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A review by jess_mango
Nowhere Man by Aleksandar Hemon
3.0
3.5 stars
Jozef Pronek is our Nowhere Man. He grew up in Bosnia and was a typically angsty teenager. He was inspired to pick up guitar based on a Beatles songbook and formed a Beatles cover band with some of his friend that then morphed shortly into punk then into blues. As an adult, Pronek moves to the States where he finds work and also tries to improve his English skills. Our narrator is someone who knew Pronek overseas and then again runs into him years later in America. I don't quite understand this narrator and when he pops into first person on the rare occasion I was like "oh, he's back. hmm."
This book is highly lauded by some and has much critical acclaim. Yet, for me, it didn't quite connect. Maybe it is because I am lacking something personally (brains, maybe??) but I didn't fully "get it". I can appreciate the author's mastery of the English language, particularly since it is not his native tongue. I got this book in a book swap forever ago and I finally picked it up because it was randomly chosen for me in the 1001 TBR Takedown challenge for the month of July.
What to listen to while reading (or taking a break)
Nowhere Man by The Beatles
Yellow Submarine by The Beatles
Yesterday by The Beatles
Everybody Loves Somebody by Dean Martin
Something Stupid by Frank Sinatra
I Put a Spell on You by Screamin' Jay Hawkins
She Sells Sanctuary by The Cult
Black Star by Radiohead
Shadow of a Doubt by Sonic Youth
Jozef Pronek is our Nowhere Man. He grew up in Bosnia and was a typically angsty teenager. He was inspired to pick up guitar based on a Beatles songbook and formed a Beatles cover band with some of his friend that then morphed shortly into punk then into blues. As an adult, Pronek moves to the States where he finds work and also tries to improve his English skills. Our narrator is someone who knew Pronek overseas and then again runs into him years later in America. I don't quite understand this narrator and when he pops into first person on the rare occasion I was like "oh, he's back. hmm."
This book is highly lauded by some and has much critical acclaim. Yet, for me, it didn't quite connect. Maybe it is because I am lacking something personally (brains, maybe??) but I didn't fully "get it". I can appreciate the author's mastery of the English language, particularly since it is not his native tongue. I got this book in a book swap forever ago and I finally picked it up because it was randomly chosen for me in the 1001 TBR Takedown challenge for the month of July.
What to listen to while reading (or taking a break)
Nowhere Man by The Beatles
Yellow Submarine by The Beatles
Yesterday by The Beatles
Everybody Loves Somebody by Dean Martin
Something Stupid by Frank Sinatra
I Put a Spell on You by Screamin' Jay Hawkins
She Sells Sanctuary by The Cult
Black Star by Radiohead
Shadow of a Doubt by Sonic Youth