A slow-burn journey for Evelyn in Transit

I picked up Evelyn in Transit feeling genuinely excited — I deeply enjoyed Snow Falling on Cedars, and, while he’s written many novels since then, this was my first return to David Guterson’s work.

Main character Evelyn grows up restless in small-town Indiana, never quite able to live on her own terms. At eighteen, she hits the road, hitchhiking across the American West, taking odd jobs, and gravitating toward Buddhism.

Evelyn’s story is woven in with a Tibetan boy, who is recognized as an important reincarnated lama. Eventually, the two threads converge when Buddhist lamas arrive at Evelyn’s door, igniting a family crisis in the process.

The narrative follows Evelyn on a journey that’s both literal and figurative, but as the reader, I struggled to come along for the ride. While the novel was a little difficult for me to engage with, I should mention that the same thing happened to me with Snow Falling on Cedars. I actually abandoned that book halfway through, then came back a couple of years later and absolutely loved it. Perhaps this is another case of the right book at the wrong time — if I loop back to give "Evelyn" another chance, it's very possible this pattern would repeat.

It's also worth noting that this felt like a definite shift in tone for Guterson, although it's been so long since I've read his books that it may be consistent with his current style. I found the tone less pensive and the focus a little less purposefully meaningful. That said, the writing quality is strong, and this novel is likely to find its home with readers who like to contemplate slower-paced literary fiction with philosophical undercurrents.

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