How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets

Great read. I don't think anything this man writes could be boring. He just knows how to tell a good story. I highly recommend it, as well as his other novel "Racing in the Rain." That one I couldn't put down - read it in 3 days and my husband read it in 2 days.

Again a great read after my introduction to this author through The Art of Racing in the Rain. Both well written emotionally encompassing.
i'm still not sure how i feel about the ending but am continuing to seek out more books by this author.

After reading Stein's fabulous "The Art of Racing in the Rain" I was anxious to read other offerings by this author. This was terribly disappointing. There is a juvenile tone to the entire work. Perhaps Stein should stick to the dog voice!

Just another terrific story by Garth! Such a pleasure to read when he has crafted every word and plot thread. Being from the Pacific NW, I love the Seattle and NW settings and towns with which I identify so closely. Can't wait for another new one!

very good debut effort. Who would've thunk that a book about a Seattle-based epileptic guitar player & the child he just discovered would be the initial effort that would vault a solid writer in Garth Stein onto the scene? Clearly, the author has both direct experience w epilepsy (his sister) and has done his research to make the lead character relatable. I have seen at least one review that compares this book to Nick Hornsby territory, & I'd agree, and consider that a compliment. A bit chatty. there's a lot of "talk-talk-talk-talk" going on. And it'd help if one had a good feel for WA state geography (although I know Seattle pretty well, I have no mental picture of Yakima or Walla Walla, the 3 cities which the characters seem to constantly be running between). But I quibble. A very solid effort. Different from the very popular "Art of Racing...", but I suspect most fans of that book will find this one somewhere between OK & very good, though not as brilliant or creative as that effort.

Evan Wallace is a talented guitarist, who may have already had his 15 minutes of fame. Now he's treading water; working a menial job, practicing with his current band, and sliding by. But when he receives news that an old girlfriend has been killed in a car crash leaving behind a 14 year old son (Evan's 14 yr old son!) Evan begins to examine every decision he has ever made. He spends a lot of time feeling sorry for himself, and believing the major events of his life were completely out of his control. The only time Evan feels actually feels like he *is* in control is when he is playing his guitar.

Evan, like all of us, goes through life thinking he knows who he is, but is he who he perceives himself to be, or is he the person other people see him as? Which is the truth?

Stein drives home the point that truth, like life, is subjective. Our choices are driven by personal and often, flawed, perspective, and this is what molds our motivation -- or lack of it.

This story engaged me from the very first pages, and kept me interested. Stein is a masterful story teller of character driven stories.

Garth Stein narrates a chilling portrait of the modern human condition. It is a story of a privileged twelve year old boy in Seattle who makes a bad choice and then struggles with life thereafter. He attends the funeral of his old high school girlfriend at age 31, meets his fourteen year-old son from that time for the first time and wrestles with his new choices.

Evan's world is grounded in adolescence. The key events take place at ages 12, 14 and 17. This is a difficult world where children begin to face adult decisions and learn about consequences. These consequences are magnified in a world or high technology and instant communications. Communal support from family, village and faith are limited. There is a "lord of the flies" teen pack atmosphere. Bucks test the system and find their place through sports and skates. Some become alpha males. Some fight the system. Some escape. Some please their parents. Many dream of pursuing their true passions.

The adult world is no better. Adults create a mental world to rationalize their choices and hide their fears. They tell stories. They meander through life, without guidance from their rational or subconscious minds. They self-destruct. They bully, intimidate and control. They avoid conflict or risk. They live in a fantasy world of partnerships, dinners and benefits. They compromise with evil.
Adult life is lived on the edge, a personal existential version of "things fall apart". There are life-threatening risks to avoid. There is the pace of the career rat race or the stunning realization that middle class possessions won't deliver purpose in life. Adults struggle to deal with their teenagers. They keep them busy. They pretend to control. They lecture. They miscommunicate and misunderstand each other.

