Matt Severson’s Reviews > West of Eden: An American Place > Status Update

How is it? I have this sitting on my shelf, next on my reading list when I finish Death in Veracruz.

It's thoroughly absorbing and entertaining. Since the book functions as a sort of oral history of these famous residences, you find some of the commentators more credible than others, and I wish Stein wrote either an intro or closing piece on each of the addresses focused on -- just to see where she is coming from, and why she chose these particular locations. So - it's a thoroughly enjoyable book, but I just wish there were a little bit more editorial context. We'll see if perhaps Stein will jump in a try to tie all of these Los Angeles stories together at the end. Fingers crossed!