Having collected multiple awards, best-of-year laurels, and movie options, Evison brings us Mike Muñoz. Out of high school for awhile and getting nowhere—he's just lost his job on a landscaping crew—Mike struggles to grab the American dream. With a ten-city tour.

Mike Muñoz just can't seem to get ahead. It's one crappy landscaping job after another. He likes being outside and dreams of creating elaborate topiary but can't stand working for "the man." Mike is his own worst enemy. He spends most of his free time taking care of his disabled adult brother Nate, a tyrant addicted to Despicable Me and Oreos. The rest of his time is spent grubbing quarters out of the sofa to scrape together enough to buy dinner at Mitzel's so he can catch a glimpse of his favorite waitress. But he has a plan for self-improvement, and it involves the library. There are unlimited books, free AC, and an earnest librarian, Andrew, who might just be the one to help him see his authentic self. VERDICT Readers who are uncomfortable with the author's frequent use of profanity and vulgarity will miss out on a deeply real portrait of an everyday Joe just trying to find his way. Evison combines humor, honesty, and anger with an insightful commentary on class that's also an effective coming-of-age novel. [See Prepub Alert, 10/16/17; library marketing.]—Christine Perkins, Whatcom Cty. Lib. Syst., Bellingham, WA

This moving fifth novel from Evison (This is Your Life, Harriet Chance) enters the wry, conflicted mind of Mike Muñoz, a recently fired yard worker with a real talent for topiary and a genuine love for landscaping. When Mike is sacked after refusing to comply with a client's orders to pick up after his dog, he takes refuge in the one place in the world that's always welcomed him: the library. As he tries to figure out what to do next, Mike contemplates writing the "Great American Landscaping Novel"—the sort of novel he'd like to read—but writing novels, he realizes, isn't for people like him: "landscapers, especially unemployed ones... had bills to pay. Cars to fix. Disabled siblings to care for." Evison convincingly evokes the small disasters and humiliations that beset America's working poor. Mike's gradual growth into self-awareness is punctuated by moments of human kindness and grace that transpire in and among broken-down trucks, trailer parks, and strip malls. Focusing on the workers who will only ever be welcome in gated communities as hired help, Evison's quiet novel beautifully considers the deterioration of the American Dream. Agent: Mollie Glick, Foundry Literary + Media. (Apr.)

Eminently readable and deeply thought-provoking, Evison's deceptively simple novel takes on tough issues such as race, sexual identity, and the crushing weight of American capitalism. Mike Muñoz, the 22-year-old biracial (Mexican and white) narrator, has grown up dirt-poor with his hardworking waiter mother and his brother, who is developmentally disabled. The narrative follows Mike's attempts at several other jobs after he's fired from his lawn-mowing gig while he works on his love life and tries to help out his family. After Mike recounts a great disappointment involving his biological father in the first chapter, one of several themes emerges as Mike encounters several potential father figures (often bosses), each with his own deeply flawed philosophy of life. From the cutthroat capitalism of his first boss to the upper-class cronyism of an old high school pal, each man personifies aspects of Mike's life that he cannot stand, even while he learns valuable lessons from them. Meanwhile, other story lines fix on Mike's underdeveloped understanding of his sexuality, which is not helped by the rampant homophobia and sexism of his best friend, and his equally conflicted understanding of his ethnic identity. Unfortunately, Evison's often infective enthusiasm for his preponderance of ideas weighs down the demands of the plot. Nevertheless, the passion with which Mike and Evison share these ideas redeems the novel. VERDICT Give this flawed but exciting coming-of-age story to teens eager to engage with heavy and timely political issues.—Mark Flowers, Rio Vista Library, CA