Stein reveals the depth, power and angst of key life moments, not just the decisions and consequences, but the process of deciding, considering, delaying, imagining and then second-guessing the choices. Key choices in life are difficult. Facing up to them squarely is a heroic stance. There are few role models. The few, true role models have learned from difficult experience and are misunderstood by society. There is no guarantee that good choices will lead to good results.

But, there is a possibility of good results. There is the story to be told later about doing the right thing. There is that little voice of conscience, heart, soul or spirit encouraging us to be all that we can be. There is the prospect of self-respect from fighting the good fight. There can be personal connections with family and others that transcend the daily grind. There are moments where talents and opportunity produce art.

In the end, the author offers hope and advice to the reader, without the promise of comfort. This is a powerful novel with the shattering teen energy of the band Meatloaf's question "what's it gonna' be boy, yes or no?"

I just finished How Evan Broke His Head. This book was hard to put down...when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it and wanting to read it. I would sneak away in my house to get a chapter in...sign of a really good book. And, I was very sad for the book to end. The story is real, compelling and full of truths about all of us and how we lie to ourselves. The most beautiful l character in the book is Evan's girlfriend who is almost saintly but so real. I love when she says I forgive you in a such a poetic way. I won't spoil the book by giving anything away but this one is just as good as The Art of Racing In the Rain which is oh so good!!!

The story about a young man dealing with becoming a father was good, but what blew me away was the incredible depiction of the life of a person with a minimal handicap. His epilepsy doesn't show immediately to others, but it haunts every moment of his life. He has completely educated himself to limit the disease as much as it can be limited and if he is control of his life he controls the disease. But none of us can control our lives and the conflict of this book seems to be, can he be heroic enough to risk imbalance and save his son? Can he take the steps to make others in his life recognize that he can handle the handicap and run his own life? I thought there were a couple of other issues - people testing your love by pulling away and how we manipulate our life stories to fit the truths we can handle about ourselves that resonated with truth. There seemed to be a great honesty in this book and I was deeply impressed.

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.

Word to word, sentence to sentence this book was well written, but the characters were so pathetic they were just really not worth reading about. I kept thinking Evan would quit whining, so I kept reading. Although he did, it took 47 of the 48 chapters. If you have made excuses all your life and blamed everyone and everything around you for your own failings, perhaps this would be inspirational to you. I found it tedious & aggravating, but maybe that's because I've been through 10x the medical & personal issues that Evan has, and have always know it was MY job to deal with it!

Epilepsy has rarely been examined in fiction.
In How Even Broke his Head and Other Stories, Garth Stein puts an end to the silence.
With cool and measured precision, he introduces us to Evan Wallace, epileptic, and then forces us to watch Evan's ever-so-slow drift toward the inevitable seizure. Along the way, somehow, we find ourselves hoping Evan's efforts to ward it off, control his grip on consciousness, will succeed because at stake is the love of his son - a son he's only just learned exists.
Stein's depiction of their coming together is real, raw, gritty. Both father and boy are flawed. They feel their way, just like all of us.
The struggle begins the day they meet, and for Evan becomes his first real attempt to come to terms with the disorder that until now has ruled his existence.
Garth Stein knows this subject. His PBS documentary "When Your Head's Not a Head, It's a Nut?" is the story of his sister's preparations for surgery aimed at relieving her epilepsy. You owe yourself this read. It'll grow your head.
Art Tirrell - author of The Secret Ever Keeps - March 2007 from Kunati Book Publishers.

This is a fine novel. It is engaging, nuanced, and life- affirming without ever being predictable. It lives up to the high expectations I have of author Garth Stein since reading The Art of Racing in the Rain; now I am looking forward to reading every other thing he has written.

I enjoyed reading this book but I really couldn't relate to the secrecy that Evan had about his epilepsy. I have several friends with epilepsy (and two friends that died as a result of their condition) and never, ever did I or anyone else ever treat them differently or think they were weird or untouchable because of their medical condition. Are there really people out there that treat epileptics as some kind of social pariahs?