Road Angels: Searching for Home on America's Coast of Dreams

by Kent Nerburn

Book Overview

A midwestern skeptic embarks on a witty, compelling journey from the frozen plains of Minnesota to California in search of answers to life's most vexing questions. Reprint. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060698683
• ISBN13: 9780060698683
• Release Date: July 2001
• Publisher: HarperOne
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.9" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

very insightful and beautifully written

I just heard this author read in Ashland, Oregon. I did not know of him but his intelligence intrigued me so I bought the book. I think anyone who has ever relocated or contemplated a change in life should read this book. It is not only a wonderful read but a very profound examination of home and place. I will definitely recommend it to my most discriminating friends.

Insightful book

Very articulate and insightful reading. Authors use of the English language is artfully done. The book can be read on several levels from the mundane tasks of life to a much deeper sense . To me it is more about the dillemas we all face as human spiritual beings and how we try to make sense of that in a very material world. It has given me a new view of my life. I highly recommend it to anyone wishing for reading with some substance as well as enjoyment.

Road Angels is a great ride.

I loved ROAD ANGELS. I didn't want to put it down. Being a midwesterner transplanted to Los Angeles twenty years ago, I was curious to see how the author viewed the West Coast. I was surprised, delighted and moved as he made his journey from the Canadian border to San Luis Obispo. The images of the landscapes he passes through and his detailed and thoughtful portraits of the people he encounters compelled me to keep reading. Nerburn's reflections on his trip over the road and his journey through life made me pause and think about my own life; where I had been and where I was going. The conclusion that he draws from his conversations with three very different men in the San Francisco area is beautiful in its spiritual simplicity. As the book comes to an end I was moved to tears by his description of an act of kindness and closure. This is a story that reveals in sensitive, insightful and often times humourous ways, the lives and longings of people we pass everyday. I thank the author for taking me along for the ride. Read ROAD ANGELS. It is wonderful.

The altar of the plastic clown

This book is incredible! It is about an American journey, an American spiritual journey. Kent Nerburn shares his clear-eyed, middle-aged return to the left coast. This book is a bittersweet sojourn. It is as if the middle-aged Kent had to discover whether a small town in the northwoods of Minnesota had his heart or if his soul required the spirits of the west coast. His story takes you to exultant heights of the wonders of the human spirit and of creation that will make your spirit sing, yet gently grounds you in the sometimes grim realities of life in the United States. Road Angels will strike a chord with all Midwesterners who fled to the coast during their youth; yet found that the roots of the middle called them home.

Move over, Robert Pirsig and William Least Heat Moon

There are only a few writers I would follow to the ends of the earth. Louise Erdrich, Kathleen Norris, Kent Nerburn. I had read the first chapter of this book on Kent's website and I knew I had to have it. It's a book that makes you laugh and makes you think. I almost split a gut when he described Midwesterners in winter as being locked in a "cryogenic hysteria." I had to stop and think every few lines when he was describing how a small language allows people to animate the universe around them by giving names to individual trees and streams and rocks. I called my friends to read them his description of Big Sur as a Buddhist-still place, where the land and sky and sea sit in perfect balance, like gods gathered to discuss their individual domains. If you love night drives listening to distant radio stations, truck stops and cheap motels, and wonderful characters whose lives are wonderful stories, you'll love this book. If you ever dreamed of getting in your car and driving away from it all, you need this book. Buy it and read it. I guarantee you'll be calling your friends to share the insights and wonderful descriptions it contains.