A major new voice in fiction debuts with the electrifying and heartbreaking story of a teenage runaway on the streets of 1980s New York.
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reviews
Jan 08, 2009
Greg
rated it: 
[I received an ARC of this book through Goodreads' First-reads program.]
“I was trapped in my body, and my body was trapped in this empty lot with men who knew nothing about love or pity but everything else crucial,” our young narrator, Joon, tells us early in this debut novel by Nami Mun. Like so much of Joon’s narration, it is a statement made with the chill accuracy of retrospect. And, given the context in which the line appears, its implications are terrifying.
Miles fr More...
“I was trapped in my body, and my body was trapped in this empty lot with men who knew nothing about love or pity but everything else crucial,” our young narrator, Joon, tells us early in this debut novel by Nami Mun. Like so much of Joon’s narration, it is a statement made with the chill accuracy of retrospect. And, given the context in which the line appears, its implications are terrifying.
Miles fr More...
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Oct 22, 2009
Angie
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It's like this: I was in the second bookstore of the day (Waldenbooks; first had been Hastings) and was browsing the shelves. Just browsing; I wasn't planning on buying another book. I saw this book, and didn't recognize the name.
I looked at the cover. I didn't want to touch it; it's light, white in the middle, soft blue at the outside, and I know what happens when I read books like those. You should see my Salinger collection; the covers are smudged with black fingerprints.
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I looked at the cover. I didn't want to touch it; it's light, white in the middle, soft blue at the outside, and I know what happens when I read books like those. You should see my Salinger collection; the covers are smudged with black fingerprints.
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Dec 18, 2008
Dan
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This book is the story of Joon, a teenage runaway in New York in the 1980s. The book jumps around in time a lot. But in general it details the main character's parent's marriage falling apart, her mother descending into mental illness, her running away, becoming a prostitute and getting hooked on drugs. She gets off drugs, and gets back on drugs. And gets back off drugs again. Along the way there are many heart breaking and heart wrenching vignettes about her life on the streets. Its sort
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Mar 13, 2011
Wisteria
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Miles from Nowhere, by Nami Mun[return][return]I received Miles from Nowhere, by Nami Mun about a week ago, and decided to glance over the first few pages on Saturday. When I receive an ARC I thumb through the book, read a little and try to obtain an overview before I sit down and read it. [return]It soon became apparent that I wasn t going to put this book down, and it quickly landed on top of my TBR pile. I can t think of a better way to spend a rainy day. As I began to read Miles to Nowhe
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Feb 01, 2009
Val
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THis was awful. I am not better off having read this tale of MISERY. She took the James Frey (A Million LIttle Pieces-approach)...heavy stuff.
What was insightful to me is how a mental illness of a family member can be toxic to their loved ones and lead to this type of distruction. It was sad.
The review in the mag on this book could not have prepared me for the emptiness of the character's life
What was insightful to me is how a mental illness of a family member can be toxic to their loved ones and lead to this type of distruction. It was sad.
The review in the mag on this book could not have prepared me for the emptiness of the character's life
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Feb 22, 2009
Elsie
rated it: 
An unsentimental and unapologetic look at life on the streets for Joon, a teenager sleepwalking through the boogie-down Bronx just before and during Reagan's trickle-down prosperity. Missing are site-specific details of the borough, but Nami Mun makes up for it with an unswerving look into the mind of a teenager lost within her own heartbreak, confusion and numbing drug fog. Mun keeps it short, seeming determined to keep the reader from slipping into knee-jerk liberal responses to the violence a
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Jan 04, 2009
Jackie
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This is the debut novel of Mun, and it isn't an easy one. At the age of 13, after her father left them for another woman and her mother went completely insane (she was already half-way there, but...), Joon decides that she would be better off on her own, on the streets. The book is basically 5 years of vignette's about the various situations she had fallen into. Most are not pretty, but Joon accepts them all without anger or much emotion at all--some of that is the drugs she's on, but most of
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(3 people liked it)
Dec 12, 2008
Brittany
rated it:
[This review is based on an Advance Reader Copy won through GoodReads Giveaways. The book will be published January 2009.]
