PositiveThe San Francisco ChronicleFinkel, like Alice Walker, writing The Color Purple in the voice of an illiterate teen talking to God, somehow pulls it off. And the hermit’s tale is as unlikely as the book’s success … He reads stolen books, listens to stolen music and keeps to himself. In meeting Knight after his hermitage time ends, Finkel manages to pry powerful words from the man who may hold the world title for silent retreat … If Knight’s withdrawal is inexplicable, Finkel’s connection to him pretty much matches that … Out of those trips, plus a blizzard of research on the history, motivations, cultural influences, neurology and sanity of hermits, came The Stranger in the Woods … In his fascinating story, Michael Finkel not only wrests quotes from the reluctant hermit, he comes up with a number of quotable lines of his own.
