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Nami Mun

Miles from Nowhere Hardcover – December 26, 2008

by Nami Mun (Author)

122 ratings

3.6 on Goodreads

3,018 ratings

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Fleeing her 1980s Bronx family home in the wake of her unfaithful father's abandonment and her mother's mental illness, Korean teen Joon struggles through an adolescence marked by homeless shelters, addiction, and demeaning jobs. A first novel. 40,000 first printing.

Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Riverhead Hardcover
Publication date

December 26, 2008
Reading age

18 years and up
Dimensions

5 x 1.25 x 7 inches
ISBN-10

1594488541
ISBN-13

978-1594488542
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Amazon Best of the Month, January 2009: There's a moment in Miles from Nowhere, Nami Mun's first novel, when a flashlight dangling from the ceiling of a squatter's apartment in an abandoned building "made pretty everything it touched--an open can of ravioli, the bandage just below his knee, a green leather purse." Mun's writing does the same to the often grim details of her teenage runaway's tale, but it's not so much what she sees as the way she looks that's beautiful--a cashier at a dance hostess club has "small wrinkled ears that reminded me of walnuts," the smoking room at a nursing facility "looked more like a dried-up aquarium, embedded with ashtray stands, oxygen tanks, and old people made of cloth." Joon, only 12 when she leaves her family in the Bronx for the streets, can't make much of a connected story of her life, but that clear-eyed attention, which brings a stone-faced kindness, unfaltering and unflinching, to the most sordid of scenes, gives you some hope that she will. Like Denis Johnson's junkie masterpiece, Jesus' Son, the episodes of Miles from Nowhere are held together not by a sense of progress (though one does stir for Joon toward the end) but by a strength of vision, which fights to hold the world together when it seems nothing else will. --Tom Nissley

From Publishers Weekly

Mun's first novel is a 1980s urban odyssey in which Joon-Mee, a 12-year-old Korean-American, leaves her troubled Bronx family for the life of a New York City runaway. The novel follows Joon over six years, as she lives in a homeless shelter, finds work as an underage escort and a streetwalker, succumbs to drug addiction and petty crime, then tries to turn it all around. Along the way we meet a cast of addicts, grifters and homeless people, including Wink, a boisterous but vulnerable young street veteran (I didn't even know they had boy prostitutes); Knowledge, a friend who ropes Joon into helping steal her family's Christmas tree; and Benny, a drugged-up orderly and self-destructive love interest. Mun is careful not to lean on the '80s ambience, and Joon's voice, purged of self-pity, sounds clear and strong on every page. Individual scenes, including Joon's first john, her interview with an antagonistic employment counselor and her climactic encounter with a good-hearted former neighbor, are wonderfully written. Unfortunately, the novel's episodic structure prevents Joon's story from building to anything greater than its parts. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine

An intense and gritty look at life o n the streets, Miles from Nowhereearned high praise from critics. Although Mun claims that only one percent is autobiographical, reviewers described the novel as wholly authentic. The strength lies in Joon's distinctive first-person narration—at once poetic, resilient, and very human. Secondary characters, from a junkie-turned-social worker to a violent boyfriend, are equally compelling. Critics also commended Mun's evocative, raw writing of street life. Two reviewers mentioned that the short chapters, which capture a memory or a moment in time, lack clear transitions and cohesion. And readers wishing for a happy story may find the glimmer of hope running through the novel not quite strong enough. Nonetheless, Milesis a strong debut from a writer to watch.
Copyright 2009 Bookmarks Publishing LLC

From Booklist

*Starred Review* “My mom turned crazy the night my father left for good,” states Joon, the unflinching 13-year-old narrator in Mun’s explosive first novel. The neglected only child of Korean immigrants soon runs away from her severely depressed mother and their 1980s Bronx home. Finding refuge in a shelter, Joon delicately negotiates a tempestuous alliance with a streetwise girl named Knowledge and a boy hustler called Wink. Pliant, watchful, and quietly courageous, Joon is fascinated by the struggling people she meets, from junkies to sex workers, drunks, thieves, and wackos. But for all the betrayals, beatings, and risky sex she endures; the heroin habit she acquires; and the chaos and terror of homelessness, jail, hunger, precarious jobs, and suicidal interludes, Joon remains inviolable, kind, and determined. Mun’s gritty and empathic coming-of-age tale confronts the madness that lurks on the periphery of lust and love, the poison of racism, the suffering of the unloved, and the fierce survival instincts, adaptability, and radiance of young people. There is nothing simplistic or sensationalized here as Mun, a writer of gravitas, portrays the dispossessed and the cast-out, reminding us how quickly things can go disastrously wrong, how tough it is to live outside the margins. --Donna Seaman

