Nowhere Man: The Pronek Fantasies
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.29 (789 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0385499248 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 242 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-12-06 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Grubby Sorrows, Wry Metaphors The writers of the old old New Europe, between The Danube and the Dardenelles, all seem to share a gift for mordant nostalgia expressed in akilter cadences and quirky metaphors. Bohumil Hrabal, Danilo Kos, Ivo Andric -- writers in Czech, Serbian, whatever pan-Slavic language -- give us their whacky insi. Prince said Basically, A Bizarre, and Interesting Set of Stories.. The book is heavily bifurcated, and choppy. The story(s) are told by multiple narrators, over multiple time periods. Each chapter weaves a different thread. I would have rated this book higher had it not been for the author's repertoire of sordid, repugnant, abhorrent, queer dross he had to inject in th. Exodus of the soul Timothy Freeman Intertwined lives, identity crisises, coincidence, fear, longing, isolation, confusion--not to mention wonder, amazement, rebirth as well as the liberation and ecstasy (and sometimes illusion) of epiphany. These are what fill out the lives of the characters in Aleksandar Hemon's second novel Nowhere Man
And all the while, the inspired freshness of the prose reminds the reader why Aleksandar Hemon earned such extraordinary recognition after just one book.. 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. Aleksandar Hemon lovingly crafts Pronek into a character who is sure to become an enduring literary icon. Stranded in the relative comfort of Chicago, he proves himself a charming and frankly perceptive observer of – and participant in – American life. Pronek is continually haunted by an uns
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." Nowhere Man is a somber, saddening, yet vibrant and warm debut novel. Jozef is sublimely complex, embodying the listlessness and frank practicality of expatriates whose homeland is being shredded by violent conflict. --Michael Ferch. Following his critically acclaimed short story collection, The Questio