Miles from Nowhere
by Nami Mun
304 pages
fiction
Riverhead Books
Challenges: Orbis Terarrum, South Korea
Joon sees herself as a regular Korean girl until her father leaves her mother, then her mom ignores her- to the extent of not talking to her, acknowledging her and pretending to be dead. Obviously a cry for help that a very young girl can only handle for so long. Joon goes to find her dad and try to get him to return, he turns her down as greener pastures seem to be calling his name. Soon after that, out of desperation Joon runs away. Her life on the streets goes from dark to darker and then when you think it couldn't get any worse it goes to darkest.
There is plenty of sexual stuff, drugs, well really substance abuse of every type is discussed and abused in this book. Drug activity is high, very high, talk of shooting this, smoking that, cutting, being high, and all this as a young teen. Each time the reader can see the surface and almost feels allowed to come to breathe air, Joon dives down deeper to the despair of the reader.
Well, I don't know what that description does for you, but if you don't like reading the description, don't read Miles from Nowhere. However to its defense, it is different than any book that I have been able to finish to this day. Several times I just couldn't handle the intensity of its graphic nature and had to skip a page, but I kept coming back because Nami Mun is an amazing writer, really she is great, almost humorous at times.
I would love to read a lighter book by her, and really hope she chooses to go that route next time, more cultural and less mental illness-teen pregnancy-suicideish. Yes, so I did think her writing was very good, however not good enough for me to feel that I can recommend this with a clean conscience. I can't. I just say sit this one out and wait on what she brings to the table next time. That is my opinion anyway.
How do you do with books that carry too much gore for their own good? Have you had some that you think really excellent writing, but you just can't bring yourself to recommend them for their content?
Miles from Nowhere
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