This book is filled with marital infidelity, mental illness, homelessness, prostitution, homosexuality, drug addiction, alcoholism, abortion, and suicide. In other words, it's not a book I would usually be interested in. But despite its vulgar and depressing topics and overall roughness, it is at once quite easy to read and hard to put down for any long period of More...
This book is filled with marital infidelity, mental illness, homelessness, prostitution, homosexuality, drug addiction, alcoholism, abortion, and suicide. In other words, it's not a book I would usually be interested in. But despite its vulgar and depressing topics and overall roughness, it is at once quite easy to read and hard to put down for any long period of More...
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Feb 04, 2009
Deirdre
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Miles from Nowhere, by Nami Mun, is the tale of a teen runaway living on the streets of New York in the 1980s. Joon is an almost-likable protagonist, but I found myself getting more and more frustrated every time she made the wrong choice. She does try to make her life better, leaving the reader with enough hope to get to the end of the book.
Mun, a new author, seems to have written this fictional book based on her own life experiences. For having overcome her past, I commend her, but More...
Mun, a new author, seems to have written this fictional book based on her own life experiences. For having overcome her past, I commend her, but More...
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Jan 27, 2009
Janet
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While the subject matter of most of these stories was downright depressing---a teen facing drug addiction, living on the street, hustling--I was struck by how clearly the author had taken things that had proably happened to her in her own life and created fictionalized accounts, snippets in time dramatized not only to capture the moment itself but the life lesson as well. This is the way I'd like to handle that memoir, that teen fiction, that book that I've got in me.
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Mar 02, 2009
C(h)ristine
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Much has been made of the novel’s “episodic” structure and I can see why–those of us used to a more traditional narrative will gnash their teeth trying to find their footing. In workshop, I can see this manuscript getting a lot of feedback about time/place. But the book still sucked me right in from the first page, and I found myself swept along in the narrative because I trusted the voice and loved the characters. I was still annoyed by how the chapters didn’t seem linked at all but I coped by
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Sep 30, 2008
James
rated it:
[This review refers to an advance reader's copy. The book is due out in January 2009.]
This is usually not my sort of thing, but I picked up and began reading and couldn't put it down. It's a very well written story about a Korean teenage runaway and drug addict in early 1980's New York. At times it's laugh-out-loud funny and at other times it's heartbreakingly sad. Like the main character, the writing is no-holds-barred and not sentimental. It reads incredibly quickly with som More...
This is usually not my sort of thing, but I picked up and began reading and couldn't put it down. It's a very well written story about a Korean teenage runaway and drug addict in early 1980's New York. At times it's laugh-out-loud funny and at other times it's heartbreakingly sad. Like the main character, the writing is no-holds-barred and not sentimental. It reads incredibly quickly with som More...
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Oct 24, 2011
Cmorice
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Joon est une adolescente d’origine coréenne, venue en Amérique avec ses parents à la recherche d’une vie meilleure. Mais le rêve tourne mal, l’ambiance familiale devient insoutenable, et Joon fuit pour vivre dans la rue. De sa voix pleine de fêlures et de pudeur, elle raconte les expériences effroyables qu’elle accumule de 13 à 18 ans, la plongée dans l’enfer de la drogue et de la prostitution, l’errance de foyers en squats, mais également l’amitié très forte nouée avec une autre gamine des rues
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Apr 26, 2011
This is another teen runaway story, only this takes place on the streets of New York, which were seemingly more grimy in the 1980s than they are today. Joon, a Korean immigrant, runs away from her father who keeps running away, and her mother, who lives for her father (and loses her self every time he runs off, or she pushes him to run off). Nami Mun writes about beautiful and SAD moments, so sad you can barely stand it at times, and then you have to wonder: why did she write this? On the st
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Oct 04, 2010
Stephen
rated it:
A few pages in, I was thinking that Nami Mun had written a now version of Oliver Twist, and having finished it, I believe that comparison still holds water. It reminded me of other novels as well, such as I Love You Like a Tomato, but the treatment in this case is grimmer. Also, while it works as a novel, the separate chapters do not lead chronologically from one to the next. Apparently, several were published separately as short stories first. In this arrangement, they have the effect of isolat
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Sep 23, 2010
Gwen
rated it:
Miles from Nowhere pushed me out of my reading comfort zone. Nami Mun writes with poetic realism and grit as she tells the story of Joon a Korean-teenage runaway living in NYC in the 1980s.
