The One Inside

“Richly complex. . . . Minutely observed. . . . A sharp-eyed distillation of the themes that have preoccupied him throughout his career.” —The New York Times

“A writer who has already established himself as an essential modern American playwright. . . . Compelling. . . . Magnetic.” —Chicago Tribune

“[The narrator] seeks authenticity, even as he creates art and artifice as a métier. Masculinity and its perils, the primitive drama of sibling and father-son rivalry, are the wellsprings of Shepard’s work.” —The New York Times Book Review
 
“Moving . . . [Shepard is] remarkably successful at rendering his long career of storytelling in relief.” —Santa Fe New Mexican

“Shepard is a master of conflicting emotions and haunting regrets, and—graced with a forward by Patti Smith—this is a ravishing tale of deep-dark cosmic humor, complex tragedy, and self-inflicted exile.” —Booklist (starred review)

“Meditative and valedictory. . . . Since this is Shepard, the protagonist is riding a sharp and polished knife’s edge as he muses. . . . Memories of his father, especially during wartime; of his father’s girlfriend, with whom he also became involved (with tragic consequences); and of the vibrant American landscape inform the narrative.” —Library Journal

“Vivid. . . . Following a poignant foreword by Patti Smith, each successive chapter of the novel flits among times and forms. . . . Striking and memorable, illustrative of what makes Shepard’s work so arresting on the screen and the page.” —Publishers Weekly

“An elegiac amble through blowing dust and greasy spoons, the soundtrack the whine of truck engines and the howl of coyotes. . . . At turns, Shepard’s story morphs from novel, with recurring characters and structured narrative, into prose poem, with lysergic flashes of brilliance and amphetamine stutters. . . . Atmospheric and precisely observed, very much of a piece with Shepard’s other work.” —Kirkus Reviews