healthy smatterings of folksy dialogue.” (Shelf Awareness)