Joon's parent's marriage falls apart even after leaving Korea to come to the US. Her dad's an alcoholic, who cheats on his wife. Her mom is a nurse, who has psychological problems. In the first few pages, Joon tells of how her mom dug a hole in the backyard and begins burning her husband's things, More...
Joon's parent's marriage falls apart even after leaving Korea to come to the US. Her dad's an alcoholic, who cheats on his wife. Her mom is a nurse, who has psychological problems. In the first few pages, Joon tells of how her mom dug a hole in the backyard and begins burning her husband's things, More...
May 28, 2010
Taylor
rated it:
I struggled with whether to give this book three or four stars. The writing was great, and so was the subject matter, but in the end it all felt too anecdotal. I think I read that this novel began as short stories (or maybe I'm making that up), and if I were to re-read each chapter through that lens, I might feel differently about it--as short stories I think a lot of these chapters would be luminous and spare in a way that can be very successful in short fiction. But reading them as parts of
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Mar 02, 2010
ABC Group
rated it:
Nami Mun's debut is nothing short of stunning. 280+ pages of raw human suffering, and somehow, the author has the ability to make the reader want more...not in any voyeuristic sense though. There's a certain participatory demand that is made of the reader if you choose to forge through Miles From Nowhere.
It is rare that an author's debut is so honest and compelling. There's a net of complicated characters that are weaved together by a teen girl named Joon, whose life itself is ove More...
It is rare that an author's debut is so honest and compelling. There's a net of complicated characters that are weaved together by a teen girl named Joon, whose life itself is ove More...
Oct 04, 2009
christa
rated it:
Sit down at a table at Subway. Pull Nami Mun's novel "Miles from Nowhere" from your purse. Open the sandwich, take a bite, then crack into Chapter 3, "On the Bus." And read this:
"Two days of speeding, bagging, drinking creme de menthe, and snorting procaine, and now it was daylight, and the worms were already digging into my skin. The guy sitting next to me bit into a soggy taco. The smell of wet beef made me want to vomit."
Rewrap sandwich. More...
"Two days of speeding, bagging, drinking creme de menthe, and snorting procaine, and now it was daylight, and the worms were already digging into my skin. The guy sitting next to me bit into a soggy taco. The smell of wet beef made me want to vomit."
Rewrap sandwich. More...
Sep 23, 2009
Amanda
rated it:
This account of a life on the street filled with "all the bad stuff" (drugs, prostitution, abortion, homelessness, getting clean and then falling off the wagon, etc.) is written from the point of view of Joon, a Korean-American girl whose parents marriage falls apart and sends her to the streets looking for solace after her mom succumbs to mental illness. I like the style that it was written in - the voice is as disjoined and skips around in time as if the author really were strung ou
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Jul 25, 2009
Miles from Nowhere, by Nami Mun, Narrated by Ali Ahn, produced by Recorded Books, downloaded from audible.com.
This is a debut novel which won some awards, the Pushcart Award. June, a Korean immigrant with her family, lives in The Bronx. At age 13, she leaves home because her father has walked out on her and her mother, and her mother only cares for her father and doesn’t care about June at all. June ends up at a shelter where she and two other teens leave the shelter because they More...
This is a debut novel which won some awards, the Pushcart Award. June, a Korean immigrant with her family, lives in The Bronx. At age 13, she leaves home because her father has walked out on her and her mother, and her mother only cares for her father and doesn’t care about June at all. June ends up at a shelter where she and two other teens leave the shelter because they More...
Jul 11, 2009
Bob
rated it:
In today's Tour de France, a few kilometers towards the end, the Russian rider Vladimir Efimkin bolted in front of the three others he'd been trailing for half the stage. For a couple minutes, Efimkin led everyone by about 20 or 25 meters and for some, proabably at least for Efimkin himself, he, his pedaling, his breathing, his effort, was the sole focus of the event.
