|
Hobo | 
 enlarge | Author: Eddy Joe Cotton
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Category: Book
List Price: $12.00
Buy New: $10.20
You Save: $1.80 (15%)
New (4) Used (9) Collectible (1) from $3.92
Avg. Customer Rating:  32 reviews
Sales Rank: 126710
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.8 x 0.8
ISBN: 1400048095
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN: 9781400048090
ASIN: 1400048095
Publication Date: May 27, 2003
Availability: In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
On a cold, gray day in 1991, a kid named Eddy Joe Cotton left home with nothing but a warm jacket, some well-worn boots, and a few crumpled dollar bills. His father had just fired him, not for the first time, but for the last. He didn’t see his father again for two years. But this is not the story of a runaway—it is a tale of an unorthodox road to adulthood. By taking to the trains, Eddy Joe Cotton learned the difficulty of life lived on the margins, the fading importance of a once-celebrated American folk hero, and the ultimate meaning of freedom.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 27 more reviews...
 A unique story told by a true poet.... October 14, 2008
This book is an excellent introduction to an american institution known as hoboing or "riding the rails." In it a young man recounts his experiences hopping freight trains in the western U.S. The stories he relates are very interesting and from the heart. From things like avoiding the "bulls" (railroad guards) to scrounging for food to the romance of being completely free, it really delivers in terms of vicarious adventure. Anybody interested in reading on this subject will find what they are looking for between these pages. Besides being interesting and engaging the writer has the gift of the poet and conveys his story through very nice prose. If you're looking for something completely fresh and different this book will be worth your read also.
 its a fun read, dont read much into it August 16, 2008
this book is not a look into the life of a hobo. its just a story of one trip and his views from it. its a good quick read if you are a tramp or hobo, even if just at heart.
 Started Out Great But.. April 26, 2008
I loved the way the book started. It had great potential, but then he began to sound as if he were writing from examples he read in Kerouac 101. I wish it would have been a little better, but it was still a good beach read.
Would Zebu Recchia please make himself known June 6, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I started this book hoping that I'd read about what it's really like to ride the rails. I finished it with a sense that I'd been told what 'Eddy Joe Cotton' wants riding the rails to be like and that history had been airbrushed to fit the hobo myth.
This includes the author's choosing to take a 'nom de plume'. Eddy Joe Cotton, why didn't you write as 'Zebu Recchia'?
The book is strongest right at the beginning when he describes growing up with his Dad in Denver. This bit rang true to me. I lived there and Mr. Cotton/Recchia does a nice job of bringing the area around Colfax and Broadway to life.
There's another book I'm sure in the transition from life on the road to published author and somewhere I'd be interested to hear about how the Yard Dogs Roadshow came into existence.
What are you doing now Eddie Joe Cotton/Zebu Recchia?
For a less idealized picture of 'riding the rails', read Ted Conover's book 'Rolling Nowhere'.
Artistic and poetic adventure story April 6, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I really loved reading this book. Like the photos that accompany it, this story is grainy and blurred but at the same time artistically brilliant. Eddy Joe Cotton's unique talent to weave his poetry into a first class adventure story is magical.
Eddy Joe took me back 30 years to relive the best times of my life when as a teenager I spent 3 years off and on tramping around the western states before I joined the 400. It made me nostalgic for those good old days, but at the same time reminded me of how the road can wear you down and make you bone weary.
Put J.J. Cale's "travelog" and Lou Reed's "New York" in your CD player to set the mood and settle in for a good read of a story you won't be able to put down until you've turned the last page. I hope to see more books coming from Eddy Joe Cotton. He has a rare gift for creating an atmosphere in his story telling that left a lasting impression on me.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
