Synopses & Reviews
Aleksandar Hemon, author of The Question of Bruno, one of the most celebrated debuts in recent American fiction, returns with the mind- and language-bending adventures of his endearing protagonist Jozef Pronek. This is what we know about Jozef Pronek: He is a young man from Sarajevo who left to visit the United States in 1992, just in time to watch war break out at home on TV. Stranded in the relative comfort of Chicago, he proves himself a charming and frankly perceptive observer of – and participant in – American life. With Nowhere Man, Pronek, accidental urban nomad, gets his own book.
Aleksandar Hemon lovingly crafts Pronek into a character who is sure to become an enduring literary icon. From the grand causes of his adolescence – principally, fighting to change the face of rock and roll and, hilariously, struggling to lose his virginity – up through a fleeting encounter with George Bush (the first) in Kiev, to enrollment in a Chicago ESL class and the glorious adventures of minimum-wage living, Proneks experiences are at once touchingly familiar and bracingly out-of-the-ordinary.
But the story of his life is not so simple as a series of global adventures. Pronek is continually haunted by an unseen observer, his movements chronicled by narrators with dubious motives–all of which culminates in a final episode that upends many of our assumptions about Proneks identity, while illustrating precisely what it means to be a Nowhere Man.
With all the literary verve of The Question of Bruno, but with an engrossing narrative, engaging warmth, and refreshing humor, Nowhere Man brings to life a protagonist whose very way of looking at and living in the world provokes an exhilarating sense of seeing everything new again. And all the while, the inspired freshness of the prose reminds the reader why Aleksandar Hemon earned such extraordinary recognition after just one book.
Review
The bottom line is that Hemon cant write a
boring sentence, and the English language is the better for it....Antic
and ingenious. Gary Shteyngart The New York Times Book Review
Review
"Aleksandar Hemon is a striking new voice in fiction." Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club
Review
"What a writer. And what
a book. He can capture the moment when the thorn enters the skin." Colum McCann, author of Dancer
Review
"Now here's reason to get excited: a true work of art that's as vast and mysterious as life itself. Hemon, in just two books, and in just two years (if you haven't read The Question of Bruno, do), has quickly become essential in the way that, say, Nabokov is essential....This tender, devastating book is evidence indeed that Hemon is a writer of rare artistry and depth." Adrienne Miller, Esquire (read the entire Esquire review)
About the Author
Aleksandar Hemon is the author of
The Question of Bruno, which appeared on Best Books of 2000 lists nationwide, won several literary awards, and was published in eighteen countries. Born in Sarajevo, Hemon arrived in Chicago in 1992, began writing in English in 1995, and now his work appears regularly in
The New Yorker, Esquire, Granta, Paris Review, and
Best American Short Stories.