Rating: 
Summary: One of the most beautiful things you will ever read
Review: This is not, as some reviewers would have you believe, a juvenile attempt at autobiography, or a ripoff of Kerouac. Neither is it a work that is undeserving of praise, or trite. Instead, the author instills a great deal of poetry and threads it through the years of collective experience he had being homeless. The only thing I wish he had included more material on was the topic of fitting into society, of feeling like he couldn't reintegrate. He was basically on his own at 16 (not nineteen as it says above in the review). I find it both amazing and heartwarming that he finally reached a point in his life where he wanted to finally turn things around, through a literary achievement that tells a very American saga.It's gorgeous prose, and though he skips over time a lot, the stories he tells are both beautifully told and gritty, about people forgotten, or shunned by society, sometimes victims, sometimes insane, sometimes dangerous, sometimes just throwaways. It's a fascinating look at the gypsy culture in this country as well as how people really survive that way. I really recommend it if you're looking for that sort of read. Parts of it are uncomfortable but really, I found it a profound book, with meditations on the American dream and the American reality that was very cutting and nostalgic at the same time. I wouldn't ever welcome that life, the taste of it I've seen is enough, but yeah, his book is very well written. I suppose part of me liked it so much because it didn't shy away from talking about the things that make America exactly the hazardous place it is, and why. He really exposes a great number of things that make you go "wow, I am so glad I wasn't there to see this in person". Especially given what the current administration idealizes, this book is a perfect antidote for the person willing to say America is the best country on earth. This book is a wake up call to the people who tout the "no child left behind" act, and the lack of insight that is our system, one that constantly, irrecovably overlooks.
Rating: 
Summary: I hate to trash this, but. . .
Review: This is the first book in years that I've simply had to put down and walk away from. Mr. "Cotton" and his ramblings remind me of the pretentious b.s. of Anais Nin. Namely, overrated, trite, and without spirit. Eddy Joe wants us all to understand how sad he is, how hard life is out on the rails, and how all the hobos have heart and spirit simply because they live in a world of grime and impermanence. Well, there are some great people out there in the world, and some can be found drifting across the country, but if you believe Eddy Joe, the hobo community has a collective spiritual superiority simply by virtue of their lack of resources. My chief criticism, however, is the actual writing. Time and time again, the author employs extraordinarily tired literary cliches, writing with an annoying and hackneyed tone. Maybe I just don't "get it." But I aint no professional reviewer, neither. In other words, I don't have to get it . . .and my favorite authors, like Cortazar, Boll and Dahl, don't force this issue, the understanding, and the transportation, come effortlessly. Try this book out. . .it might fit you like a rail oil stained shoe. It sure might, Alabama. . .it sure might.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Book
Review: This is the Lucky Professor reporting to you from the outer banks of literature and prose. I have been scouring the banks of a dead and forgotten sea and what I have come across is the remains of a beautiful vagabonding culture - the bones of tramps and hobos. These bones are alive in this book, HOBO A Young Man's Thoughts on Trains and Tramping in America. Eddy Joe Cotton revives the power of a young man's free will with his simple ability to tell a simple and honest story. As Robert Hunter said "HOBO is a song straight from the heart." There is a war in many young men's hearts - that between a life that tradition has forged and a life that he must find himself. That is the beauty of this book - life and it's options are approached with naked abandon and eventually given into. Not so much decided on but simply surrendered to. As one can only do in times of sorrow, self examination and journey. I am relieved that this book found it's way onto my book shelf and highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Frail Afterbirth
Review: Was this book written at a Friar's Convention after a three martini lunch? I was all excited when I got this book thinking I was picking up the works of our generation's Hemingway. Unfortunately, this "work" fell flat on its face. This poor writer was, for some reason, given an extraordinary chance to deliver a great and interesting book about an out of the ordinary lifestyle. The ... had ample opportunity to say something, anything, considering his thirty notepads and ten or so years on the rails. He failed miserably. Not one profound statement can be gleaned from this sprawling mess. Now I see why he has to bring his jug band to his book signings. Anything to overshadow the feeble, undercooked disaster he created. Anything to blot out the fact that he was, perhaps, running full-speed down the streets of Pamplona when he wrote this thing. Anything to deny the fact that he typed up these puerile yammerings on the keyboard with his ...cheeks. This book was like when you're pregnant, and you look to see your kid, and instead, they give you the afterbirth and send you on your merry way. This book is half the length I'd need if I were to sail it up the writer's ... What a turkey! What ...! It was a fine mess! I ... on it.
Rating:
Summary: An excellant, funny, and simple memoir
Review: While many people criticize Cotton for his work, I find it to be an extremely funny and personal account of a young, somewhat cynical but always grounded, man who has one helluva journey. Too often the status quo in exactly how to write this or write that get in the way of a darn good story. This is a piece that will make you think and make you laugh. It is the most entertaining piece I've read in years. The author possesses a decidedly patriotic air while illuminating the unique aspects of our American culture. A must read.
Rating: 
Summary: Freedom!
Review: Young bum-in-training Eddy Joe Cotton takes us along on his journey to freedom, riding the rails, scrounging for food in trash cans, freezing in boxcars, staring out at deserts and fields of grain for days at a time, and of course meeting fellow travellers. You never know what filthy old bum you will run into at a hobo gathering or what words of wisdom you will glean in between slugs of cheap wine. Filthy dirty? Yes - but free! Going noplace? Yes - but free! Picking through half smoked cigarette butts in order to roll your own? Yes - but free! Free, free, free! Well, if that's your idea of a good life, welcome to it. This book actually was pretty entertaining and informative. It does seem like a carefree, if uncomfortable, way of living, and nothing terribly bad seemed to happen to the author. There are also plenty of women who take an interest in this sort, though none of them stick around for long, having issues of their own. Good luck, Eddy Joe Cotton, I'll be thinking of you every time I hear the train whistle in the distance at night.
Rating: 
Summary: Read the Glossary first in case you don't make it to the end
Review: Young man from unconventional upbringing hits the rails in search of adventure and identity, changes given name of Zebu Recchia to Eddy Joe Cotton, and meets the voluntary outcasts and throw-aways of American culture. Cotton doesn't say when he first read Jack Kerouac, but the influence is palpable (though Cotton is no Kerouac) in the protagonist's need for adventure, occasionally Whitmanesque writing style, and the self-observation that makes autobiographical writing possible. Chronicling his own perceptions as well as stories of the characters he meets, Cotton loves, suffers, triumphs, and continues to grow while on the road, but I lost interest about halfway into it and finished the book in one fast flip-through. The Glossary, however, is an astonishing feat of hobo and tramp lingo and lore. I read the entire 30-page Glossary before beginning the book proper, and I was so glad I did. Not only did it make the story more comprehensible, it was also the most rewarding and informative part of the book.
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