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Western Starlands
442 pages, Paperback
Published November 4, 2024
1 person is currently reading
14 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 7, 2025
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.
If you aren’t familiar with this…
https://whiskeytit.com/product/wester...
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.
If you aren’t familiar with this…
https://whiskeytit.com/product/wester...
May 19, 2025
I enjoyed traveling along on this cross country road trip! Beautifully and thoughtfully written by Toby Dunne.
March 15, 2026
What I really enjoyed about Western Starlands was the tone of discovery that runs through the whole book. It feels like you’re seeing the road through the narrator’s eyes in real time. How everything is new, strange, and a little exciting.
Overall, I liked how the book carries that sense of novelty and curiosity throughout the journey. It really captures the feeling of being thrown into unfamiliar situations and just rolling with whatever the road brings next. I could see myself in the main character, especially when calling the religious views he's held his whole life into question.
I look forward to another read!
Overall, I liked how the book carries that sense of novelty and curiosity throughout the journey. It really captures the feeling of being thrown into unfamiliar situations and just rolling with whatever the road brings next. I could see myself in the main character, especially when calling the religious views he's held his whole life into question.
I look forward to another read!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews