Miles From Nowhere
Issue #38
by Nami Mun
By Donna Blumenfeld
Published: December 1st, 2008 | 9:16am
Far from a love letter to New York, Nami Mun’s first novel takes place in the least celebrated environs of a city that’s never lacked for literary representations. Barely teenaged runaway Joon Mee moves between homeless shelters, cheap motels, hospitals, alleys, and seedy bars, propelled by a dreary network of public transportation.
Although the arc of Joon’s coming-of-age story — her crazy family life to homelessness and addiction to an awakening into sobriety — may sound overly familiar, Mun’s approach comes from a different perspective. A younger writer might have focused on the more “shocking” aspects of Joon’s lifestyle, but Mun (who’s in her early 40s) underplays the inevitable scenes of violence and exploitation, writing more to illuminate her characters’ essential humanity than to incite a prurient response. While Joon might initially seem oddly passive in the face of threat, Mun insightfully shows how Joon’s detachment is her strength. As if having recognized her powerlessness in life, she takes refuge in telling stories about it with unexpected wit and insight.
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ABOUT THE BOOK
(Riverhead)
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