I wrote about this book on my IG page and I’ll add it here. Released in late 2024 this will be an easy top-5 read of 2025 for me. I can’t tell you the last time I was this engaged with a character. He was incredibly real and incredibly likable and over 400 pages you see the growth and maturity of the narrator. To say this is the best road trip novel you haven’t read is an understatement. Add it to the pile of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, On the Road and Going Native.
Unnamed 19-year old (who turns 20 along the way) decides to hit the road with sort of friends, Jen, Peter and Dylan the pup. Typical road trip stuff along the way. Drugs, meeting new people, sleeping among the stars. Doing whatever you can and want. And a little Jesus. Our narrator will remember this trip for the rest of his life. A less mature writer would have made this narrator a “pissed-off punk” or an “I hate my f***ing parents” spoiled brat. Not Toby Dunne. A well written page turner that is easy to love and a narrator to root for.
The last pages are some of the best writing you’ll read this year. Five glorious stars.