Unassigned Territory [Hardcover]

Kem Nunn (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this accomplished new novel that confirms the promise of Nunn's first book, Tapping the Source, he heat of the Mojave Desert not only curls the hairs on a driver's arm; it also makes the few isolated settlements tremendously lonely, the inhabitants rambunctious and vulgar, and faith a cross between beliefs that began long ago in another desert halfway across the world and kooky ideas about extraterrestrials as gods. Into this desert comes Obadiah Wheeler, a preacher trying to escape the Vietnam draft, who has been asked to lead a group of missionaries into this previously unassigned territory in barren Nevada. A man of shaky principles, he is separated from the sect elder and comes upon a ramshackle museum built around a manufactured space oddity. He encounters the trampy half-sister of the museum operator with whom he goes wandering among the desolate outposts while considering mysteries whose solution may yield either great truths or nonsense. Nunn writes with a keen portentousness about the warped people in this wasteland, creating what might be described as a western gothic. His examination of cultish thought is respectful, intriguing and funny, in a narrative that never loses dramatic momentum. (June 19).
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Obadiah Wheeler is a draft-dodger pretending to be a preacher. When he travels from Pomona to the Mojave Desert, he enters "unassigned territory"an area so sparsely inhabited by members of his sect that it is open to evangelistic efforts. As with Conrad's Heart of Darkness , Nunn's title refers not just to a physical place but also to an uncharted realm of confused moral values. During his sojourn in the wildernessa blend of picaresque wandering and spiritual pilgrimageWheeler discovers some varieties of religious experience far more exotic than his own. He steals a fake monster, tries to sell it to a man named Dr. Verity, gets involved in four murders, and finds true love. Nunn's outlandish characters, though skillfully developed, are like sideshow freaks: they have the power to fascinate, but they are not always credible. Albert E. Wilhelm, English Dept., Tennessee Technological Univ., Cookeville
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 305 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press; First edition (April 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385295367
• ISBN-13: 978-0385295369
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,256,913 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A surrealistic journey in search of The Way, December 7, 1998

By 

Scott Hagen ([e-mail]) (Ridgecrest, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unassigned Territory (Paperback)

I was surprized to see that this book is out of print, as well as being amazed that no one had reveiwed this work here until now. Unassigned Territory is Kem Nunn's 2nd, and argualby best, novel. In it we follow junior missionary Obediah Wheeler on his first, and last, recruiting trip through the Mojave desert with a religious cult in search of fresh blood for the followers of The Way. Brother Harlan Lowe is the leader of this 60's throwback group, and Obediah's mentor. Before the serious brainwashing takes hold, the group is stricken with car trouble forcing Harlan and Obediah in separate directions to find help. Obediah stumbles across a motorcyle gang at a roadside dive and falls in love with one of its younger members. Harlan is haunted by his past and confronts a new assessment of the very morals he lives to pitch. The story takes many wild and wonderous turns, involving UFOs, extraterrestrials, deception and peril, not to mention the lunatic laced supporting cast, before climaxing like Tom Sawyer's flee from injun Joe into the depths of a desert cavern with Obediah and Harlan seeing the light and becoming a new men. I read this book about 10 years ago when I was in my mid-twenties. At the time it was one of the best books I had ever read, and remains one of my all-time favorites. On the recommendation of a freind, it served as my introduction into the eloquent world of Kem Nunn. It is Nunn's unique style that really captivated me, and remindes me of the haunting descriptiveness and meter of Edgar Allen Poe. It is that style that pushed me on to reading Nunn's other, and equally captivating works: Tapping the Source and The Pomona Queen. Nunn's writing gave me a craving for books with a similar uniqueness in style, like those of John Updike or Elmore Leonard, that will last a lifetime. That freind and I have since gone our separate ways, but the influence Unassigned Territory has had over me will forever keep us kindred in spirit.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Really remarkable, unique beyond description, December 27, 1998

By 

E. Rogers (San Jose) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Unassigned Territory (Hardcover)

I share Mr Hagen's opinions about Kem Nunn's work, which I came across while reading Mike Davis' new book, "Ecology of Fear." Davis quoted from Nunn's "Pomona Queen" and I was intrigued, so I tracked down a used copy and thought it was hilarious, pointed and creative in the extreme. I located his other three novels rather easily, read them quickly, then reread them. A really remarkable writer of books with powerful Gothic overtones, dark and scary (especially "Dogs of Winter"). A few months ago, finging myself in Southern California, I went looking for Kem Nunn's Huntington Beach. It's not there anymore; I gather the city fathers got fed up with NeoNazi, motorcycle and surfer gang warfare, runaway colonies and pornography filming, tattoo parlors and transient life at the intersection of the pier and the Pacific Coast Highway. A great writer, and many of us wait impatiently for his next book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A surrealistic journey in search of The Way, December 7, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Unassigned Territory (Hardcover)

I was surprized to see that this book is out of print, as well as being amazed that no one had reveiwed this work here until now. Unassigned Territory is Kem Nunn's 2nd, and arguably best, novel. In it we follow junior missionary Obediah Wheeler on his first, and last, recruiting trip through the Mojave desert with a religious cult in search of fresh blood for the followers of The Way. Brother Harlan Lowe is the leader of this 60's throwback group, and Obediah's mentor. Before the serious brainwashing takes hold, the group is stricken with car trouble forcing Harlan and Obediah in separate directions to find help. Obediah stumbles across a motorcycle gang at a roadside dive and falls in love with one of its younger members. Harlan is haunted by his past and confronts a new assessment of the very morals he lives to pitch. The story takes many wild and wonderous turns, involving UFOs, extraterrestrials, deception and peril, not to mention the lunatic laced supporting cast, before climaxing like Tom Sawyer's flee from injun Joe into the depths of a desert cavern with Obediah and Harlan seeing the light and becoming a new men. I read this book about 10 years ago when I was in my mid-twenties. At the time it was one of the best books I had ever read, and remains one of my all-time favorites. On the recommendation of a freind, it served as my introduction into the eloquent world of Kem Nunn. It is Nunn's unique style that really captivated me, and remindes me of the haunting descriptiveness and meter of Edgar Allen Poe. It is that style that pushed me on to reading Nunn's other, and equally captivating works: Tapping the Source and The Pomona Queen. Nunn's writing gave me a craving for books with a similar uniqueness in style, like those of John Updike or Elmore Leonard, that will last a lifetime. That freind and I have since gone our separate ways, but the influence Unassigned Territory has had over me will forever keep us kindred in spirit.