Pulitzer Prize Finalist

It’s a cross between [b:A Little Life|22822858|A Little Life|Hanya Yanagihara|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1446469353l/22822858._SY75_.jpg|42375710] and [b:The Martian|18007564|The Martian|Andy Weir|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1413706054l/18007564._SY75_.jpg|21825181]. Man has incredible bad luck, goes through tortures, and hacks a solitary life to survive. Entertaining. ( )

A journey through the imagination of Hernan Diaz. ( )

Swedish-born Hakan travels with his brother from his home country to America in the ~19th-century; however, the two brothers are separated on the journey. Hakan--only a teenager and unable to speak English--lands in San Francisco while his brother is assumed to be in New York. Hakan resolves to travel East to New York to find his brother.

This book was strange, melancholic, and riveting. The prose flows in a unique rhythm that captures Hakan's perception of time, speeding up and slowing down to capture both monotony and wonder. One chapter repeats phrases and paragraphs to allow the reader to experience the confusion, boredom, and comfort of days that flow without defining moments. I found Daiz's experiments genius.

Diaz's story is tremendous at capturing depression, loneliness, and anxiety. This book, for me, was about how little control we have over the stories people tell about us, and how those stories affect our mental health. I was particularly taken by the descriptions of depression and anxiety, how they colored Hakan's views of the world and how they manifested in his body.

The end of this story, yet, was frustrating. I was confused why Hakan would again change his course after finding resolve. His north star seemed to change in the final pages.

This was a difficult read, full of tragedy and loneliness, but I'm grateful to have read it. ( )

Having recently finished Trust by Diaz, I was eager to read his only other book. I was quite surprised at how completely different in tone and plot this book was. The only thing that remained the same was the high quality of the writing. Once again, this is a book that is hard to put down.

That said, it takes a bit of fortitude to read this often violent, sad story. Hakan has traveled via ship from Sweden as a 15-year-old with his older brother in search of a better life. After arriving, he finds himself in San Francisco, separated from his brother. Their ultimate destination was New York, and so Hakan decides to get himself to NY and meet up with Linus, the brother, who he assumes will be waiting for him. So begins an epic journey, full of incredible hardship and violence. Some call it a modern western, and in a sense they are right. I’ll call it a modern journey tale about isolation and the desperation of those who pioneered their way west. It is often hard to read, but it does speak to the resilience of the human spirit.

Will I read it again? No. Will I remember it? Oh, yes.

T ( )