Customer Reviews

Malas Ondas: Lime, Sand, Sex and Salsa in the Land of Conquistadors

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Malas Ondas reads like a vaguely fictionalized version of actual events, and leaves you wondering how a lone traveler in Mexico, with virtually no Spanish, could end up in these ridiculous situations. Inspirational in the sense that you too could take your meager savings and squander them in a foreign locale. Sometimes you wonder what the hell this guy is thinking even as you read it on the page.

I used to cough when I heard there was a new work of fiction that I had to read. I used to moan aloud when I heard that yet another poet was lamenting page after page in some hackneyed style. Maybe you like that stuff. Maybe I'm a hater. Maybe not, because Kent Evans has produced a work from both genres at once and I could not put Malas Ondas down once I took a sip.

Avoiding what might have been a postcard holiday with a Lonely Planet book in hand, Evans takes the road that is best traveled alone - but it is a road we all take once in a while. I dare you to peruse Malas Ondas and not see part of yourself in this young man's confessions and daredevil existentialism. I used to hate that word but after I shut the back cover I think I got it.

This is what I got by traveling alongside Evans in the story - this world is tough and sometimes we like to make it tougher on ourselves. You don't go to a raucous foreign country where you can't speak the language to give yourself a serene respite, a cutesy holiday where you can collect charming stories to regale people at formal dinner parties. You throw yourself into this blender to see what you are made of, to get stronger, to drink too much, to have sex whenever possible, to fall in love at first sight and regret it by sundown. You do this existential business so that when have a moment to look at yourself in a dirty mirror you don't scream from the inside that you lack adventure and that mysterious ether that brings us life, that proves we exist.

In Malas Ondas, there is no lifeguard, there is no placing the top back on the bottle or wishing away your favorite nightmare and I am grateful for that. Kent Evans has brought back poetic confessional to fiction writing and it's the kind of stuff you mark as 100 proof and keep on your bookshelf for good.

Kevin Brink Nielsen

I'm a sucker for travel memoirs, but I have to tell you that Kent's book is the baddest, funniest, and outright hottest book of its kind I've ever read. I loved this book. It is a brilliant blend of poetry and prose, memoir and guidebook. As the narrator, he is stripped down, full throttle in command, and the keenest of guides from start to finish. In the reader's eyes, Mexico will never be the same. He takes the reader to places they've never been (trust me) and into situations they couldn't imagine. And all this with a gift for language so rare in most authors that it only comes around once every ten years. And be warned: The wit is so sharp a reader runs the risk of bleeding to death before the last page. This guy is also so hilariously dangerous -- I mean all caps "FUNNY" -- you could dehydrate from peeing your pants... If you like your art clever, cutting edge, avante garde, and first-in-line-one-of-a-kind, don't miss this book. Kent Evans is one of the top draws of the spoken word on three continents and you're gonna see why... This guy has TALENT! After reading this book, I can't wait to see him perform! Go Kent!

Wanderlust...Jack Kerouac...Jim Morrison comes to mind when I think of Kent Evans in his sensually erotic memoir, travelogue, poetry/prose book or whatever term people throw around to "classify" this writing. I catch myself rereading this wonderful journey of the talented writer's self-discovery through a Third World Country. His openness and vulnerability makes you weak for him, but his hilarious encounters of being a "gringo" who can't speak Spanish very well, bounces you right back. It's as if the reader is joining this wild ride without the aide of hallucinatory drugs. Absolutely love "Woke Up". I look forward to reading more of his writings in the future. Kent is [...] and his writing is extraordinary.

As I read this Book I was consistantly amazed by Kent's ability to tell tales of events that would have broken the heart, mind & body of most humans. And always with the literary skill matching the greatest writers you can name. Kent combined poetry and prose seamlessly. He kept me guessing what would happen next and left me wanting more when I came to the last page.
It's a wild ride well worth taking.

One of the best memoirs I've read in some time. Kent Evans is right on the mark with his amazing depiction of life on the wild side in some of the more 'interesting' areas of Mexico. The poetry in the book is amazing... get this book NOW!!!

An open, honest account of one man's journey through mexico. Thought provoking and memorable, Malas Ondas should certainly find a place amongst the finer memoirs written in recent times.