Off Ramp: Adventures and Heartache in the American Elsewhere

"[A] razor sharp eye...a master class in top-notch journalism. A."---Entertainment Weekly, Editor's Choice

In his unique, funny, and haunting reports from "Elsewhere," Hank Stuever records the odd and touching realities of modern life in everyday places. Elsewhere might be revealed in the tract-house adventures of a home-décor reality show, at a discount funeral home in a strip mall, or in the story of an armed man named Honey Bear on the hunt for his beloved but now missing sleeper sofa that he left in a storage unit. Off Ramp shows us America through the humorous gaze of Hank Stuever, who finds an unlikely beauty in the drab but glorious suburban frontier.

"Wildly funny, caustic, subversive, and a little bizarre around the edges...A wonderfully original and confident voice."---Augusten Burroughs, author of Running with Scissors

"These 'elsewheres,' as he calls them, are Stuever's speciality.... They form a coherent, often funny, even lovely rendering of one man's curious embrace of the world."---Washingtonian

"[Stuever] reaches to the core of the human condition.... A mixture of compelling writing style and deep reflection."---The Denver Post

"His curiosity, taste for the offbeat, humility, and mellifluous phrasing combine to make this book...a reminder that reading a newspaper can sometimes be a joy and not some tedious civic chore."---The Seattle Times

"Marvelous...worth reading for the writing alone."---San Francisco Chronicle

Hank Stuever's work is currently seen in The Washington Post, where he is a staff writer. He has twice been named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing and has appeared on Today, MSNBCp0, and various radio programs. He lives in Washington, D.C.

In his unique, funny, and haunting reports from "Elsewhere," Hank Stuever records the odd and touching realities of modern life in everyday places. Elsewhere might be revealed in the tract-house adventures of a home-décor reality show, at a discount funeral home in a strip mall, or in the story of an armed man named Honey Bear in the hunt for his beloved but now missing sleeper sofa which he left in a store unit. Off Ramp shows us America through the humorous gaze of Hank Stuever, who finds beauty in the midst of the most unlikely and invisible lives and places.

Hank Stuever's work is currently seen in The Washington Post, where he is a staff writer. He has twice been named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing and has appeared on Today, MSNBC, and various radio programs. He lives in Washington, D.C.

"Subversive and a little bizarre around the edges...A wonderfully original and confident voice." --Augusten Burroughs, author of Running with Scissors and Dry

"Stuever homes in on the banal but still-beating heart of Americana...and because he misses nothing, these meaningful stories offer a master class in top-notch journalism." --Editor's Choice, Nicholas Fonseca, Entertainment Weekly (A)

"Stuever...reaches to the core of the human condition...A mixture of compelling writing style and deep reflection." --Steven Weinberg, The Denver Post

"His curiosity, taste for the offbeat, humility, and mellifluous phrasing, combine to make this book....a reminder that reading a newspaper can sometimes be a joy and not some tedious civic chore." --J. Patrick Coolican, The Seattle Times

"Marvelous...worth reading for the writing alone." --Josh Green, San Francisco Chronicle