Close to Elsewhere: Stories of Translocation and Whimsy

by Joshua Kent Bookman

Thomi (the Frenchman) is hired by his girlfriend Elisa (the American). Together they join forces to make sense of her mother’s emigration from Italy, of which Elisa knows little. So he makes most of it up. But into the mix lands Elisa’s son Luca, a electronic millennial. close to elsewhere’s syncretization with Swedish-, Italian-, and Bengali-American writings helps the characters live between historic and contemporary prejudices, but their emotions and behaviours splinter. The characters struggle as they erode into 0s and 1s. To read this book is to discover a strategy of living in the 21st century that is neither a practice of mindfulness, nor an application of data science - it’s a gizmo for using all the senses to achieve a deftness of being. “Its insistence on touching without elaborating produces a great network of sounded negative space where life is but is offered up only in fleeting glances of light streaming in from high windows.” Lee Jasperse

179 pages, Paperback

First published April 29, 2019

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bookman fabulously conjures up seemingly disparate yet connected microcosms that are rich with sorrows and triumphs, which leave the reader curious as to the backstories that shapes each of the characters beyond the pages we read. His ability to sweep effortlessly between psychically time and generational divides was indeed captivating.