“[A] compelling narrative … An elevated manner of address and a rich vocabulary at odds with his impoverished state and deadbeat friends make Mr. Eighner a quirky guide into the homeless condition as he plunges on, through Miracle Miles, desert flea markets, and dusty truck stops, surviving en route the complex architecture of highway access ramps, subzero temperatures, psychotic companions, and an amazing encounter with the Texas welfare system.”

—The Wall Street Journal

“Eighner’s account of his life on the streets is great writing, factual and declarative like George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London, personal and affecting like The Diary of Anne Frank. And he is funny.… I found myself remembering its visceral details in my dreams.”

—L.A. Style

“Strongly recommended … His unique voice [is] part naive innocence, part eccentric fool. Remarkable.”

—Library Journal

“Lars Eighner has written a remarkable book, and introduced us to an unforgettably singular character—himself. His elegant, courtly language and wry sense of humor play a perfect counterpoint to the grubby misadventures he recounts. Comparisons to Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and Hamsun’s Hunger—as well as, of course, Orwell and Ackerly—leap to mind. Eighner is a witty and informative commentator (he knows a lot of odd, interesting stuff), and an astute, economical portraitist of various grifters, scroungers, pathological liars, and Good Samaritans who cross his path. This book will become a classic of down-and-out literature. But beyond that, Eighner belongs with the classical personal essayists, who can compel our attention on any subject, because of the idiosyncratic suppleness and sanity of his voice.”

—Phillip Lopate

“An unaffected, absorbing narrative. Eighner fills his pages with vivid descriptions, perceptive observations, humor, and a writing style that carries the reader easily and almost painlessly over troublesome issues.”

—Booklist

“In spare, unsensational and often elegant prose, Eighner tells how it was possible for him to live from what he gleaned in Dumpsters.… [He’s] a clearheaded observer of the world.”

—Publishers Weekly