Miles from Nowhere
Nami Mun, . . Riverhead, $21.95 (304pp) ISBN 978-1-59448-854-2
Mun's first novel is a 1980s urban odyssey in which Joon-Mee, a 12-year-old Korean-American, leaves her troubled Bronx family for the life of a New York City runaway. The novel follows Joon over six years, as she lives in a homeless shelter, finds work as an underage escort and a streetwalker, succumbs to drug addiction and petty crime, then tries to turn it all around. Along the way we meet a cast of addicts, grifters and homeless people, including Wink, a boisterous but vulnerable young street veteran (“I didn't even know they had boy prostitutes”); Knowledge, a friend who ropes Joon into helping steal her family's Christmas tree; and Benny, a drugged-up orderly and self-destructive love interest. Mun is careful not to lean on the '80s ambience, and Joon's voice, purged of self-pity, sounds clear and strong on every page. Individual scenes, including Joon's first john, her interview with an antagonistic employment counselor and her climactic encounter with a good-hearted former neighbor, are wonderfully written. Unfortunately, the novel's episodic structure prevents Joon's story from building to anything greater than its parts.
Reviewed on: 09/01/2008
Genre: Fiction
Downloadable Audio - 978-1-4561-0891-5
Open Ebook - 304 pages - 978-1-4406-3346-1
Open Ebook - 304 pages - 978-1-4406-0884-1
Paperback - 304 pages - 978-1-59448-398-1
Peanut Press/Palm Reader - 304 pages - 978-1-4406-0885-8