What's next? Male cervical cancer?
Somebody said that alienation was a disease of the middle class. Probably Marx, but Lester Reichartsen doesn't have time to look it up. A decade ago, Lester was kicked out of the biggest punk band in Chicago. Since then he's been party to an accidental pregnancy, talked into marrying the other party, and roped into an academic career in Classical Letters, so time won't allow him to be curious about much of anything outside his "discipline." But if whoever said that was right, Lester is middle class for sure. The island of college-town academics he lives on now is almost as alien as the Bible Belt wasteland that surrounds it. So why is it that when some meth heads break into his little family's cramped apartment, the only thing they find of value to steal is his seven-year-old computer? If this is the middle class, then Lester doesn't want to know what lies beneath. Praise...
If Celine and Hamsun weren't fascists, they'd be Ann Sterzinger. And finally, a book where the footnotes aren't a twee affectation. -Nick Mamatas
Dark, tragic, and hilariously funny, Sterzinger's third novel will likely resonate differently with everyone, and should be considered a sound addition to your reading list. -Treason and Treachery
This is an absolutely must-real novel. . . . NVSQVAM succeeds in part because despite being a woman, Sterzinger absolutely nails the hopelessness and listlessness of the average middle-aged American man. It sounds condescending to write that, but being able to write convincing characters of the opposite sex is a tough job for any novelist, and Sterzinger accomplishes it with aplomb. -Matt Forney
Deft satire, intermingling comedy and tragedy in a manner reminiscent of Evelyn Waugh's early works. -Paul Bingham
If I had a voice in the fawning, compliant corporate media, I'd advise readers everywhere to defenestrate Jonathan Frazen's Freedom or whatever other mass-marketed, safe, suburban faux "edgy" book they're reading right now, and snap up a copy of NVSQVAM (nowhere) instead. Not because I think all of those readers would truly enjoy what this novel has to offer, but because I secretly relish the thought of them hurting their little whitebread minds on this book's razor-sharp edges. -Anonymous
Lester Reichartsen is a self-absorbed, largely useless asshole but he's our asshole, my generation's asshole. You can't hobble large segments of a generation and then hold them completely responsible for limping. -Anita Dalton, Odd Things Considered
I admire aesthetic integrity and appreciate literary talent, and Ann Sterzinger has both of these in spades. -Andy Nowicki
NVSQVAM (nowhere) is a very funny and tragic novel of not just the horror of living in the early 21st century, but of being alive at all. Lester Reichartsen is an excruciatingly human character whose life makes you laugh to keep from crying at how awful and pathetic it is. Between this and The Talkative Corpse, I'm convinced Ann Sterzinger is one of the most underrated writers working today. The attention she receives is far too sparse for someone who can write this well. -Ben Arzate
Ann Sterzinger's writing is electric. -Frank Marcopolos
Some books keep you at arms' length from their characters misery. Ann Sterzinger shoves your nose in it, like you're a misbehaving dog and the book is your mistake. In one sense, it's very funny. In another sense, it's not funny at all. It doesn't matter who you are. If you're made of carbon, SOMETHING in this book will hit too close to home. -Empty World
NOTE: This new edition of Ann Sterzinger's cult novel NVSQVAM (nowhere) has been mildly retuned for your reading pleasure and comes appended with an incisive new aft