Seriously: A Novel [Hardcover]

Lucia Nevai (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 9, 2004

Tamara Johanssen's life has taken an unplanned turn:With help from her successful sister, she moves to the rural crossroads of Dustin in upstate New York, where she opens a modest art gallery.Dustin, population 39, is small in size but large in personality.Tamara meets Boz, a rich, married man who becomes her friend and lover; Donna and Iris of the 'womanart' factory, specializing in strawberry potholders; Detering, the snoopy postman; Shirley Girt of Girt Real Estate, who calls Dustin 'the up-and-coming arts town'; and the Doctor, whose shockingly amusing secret is uncovered, and kept, by Tamara after his death.She cautiously engages with the hamlet's oddballs and eccentrics, eventually learning important personal lessons from their determination, humor, vitality, and heartbreak.These unlikely relationships give Tamara the strength to make peace with her traumatic past-and to finally 'stay put' in her present.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Nevai's first novel substantiates her previous success in the short story collection Normal (1997). Here each chapter snaps tight as a snare drum on its own, while together they are linked perfectly in a tender, subtle way that speaks volumes for Nevai's belief in her readers' intelligence and ability to find her cords of connection and follow them. Nevai tells a simultaneously charming, witty, and realistic story of Tamara Johanssen, a 29-year-old with a painful past searching for peace and hope in an unknown future. Tamara is the second of three girls and a survivor, even more than her sister (a successful TV producer), who intentionally shelves the tragic death of their parents and youngest sister in a house fire that she chalks up to accident instead of intentional arson provoked by a mother losing her grip on sanity. It's refreshing to see how deftly Nevai tells a good story by avoiding unnecessary words or details and revealing important emotional information gracefully and patiently, little by little. Janet St. John
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (June 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316746932
• ISBN-13: 978-0316746939
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,087,307 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lucia Nevai is the author of Seriously, a novel, published by Little, Brown. Her short stories have appeared in Tin House, Iowa Review, Zoetrope All-Story, the New Yorker, Glimmer Train, and other literary magazines. Her first collection, Star Game, won the Iowa Short Fiction Award. Her second collection, Normal, was published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. A native of Des Moines, Iowa, she lives in upstate New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Seriously Promising, August 22, 2004

By 

Damova (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seriously: A Novel (Hardcover)

A promising first novel, written as series of character sketches, each chapter is titled with the name of one of the residents of the crossroads in which the narrator finds herself. Through this method the characters come to life in bits and pieces, the way we actually get to know people. The characters are never wholly good nor wholly bad, we see them in their humanness with their flaws and their strengths and the reader is reminded of how complex people are and to resist judging them or pigeon-holing them. I look forward to reading more by this writer.