false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172246795m/152833.jpg 152833 11 Following his critically acclaimed short story collection, <I>The Question of Bruno</I>, Aleksandar Hemon's debut novel <I>Nowhere Man</I> confirms that an important new voice has arrived. Unlike other Eastern European coming-of-age novels, <I>Nowhere Man</I> bucks chronological order, spanning the 1990s and sometimes reading like a memoir. Jozef Pronek, who grew up dreaming of hitting it big with his Beatles cover band, wanders through his adopted Chicago while the Bosnia conflict rages on, working as a process server and for Greenpeace, where he meets his girlfriend, Rachel. Jozef spends time in Kiev with American graduate students, such as the uncannily depicted Will, "blonde and suburbanly ... [as if his] family procreated by fission," and Vivian, "pale and in need of a carrot or something." He rooms with Victor Plavchuk, a conflicted doctoral student in literature who develops a crush on Jozef (and who is reminiscent of a subdued Charles Kinbote from Vladimir Nabokov's <I>Pale Fire</I>). Jozef is sublimely complex, embodying the listlessness and frank practicality of expatriates whose homeland is being shredded by violent conflict. Jozef wonders, "Why couldn't he be more than one person? Why was he stuck in the middle of himself, hungry and tired?" while a woman "[keeps] her hands in the pockets of her formerly blue jacket, as if despair were a marble in her pocket." Hemon's wit is also present: "The only thing that distinguished Pronek in school was that he never, ever volunteered to do anything." <I>Nowhere Man</I> is a somber, saddening, yet vibrant and warm debut novel. <I>--Michael Ferch</I> 1391906 2002 Nowhere Man total:388|5:83|4:160|3:111|2:28|1:6| 388 1450 695 53 3 1 false false Tue Dec 16 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 02 15:08:41 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 17 15:24:52 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 2 false false Mon Oct 20 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 13 11:51:27 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 21 07:57:34 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Mar 02 01:54:39 -0800 2008 Mon Aug 31 08:37:30 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Mar 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 25 11:08:57 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 25 11:34:03 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false true Tue Feb 10 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jul 08 20:17:59 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 20:36:28 -0700 2009 2 In making the novel ambiguous ...more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jul 03 16:46:50 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 03 16:52:04 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jun 11 12:13:52 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 13:12:41 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat May 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue May 05 10:11:10 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 09:38:22 -0700 2009
The book center...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Oct 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jan 23 12:40:53 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 16 08:34:44 -0800 2009 Nowhere Man is billed as his first novel, it read to me more like a series of connected short stories about the life of Josef Pronek, a Bosnian of Ukrainian descent, who manages to leave Sarajevo just before the terrible war begins, and who constnatly struggles to recon...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jul 20 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 04 12:47:46 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 04 06:41:44 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Jan 28 17:10:24 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 28 17:19:19 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 28 17:33:58 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 15 14:03:56 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Mar 15 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Sat Jun 13 23:28:47 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 13 23:33:29 -0700 2009
...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 22:40:13 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 22:42:15 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Thu Oct 11 19:37:55 -0700 2007 Wed Jan 02 18:38:17 -0800 2008
Hemon mentions mouse three times in association with Jozef (...more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Dec 18 11:41:16 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 18 11:44:19 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Wed Oct 03 16:31:58 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 14 10:40:24 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 21 14:44:44 -0700 2007
The most important thing to know about this novel is that the writing is superb. I found myself often admirin...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Nov 23 09:23:28 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 23 09:23:28 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Fri Jun 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue May 12 23:12:54 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 21 22:09:49 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Wed Jun 13 16:06:23 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 29 10:03:04 -0700 2007
In "Nowhere Man,"...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=152833