How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description

"Funny, bewitching, observant."-The Oregonian

"Hits all the frets of a powerful story: sharp-witted dialogue, vivid characters, insight into medical challenges and prose that snaps like well-placed plucks of guitar strings. . . . I hold up my lighter and turn it full-flame for [Garth] Stein's latest work. Encore!"-The Seattle Times

"Compelling."-Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Stein handles the many narrative elements deftly."-Seattle Weekly

"An engrossing family drama."-Publishers Weekly

Evan had a hit single, but that was ten years ago. Thirty-one now, he's drifting, playing in a local band and teaching middle-aged men to coax music from an electric guitar.

Beset at a young age with a life-threatening form of epilepsy, he's kept his condition a secret. But his deepest secret is that he got his high school sweetheart pregnant. Then her conservative parents whisked her out of Seattle and out of Evan's life.

Now, fourteen years later, he experiences unplanned parenthood when he undertakes to raise the resentful teenage son he's never known.

Off beat and disarming, How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets portrays a contemporary American family with unfailing honesty.

Garth Stein, a former documentary filmmaker, was co-producer of an Academy Award-winning short film. How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets is his second novel; his first, Raven Stole the Moon, was published by Pocket Books. His third novel, The Art of Racing in the Rain, will be published by HarperCollins in 2008 and is being translated around the world. He lives in Seattle with his wife and children.

Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Don't hesitate. Read it. July 5, 2005
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

I was a little hesitant about this book. It sounded compelling, but the reviews made it sound a little scattered- it's about a guy, and his kid and a band and epilepsy...and, and. But it's not like that at all. It's a peek into someone's very complicated life. Sure, it's about a guy and this kid and a band and epilepsy-- but Stein writes in a way that makes us care and feel involved without manipulating our emotions.

It seemed so real. The characters in EVAN have conversations that don't go quite right. They suffer from jumbled and conflicting memories. Evan is cool, he's a hot guitarist, but that doesn't mean he can help behaving like a dweeb now and then.

What I liked the most was how Stein didn't let Evan get too caught up in his own pity party. His life became difficult and he had reason to wallow now and then, but Stein didn't baby him. He made it clear that Evan wasn't the only guy in the world with problems, that once Evan looked up and out of his insular bubble of emotions, he would be slapped with the reality that the world ain't always about YOU. If you ask me, that is what this book is really about.

I was concerned that this book might be an agonizing excersize in self realization. Instead, it was an enjoyable peek into a life very dissimilar to my own. Like Nick Hornby's books, it was a thoughtful and enjoyable journey. And isn't that what fiction is all about?

Don't hesitate. Read it!

5 out of 5 stars

Could have just been a redemption tale -- but is so much more August 10, 2005
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

31 year old slacker's estranged 14 year old son moves in with him -- could be the set up for a bad sitcom, but instead the scenario sets the stage for a sincere, emotional study of fatherhood. Stein does a great job of interlacing the Seattle music scene (plenty knowing nods for those who get the references) with the stumbling blocks of fatherhood and of a man reconciling his own issues with epilepsy, family, responsibility, and blame. Added bonus: Stein is funny as hell when he wants to be. The humor, however, doesn't distract from the genuine process of Evan and Dean learning how to be together. The author skips the easy sitcom answers and goes for the gold with this one. I loved it.

5 out of 5 stars

Woo! Stein hits one out of the park. August 31, 2005
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

I adored this book, mainly because Evan represents someone that we all know: a sweet but misguided thirty-something dude who hasn't grown up, and is squandering his talents in a way that frustrates everyone around him. The author weaves this character into an amazing story that was enjoyable to read, incredibly compelling, and packed with fully developed, diverse characters. It was also fun to read so much about Seattle - I felt as though the city was another well-drawn character.

I've read that Stein has been compared to Nick Hornby, but I gots to tell y'all that I think he is better. I'm trying to decide between Hornby's new one and Raven Stole the Moon, an I think Raven will be next up.

4 out of 5 stars

How Evan finally grows up April 26, 2006
5 out of 6 found this review helpful

Imagine meeting your teenage son for the first time at the funeral of his mother who happened to be your highschool girlfriend. That's where our story begins and for the most part this novel is a thoroughly enjoyable read. Evan is a bit of a "lost soul". A thirtysomething guy whose world revolves around his hope to recreate his one-time success as a lead guitarist in a rock band. Evan also happens to be an epileptic and his life is constantly controlled by the inevitable "next seizure". The fact that Evan has now become an instant father to a grief struck teenager is definatly not in his long-term plan.

The author nails the characters of Evan and his son Dean perfectly. I was totally convinced by Evan's frustrations and Dean's adolescence angst. My only criticism would be that some of the secondary characters, especially Evan's "girlfriend" Mica just didn't work for me. Her words and actions seemed frankly laughable given that she and Evan had only just begun a relationship...the two of them together often felt strange and forced. That issue aside, this is an enjoyable novel about finding oneself in some unlikely ways. Check it out.

5 out of 5 stars

If you love to read, you need this book March 13, 2005
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

This is a book for people who love to read. You'll want to buy several copies-one to keep, others to give to friends. It's original, beautifully written, and deals with complicated subject matter that doesn't easily transcend to literature. The prose is flawless, the imagery gripping, and yet it's still a very human story that will stay with you long after you read the last page.

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