Customer Reviews

Finding the Moon in Sugar

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The author gives Andy Nowak a unique voice that helps to pull you in to the character quickly. The descriptions of otherwise regular things and actions in a new and refreshing way is what really sets this novel apart from others. Here, the author has a real talent for turning a phrase that makes you stop reading just to savour it for a moment before reading on. On its face, some may say this novel is about drugs and sex and travel, but those are just vehicles for the authors message that there is truth in the little things we experience. We discover those little truths along with Andy, although oftentimes Andy doesn't realize it for what it is. It is those discoveries along the way and the wit of the delivery that really make this novel a unique and compelling read.

Andrew Nowak is an all-American reject: undereducated, a bit of a slacker, the product of a dysfunctional family, and self-proclaimed dirtbag. Andy isn't even good at being a drug dealer. In his own words: He can't even sell what people want.

As our story begins, Andy is waiting in a local laundromat for a client when a very aggressive woman approaches him. This woman turns out to be the Lithuanian internet bride of said client. She promptly offers Andy one thousand dollars to service her -- orally. A hot woman, sex, and a thousand dollars, needless to say, Andy goes home with her. As the story progresses, we get an insider view into Andy's lost and lonely heart and soul. Andy definitely has the Toa of Pooh. While Andy might be clumsy and accident prone, he is very much self-aware and very aware of the world around him. His simple-mindedness is that of innocence not arrogant stupidity, and that makes Andy very, very charming, much like the stray dog he befriends when he reaches Lithuania. Yes, Andy sells everything, buys a plane ticket, and chases Audra, the Lithuanian Internet Bride, to her homeland. At this point, the story veers off into the predictable stranger in a strange land plot device. We have a lot of wandering aimlessly; we have the wizard of Oz cast of characters, including Toto; and we have dive bars, discothèques, and drug parties, but in reality, this story isn't about the cliché plotline. It's really a study in desperation and co-dependence. Audra is mentally ill, and as it manifests itself, we don't get a medical diagnosis or a laundry list of symptoms, we get to feel its effects very deeply through Andy. His simplistic, colourful, and almost childlike view of the world allows the emotion to stay raw and uncluttered. There are no justifications -- no analysis -- just Andy's honesty. When Andy finds a picture Audra had drawn in his private journal, I got the chills. Actually, the book was full of insightful thrills, chills, a little romance, and enough twists and turns to keep the story entertaining from the first page to the last, which, by the way, is one of the most poignant parts to the story -- almost an Aesop's Fable ending, if you will.

Overall, I loved it. The story flows smoothly, the plotline is flawless, and the imagery is restrained and innocent in its beauty. The prose is tactile and at times even poetic. The main characters are painfully tragic, and so we can laugh, cry, be horrified and be mortally wounded all at the same time. Shakespeare would be proud. Those who like tragic black comedy will adore this book. Those who want psychological realism and those who want to look a little deeper into the psyche of deviant and damaged characters will love its masterful subtlety. Bravo! I can't wait to read more from this author.

On a quest for personal fullfillment, Andrew "Berwyn" Nowak follows an unendingly bewildering, sad, and attractive Lithunian woman back to her homeland. Along the lines of Chris Offutt's "The Same River Twice" and William Least-Heat Moon's "Blue Highways," this is a journey of a young man who's taken wrong turns and ended up in dead ends for much of his young life, but never really given it much thought.

For Andrew, pleasure can be measured in a bong hit, a bottle or a fantasy about what napping by an open window could bring. But only through a chance encounter with a drug client's wife does he see a world outside of Berwyn, IL. He finds himself following her to Lithuania, but that too doesn't result in the satisfaction he thought he would find. Ultimately, though, he finds peace in manhood after misadventures along the way.

The cultural references to Berwyn and the bars of Vilnius, Lithuania are a dead-on.

I found this to be a really enjoyable read. I could not put it down. The characters are believable, likable and easy to relate to. It's a wild ride through countries and relationships! Very funny and clever. I highly recommend buying this book!

Finding the Moon in Sugar kept my attention. The characters lives were a train wreck waiting to happen and I needed to see the wreck, waiting for it with each page flip. The author's attention to detail and the descriptiveness made the book come alive. The style in which the book was written was the first thing that caught my attention. It was authentic as to how an uneducated 20 year old from Berwyn speaks. To sum it up...a great read unexpected ending and the way seemingly random events all tie together was also unexpected.

I did not have any expectations when I picked up this book and....it was hard to put it down until I finished it! The book is hysterical! The author is very observant in real life. Throughout the book it seems like not much is happening but the situations the character gets into are very entertaining and believable. The author is quite gifted in describing uneducated dude's adventures in another continent. The style of writing, the expressions and observations are very very entertaining. Be ready for some bad language, drugs and sex but that's what 20 year old's life is about! I highly recommend this book for an easy weekend reading!

A great read! Super quick and funny. A must read that does not disapoint! Treat yourself to this book.

In Finding the Moon in Sugar, we meet 20-year Andrew "Nate" Nowak, the likable pot-head narrator and part-time drug dealer from Berwyn, Illinois, who escapes his needy mother and meth-addicted sister only to be seduced by Audra, a gorgeous Lithuanian internet bride who happens to be the wife of one of his American "clients".

Infatuated and thoroughly obsessed with Audra, Nowak will sell everything he owns, except his dog, to follow Audra abroad into a world of illness, regret, and sex -- and a surprising romance he never expected. What follows are Nowak's hilarious and tragic adventures through Vilnius, Lithuania and back to Bloomington, Indiana and a surprising conclusion you won't see coming.

Finding the Moon in Sugar is what I call a good old-fashioned blue-collar novel. Gint Aras' provocative humor and a great ear for dialogue and dialect are just bonuses -- the kind of memorable features that will have you forcing this new find onto your friends and loved ones as yet another example of your literary foresight, your latest discovery.

Read my interview with the author on LA Books Examiner --> [...]

It's been awhile since I read a book with so much satisfaction. It's funny, poignant, and contemporary. I am deliberately reading is slowly to prolong the pleasure.
I am considering giving this book to my 17 year old son who hates reading. My only reservation is the some profanity but it's not like he hasn't watched South Park. I hope this book will change his attitude that reading books is boring. This one really stands out.

Gint Aras uses raw and believable narrative to unfold the story of his hapless hero, Andrew, a young man facing a seemingly hopeless future in an impoverished working class American town.

This is truly a memorable work. Written for the current reader, it reaches back to the classic literary method of asking more questions than it can hope to answer.

Every word is gilded, fitting into the gritty tale like pieces of a puzzle. The end result is well worth reading. What a discovery! Can't wait for Aras's next book...