"An engaging picaresque novel of a young man on the run. A warm, well-told story of a likable character with a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time." —Publisher's Weekly
"Like the smudged chrome of a truck-stop diner, Famous Potatoes is an element of a new American realism, and Cottonwood has made it an engaging trip." —Chicago Tribune

"Cottonwood [has] charm—wry, loping, never cute. And, even more crucial, there is Cottonwood's genuine people-liking, which makes Willy's complications seem less dire; the troubled travels become a nice excuse to meet more interesting folks. Laid-back—but not too much—and attractive." —Kirkus

"Blessed with that wonderfully extravagant and original talent for telling tall tales, Joe Cottonwood weaves a whopper that catches you up and rockets you overland as Willy hitches himself on to one crazy adventure after another... Willy 'Crusoe' Middlebrook, anonymous fugitive, naive suburbanite, sexual suicide, husband on the run from Philadelphia and St. Louis to the sky-high Rockies of Idaho..." —Black Swan

"Philadelphia may never be the same again." —Cleveland Plain Dealer