This seems to be the approach of Nami Mun in her novel MILES FROM NOWHERE. The story of a runaway teenager in 1980s More...
This seems to be the approach of Nami Mun in her novel MILES FROM NOWHERE. The story of a runaway teenager in 1980s More...
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May 23, 2009
Christine
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“Miles from Nowhere“ is a beautiful novel in the way that street graffiti can engage a city’s sense of artistry. Its strength comes from its sheer beauty in the face of so much ugliness, disappointment, and despair. In this novel, author Nami Mun can take a dollar store window full of soap and turn it into a kaleidoscope of colorful beauty, can turn the words of street kids and junkies into poetry. It’s not a journey everyone will want to make, but for those who do, there are some amazing litera
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Jun 12, 2011
Glendalee
rated it:
I don't know about the others who read this book but this book was like a journal. Its just random thoughts of the main character and the trails she faced living on the streets and her drug abuse written together to make a story (in my opinion others might feel differently..oh well). Anyway the book started off great I couldn't put it down,but then a pattern started forming (like in the book piece of cake) where it was just the same thing over again Whoring, Drug Abuse bla bla and then it would
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Feb 12, 2010
Benjamin
rated it:
I bought this book for three reasons. One, it looked like it wouldn't take a long time to read. Two, I liked the cover—Helvetica, faded blue, the yellow lights from the sprawling city's windows. Three, I had recently watched "Taxi Driver" and another gritty story in New York sounded interesting to me.
But I guess those three reasons were not enough to make this book all that fulfilling of a read. Mun actually has a knack for some great writing (e.g. she compares a handshake More...
But I guess those three reasons were not enough to make this book all that fulfilling of a read. Mun actually has a knack for some great writing (e.g. she compares a handshake More...
Jun 25, 2009
Dree
rated it:
I grabbed this off the "new fiction" shelf at my library. What a surprise!
Mun's writing is fabulous. Spare, yet incredibly descriptive. Every word is important, every experience is key, every small bit about her mother ties in to give us a picture of a character we never meet. Her descriptions are unique--and I don't usually like overt cleverness--but these work. "The morning was hot and gluey", "each family's window clicked by like View-Master frames". More...
Mun's writing is fabulous. Spare, yet incredibly descriptive. Every word is important, every experience is key, every small bit about her mother ties in to give us a picture of a character we never meet. Her descriptions are unique--and I don't usually like overt cleverness--but these work. "The morning was hot and gluey", "each family's window clicked by like View-Master frames". More...
Jun 08, 2011
Sojyung
rated it:
Mun has stated in interviews that Miles from Nowhere began as a short story ("Club Orchid" which then became Chapter 3) and that as she continued to write she chose to maintain the episodic nature of the book to demonstrate the fractured mindset of her narrator. Although an absolutely fitting decision, it nevertheless highlights the work's greatest weakness. If Miles from Nowhere is indeed a collection of snapshots and vignettes that don't necessarily need a narrative coherence, what w
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Sep 11, 2010
Joanne
rated it:
Joon has left home after her father leaving the house and her mother pretending to die in the front yard. Her mother has chosen to completely block her out, not talking to her or even reacting when Joon tries to talk to her.
We are taken on a journey through Joon becoming a homeless young lady at the age of 15. She lives in a home, is befriended by a young lady named Knowledge, they skip the shelter and Joon's truly homeless life is started.
She and Knowledge remain friends More...
We are taken on a journey through Joon becoming a homeless young lady at the age of 15. She lives in a home, is befriended by a young lady named Knowledge, they skip the shelter and Joon's truly homeless life is started.
She and Knowledge remain friends More...
Feb 05, 2009
Bookmarks Magazine
rated it:
An intense and gritty look at life on the streets, Miles from Nowhereearned high praise from critics. Although Mun claims that only one percent is autobiographical, reviewers described the novel as wholly authentic. The strength lies in Joon's distinctive first-person narrationat once poetic, resilient, and very human. Secondary characters, from a junkie-turned-social worker to a violent boyfriend, are equally compelling. Critics also commended Mun's evocative, raw writing of street life. Two
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