"It's a gratifying thing to see a writer put warmth, lyricism, love of place, and a deeply observant naturalism to use as beautifully as William Cobb does in Goodnight, Texas. The result, for me anyway, was to a renewed love of the things and people of this world--a working definition of a wonderful book."
--George Saunders
"Cobb (The Fire Eaters) deals with the underlying issues of the destructiveness of nature and the
ultimate redemption of humankind. Superbly written, dark and amusing, Cobb's portrait of this small town on the edge of disaster will stay with one long after the last page is turned. Highly recommended." --Library Journal, starred review & Editor's Pick
..".delightful ...oblique.... Global warming (and greedy overharvesting) have killed off the shrimp fishery, and the heating of the planet, along with a menacing hurricane, serves as anxious backdrops to Cobb's story.... The pages turn quickly .... But the really significant climax is atmospheric... [and] Cobb's prose reaches new levels...." --San Francisco Chronicle
"Michael Chabon joined Milosz over my shoulder as I read .... Goodnight, Texas, isn't a novel about addressing social injustice or stopping environmental degradation. It's a tribute to that most American of qualities-- pragmatism. In Cobb's novel as in life, it is often the pragmatists--dreamers willing to work with the materials they're given-- who survive the upheaval and rebuild..."--San Antonio Current
"I don't know where William J. Cobb hangs out, but wherever that is he doesn't miss much. GOODNIGHT, TEXAS is full of sharply drawn, firmly created characters who come vibrantly alive in a ramshackle fishing village, with small, salty waves, a wide, watery vista, and a magically huge fish rotting on the shore. Cobb writes with surprising and wonderful insight into all sorts of folks, with concision and grace, in a voice rich with compassion, but no mush at all."
--Daniel Woodrell, author of Winter's Bone
"Cobb's engaging plot is complemented by his truly artistic descriptive and narrative style. . . authentic and meaningful. Cobb . . . brings his setting to life, with visual, auditory, and olfactory details....[and] subtle character portrayals.... the author manages to connect his audience with every character, interweaving their separate, compelling stories carefully throughout...as they place faith not in supreme beings, but in the strength of humanity."
-Austin Chronicle
"Goodnight, Texas--a not-to-be-missed story of remarkable beauty and power--showcases fascinating characters who face devastation and hopelessness in the midst of this divine comedy, which overflows with the bittersweet joys of living and loving....Poignant and memorable... a luminous tale of buoyancy and endurance, and it ought to be required reading for anyone who has ever pondered the indifferent cruelty of cosmic irony, and for anyone who has ever faced lifechanging choices--or, perhaps more accurately, the illusion of such choices."--Bookpage
"Quirky and likable...charming."--Texas Monthly
..". I found myself turning the pages as fast as I could read them.... The style of writing in the scenes of the hurricane and its immediate aftermath is lean and tight.... Cobb had me solidly hooked.... The conclusion of the novel is even more satisfying, as the various conflicts are resolved in ways that go perfectly with the characters Cobb has created."--Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
"[A] gem of novel set in a coastal Texas town during the days before and after a monster hurricane plows through the Gulf of Mexico. Finished just prior to the Katrina disaster, it's filled with quirky characters whose lives are changed unalterably by the storm....With a brilliant flair for writing in all the different dialects found in Goodnight, and a penchant for finding comedy in the routine obstacles to daily living faced by the downtrodden local citizenry, William J. Cobb has managed to assemble a cast of characters as hopeless, yet sympathetic as any you're likely to run across short of Steinbeck's Cannery Row."--The Nougat Magazine (KY)
"There is a waspish humor that floats through Goodnight, Texas so that the simple story of a Gulf coast fishing village takes on an elegance as well...Cobb is not only a jeweler of phrasing and plotting, he knows how to give life to our characters."--RALPH: The Review of Arts, Literature, and the Humanities, starred review
