The Sojourn

by Krivak, Andrew

• ISBN13: 9781934137345
• ISBN10: 1934137340
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-04-19
• Publisher: Bellevue Literary Pr

Summary

" The Sojournis a fiercely wrought novel, populated by characters who lead harsh, even brutal lives, which Krivak renders with impressive restraint, devoid of embellishment or sentimentality. And yet. . .his sentences accrue and swell and ultimately break over a reader like water: they are that supple and bracing and shining."--Leah Hager Cohen, author of House Lights "Surging in pace and momentum, The Sojournis a deeply affecting narrative conjured by the rhythms of Krivak's superb and sinuous prose. Intimate and keenly observed, it is a war story, love story, and coming of age novel all rolled into one. I thought of Lermontov and Stendhal, Joseph Roth, and Cormac McCarthy as I read. But make no mistake. Krivak's voice and sense of drama are entirely his own."--Sebastian Smee, The Boston Globe Uprooted from a nineteenth century mining town in Colorado by a shocking family tragedy, young Jozef Vinich returns with his father to an impoverished shepherd's life in rural Austria-Hungary. When war comes, Jozef is sent as a sharpshooter to the southern front, where he must survive the killing trenches, a perilous trek across the frozen Italian Alps, and capture by a victorious enemy. Strikingly contemporary though replete with evocative historical detail, The Sojournwill join the ranks of the great classic fiction of World War I. Andrew Krivakholds an MFA from the writing program at Columbia University and a PhD in literature from Rutgers University. He is the author of the memoir A Long Retreatand lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.