"Boucher creates a fun, bluesy work that deals with the difficulty of parenting, coping with loss and how people navigate romantic relationships; in a sense, HTKYVA is an instruction manual for the human heart....Unforgettable." --
Rhea Ramey, Time Out New York (5/5 stars) "Innovative, addictive, bonkers and beautiful" --
Jonathan Messinger, Time Out Chicago "Writing to save your life--and your 1971 Volkswagen--is at the heart of this wildly imaginative debut... Readers are in for a fresh, memorable ride with this inventive 'collage of loss'" --
Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Strange and dazzling...Through all the insanity and dizzying leaps of logic that make up Boucher's world are a series of absolutely human and recognizable truths." --
Emily St. John Mandel, The Millions "Accomplished, wrenching."
--The Kenyon Review "Boucher's first novel is one of the most original books you will read this year." --
Roxane Gay, HTMLGiant "Boucher is a deft mechanic...possessed of a special skill to diagnose malfunctioning language by ear, to hear where words are misaligned...." --
Eamon, O'Connor, Full-Stop "This is a head-tilting exercise in literary shape-shifting."
--Identity Theory "Boucher's clever turns of phrase and his playfulness with words are also hallmarks of this oddball tale. And despite the wonkiness, the enchanting novelist keeps the plot well-oiled and in gear throughout." --
Austen Diamond, Salt Lake City Weekly "There is a fair amount of vulgar language used and taking the Lord's name in vain. There are references to premarital sex, which the author calls 'faith or faithing.'" --
The Deseret News (Salt Lake City) "As moving as it is fun,
How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive is definitely the next book you should read." --
Adam Levin, author of The Instructions
"Christopher Boucher joins a now-forgotten handbook with Steven Wright's old joke about mistakenly sticking a car key in a house door and builds a new, exuberant novel-world. Goofiness and grief are in perfect harmony in this impressive, moving debut." --
Sam Lipsyte, author of The Ask
"Boucher is our Brautigan. From an alchemy of melancholy and innocence, he coins beautiful malapropisms that overtake the dogged stretches of our language. A whimsy so charismatic you find yourself thinking and, yes, talking in Boucherisms." --
Salvador Plascencia, author of The People of Paper