"Intriguing...absorbing...holds the reader from the opening page.... The line between eccentricity and losing your marbles is a fine one. As Norris tellingly shows, often it is just a matter of luck as to which side of the line you exist on." -- Mainichi Daily News (read the entire Mainichi review)

"Toraware goes beyond the gaijin experience.... [Norris] manages to evoke the rootlessness felt by young Japanese uncertain about their future." -- The Japan Times

"What I like most about the book is the insight it provides into Japanese life viewed from the perspective of a Westerner.... The characters in this novel are vivid and the issues are explored with subtlety. The author has a light touch and Toraware is a well-paced, gentle story which I enjoyed reading." -- Paul McDonald, New Hope International Review On-Line

"An unforgettable experience. Mr. Norris has imbued his characters with real foibles, problems, and passions that allow the reader to attain a unique insight into their lives against an exotic backdrop that is thoroughly entertaining. I enjoyed reading this remarkable book." -- Diana Kirk, author of Song of Isis

"A haunting tale of three wounded souls whose lives touch as each follows youth's sometimes subversive path of self-revelation in the search for meaning, love, and a place to belong.... Our hopes for their success mirror our finest hopes for ourselves." -- Charmayne McGee, author of So Sings the Blue Deer

"Toraware takes us on a journey through the back alleys of the human spirit. Three young lives intersect in an obsessive dance in which different cultures and romantic expectations reach out, tentatively, but fail to connect. Ultimately, the characters find fulfilling love and, with it, a deeper understanding of their destined places in each other's lives. Robert W. Norris's prose is as stark as the Japanese winter, as sparing as his characters' ability to form intimate relationships." -- Alfred J. Garrotto, author of A Love Forbidden

"Robert Norris follows the fictional lives of young adults as they search for meaning in their everyday lives, companionship in those around them and fulfillment in what they do. The basic story is uncomplicated, but as Norris delves into the inner (and outer) struggles of his characters, an elegant contemporary tale unfolds. For many readers, the unique locale of the story, Japan, provides an opportunity to experience an unfamiliar culture and setting. As a result, the reader learns about a new world, with new possibilities and experiences, from the main characters who are going through a similar, more personal, process themselves." -- Jonathan Littlefield, jlbooks.com.

"Robert W. Norris tells a lovely narration full of Japanese culture and Japanese terminology.... His experience of being an American in Japan is well illuminated and shows the different lifestyle a Westerner must embrace to comprehend the Eastern world." -- Nancy B. Leake, Bookdragon Review

"Norris has crafted a work filled with passions, ambivalence and spiritual angst all wrought in believable and readable manner. Characters are nicely fleshed; the Japanese characters are completely convincing. Norris captures the inner cravings of the two women in a true to life manner.... Toraware is a compelling account focused upon a collective human need for acceptance...an intriguing tale sure to please." -- Molly Martin, Epinions.com

"Looking for the Summer is a stunning novel of a metaphorical and physical journey across the Middle East. Though set during the 1970's, this story of war and pacifism and redemption is as pertinent to today's global struggles as tomorrow's news. Fashioned in exquisite language and bolstered with some of the most beautiful descriptive passages I've ever read, Looking for the Summer takes us on a voyage over deserts and mountains and through cities as his protagonist pursues spiritual, intellectual, political, and psychological enlightenment. This is a remarkable book and a must read for anyone seeking insight into the historical precedents for our post September 11 world." -- Marnie Mueller, author of Green Fires, The Climate of the Country, and My Mother's Island

"LOOKING FOR THE SUMMER is an adeptly wrought project presenting the tumult raging through the psyche of [David Thompson] a guilt ridden conscientious objector to the Vietnam War. Personal growth to be experienced while on a soul-searching journey as a result of standing up for what is important to you is the catalyst for crafting this memorable book.   LOOKING FOR THE SUMMER is an important tool for helping provide some insight into the troublesome period of the late 60s and 70s.

Norris draws the reader into the page with his intense descriptives of the sights and sounds inherent to nighttime Paris as David roams the streets. David and his Iranian friend's sense of eminent danger is palpable as they cross the Iron Curtain from the free world into the Middle East. Norris' picturesque descriptions of oil-rich opulence are offset with graphic recounting old-world indigence present in cities and villages throughout Iran and other countries of Asia. The contrast to living in a democratic society is startling in its starkness." -- Molly Martin, Wordweaving (read the entire Wordweaving review)

"Bob Norris tells a riveting true-to-life story of the Vietnam era and its aftermath.... [Looking for the Summer] is entertaining, fast-paced, and well-written. The language is fresh and smooth, the characters are alive, the scenery vivid. We are able to identify with Mr. Thompson (presumably Norris) through his struggles to find meaning and peace in his self-exile. Mr. Norris has given us an apt and representative portrait of a generation." -- Nowick Gray, Alternative Culture Magazine (read the entire Alternative Culture Magazine review)

"I loved it. It's quite a saga, but in a lot of ways it's more than fiction. At times, it seems almost a work of philosophy, other times politics. The homilies on Sufism, the war in Vietnam, Islam, conscientious objection, etc. are all very enlightening, very unusual. The influence of Kerouac is apparent." -- Raymond Mungo, author of Famous Long Ago and Return to Sender

"Oh, that crazy sixties war dispatched us all--an entire generation. Doesn't matter if you fought the war or opposed it. Whatever. If you came of age at that time, you've been paying for and running from it ever since. Wandering around--an emotional, spiritual, philosophic funk. Looking for the Summer. Yes. Looking for the Light, the Truth, for peace. Some answers to why all of this happened. Looking for the Summer, a meditation on why we continue to seek and question all these many years later. All of us wander, looking. Robert Norris, a veteran of the war against the war, does not walk alone." -- Gerald R. Gioglio, author of Days of Decision: An Oral History of Conscientious Objectors in the Military During the Vietnam War

"I have read it with great interest and pleasure.... It reads more like a personal narrative than a novel." -- Donald L. Simons, author of I Refuse: Memories of a Vietnam War Objector

"[Looking for the Summer] is beautifully written and tells us a great deal about the search for meaning in our lives. To learn who we are and what our lives are meant to be is a lifetime project, and Robert Norris has given us a fascinating glimpse of how this process unfolds." -- Richard C. Anderson, WWII conscientious objector and author of Peace Was in Their Hearts

"Looking for the Summer is a novel that we are proud to publish. Anyone who lived through the upheaval of the 1960s and 70s will recognise themselves and their past in this quest for self-knowledge and identity. To those who know this period only as history to be read about or studied -- or ignored -- Norris offers illuminating insights." -- Meredith Whitford, Director and Senior Editor of Jacobyte Books and author of Treason

"I really enjoyed it and much of it hit home with me....The part about David Thompson remembering his boyhood was one of the most touching reminiscenses about youth that I have ever read in my life." -- Alexander Paul, author of Suicide Wall

"[Looking for the Summer] is a book that falls between many stools - novel, autobiography, travelogue and philosophical tract.... If only half of the events in the book are based on events and expriences in his life then [Norris] is a man who has lived life to the full.... At times the narrative is...raw and emotionally blistering.... A book to check out, I think, especially if you enjoy investigating the real world." -- John M. Peters, New Hope International Review On-Line

"An interesting insight into the mind of a Vietnam War resister on an intercontinental journey of self discovery.... An interesting commentary on the world political situation of the early 1970s...you can discover much about the cultures of the places he visited through his interactions with the locals.... I especially enjoyed the breakdown of the history of Iranian rebel groups prior to the fall of the Shah." -- Shawn Morris, Sharpwriter.com