Customer Comments

When you buy this book - and you really owe it to yourself to do that - make sure you block out a chunk of time before your crack the cover, because you simply will not want to stop reading it. Matt is one of the best writers I've run across in a long time. The fact that he isn't being published nationally - he owns Nestucca Spit Press, the book's publisher - is simply amazing to me. That is no doubt something that will change in the not too distant future. This book - and really all of Matt's writing - is nothing but total enjoyment. He holds nothing back, and you're grateful that he doesn't. His perspectives are fresh, totally honest, and make you want to get to know some of the folks he writes about. More than anything, though, his writing made me take a step back and reconsider how I looked at things. I can't remember the last time a writer impacted me to that degree. This is one truly talented individual.

I picked this book up on a whim after reading Matt's One Man's Beach column in the Oregon Coast Today. I frankly had no idea what to expect, but I couldn't put it down once I started reading it, and I was totally bummed when I finished. So, I read it all over again. Then I started looking around for more of his books - which, unfortunately, except for Super Sunday are hard to find along the coast. This book is a delight from cover to cover; not just because of Matt's connection to the Refuge, but because of his ability to make you a part of his experiences. It feels like you're standing in his shadow watching him taking his students to the beach, running up Cannery Hill with his dog, or ripping out blackberry bushes around his new house. This is one truly talented writer. Bottom line: you simply have to put this book on your must-read list. Once you do, I guarantee you'll be searching for more of his books, reading his On Oregon blogs on Powells, and anxiously awaiting his upcoming books on the Yaquina Bay bridge and the making of Sometimes a Great Notion. We should all selfishly enjoy this native son while we can because no doubt in the near future we're going to have to share him with the rest of the reading world.