About the Author

Nami Mun was born in Seoul, South Korea, and grew up there and in the Bronx, New York. She has worked as a door-to-door Avon Lady, a dance hostess, a street vendor, a photojournalist, a bartender, and a criminal investigator. A graduate of University of California at Berkeley, she received her MFA from the University of Michigan, where she garnered a Hopwood Award for fiction and the Farrar Prize. She has received a Pushcart Prize, as well as scholarships and residencies from the Corporation of Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony. Her stories have been published in the 2007 Pushcart Prize anthology, The Iowa Review, Tin House, Evergreen Review, Witness, and other journals.

Nami Mun teaches creative writing at Columbia College Chicago.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Riverhead Hardcover; First Edition (December 26, 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1594488541
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1594488542
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 1.25 x 7 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,399,886 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #18,476 in Coming of Age Fiction (Books)
- #95,032 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- #96,096 in American Literature (Books)

Customer Reviews:
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Nami Mun

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Nami Mun grew up in Seoul, South Korea and Bronx, New York. For her debut novel, Miles from Nowhere, she received a Whiting Award and a Pushcart Prize, and was shortlisted for the Orange Award and the Asian American Literary Award. Miles From Nowhere became a national bestseller within first weeks of publication and was selected as "Editors' Choice" and "Top Ten First Novels" by Booklist, "Best Fiction of 2009 So Far" by Amazon, and as an Indie Next Pick. Chicago Magazine named her "Best New Novelist of 2009."

Previously, Nami has worked as an Avon Lady, a street vendor, a photojournalist, a waitress, an activities coordinator for a nursing home, and a criminal defense investigator. After earning a GED, she went on to get a BA in English from UC Berkeley, an MFA from University of Michigan, and has garnered fellowships from organizations such as Yaddo, MacDowell, Bread Loaf, and Tin House. Her stories have been published in Granta, Tin House, The Iowa Review, The Pushcart Prize Anthology, Evergreen Review, Witness, and elsewhere. She currently lives and teaches in Chicago.

Customer reviews

5 star		63%
4 star		25%
3 star		7%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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D. Cloyce Smith

"Both frightened and curious, intelligent and naïve, strong and vulnerable. And funny."

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 2, 2013

Verified Purchase

Nami Mun's debut novel is a series of episodes in the life of Joon, a Korean American living in the Bronx during the 1980s. Many readers might well regard "Miles from Nowhere" as interrelated stories featuring the same character rather than a novel and, in fact, most of the chapters were previously published as standalone stories. But the stories do follow a narrative arc, tracing Joon as she runs away from home at 13, eventually hits rock bottom, and begins to claw her way back up. As with many novels doing double-duty as story collections, the result is mixed; some stories/episodes are better than others (a few are actually quite excellent), but the book as a whole sometimes feels scattered or impressionistic.

Joon's life on the streets is populated by people who appear for paragraphs or pages or the duration of a chapter, and then disappear again. This in itself isn't unrealistic (it would be hard for a teenage runaway to make friends or form associations), but it makes character development a challenge. One recurring exception--and, other than Joon herself, the most memorable presence in the book--is Knowledge (yep, that's her name), who has one hilariously warped sense of morality. "Knowledge had standards. She had principles. No one ever understood what they were exactly but at least she had them." In one of the funnier passages, she recounts how she aborted an attempt at robbing a bank for her boyfriend when she makes the mistake of reading the note he wrote for the teller. "What kind of idiot can't spell money? . . . And if he's that stupid, how stupid am I for robbing a bank for him?"

But what really sets this novel apart from the many recent works featuring a street-tough, post-punk adolescent is Joon's voice--she is one of the more distinctive narrators in recent fiction. Joon has the kind of sassiness that makes her endearing to the reader and anathema to her underhanded employers and shady "clients." In an interview, Mun describes how she imagined her hero, and her summary of Joon is completely on the mark: "both frightened and curious, intelligent and naïve, strong and vulnerable. And funny. She also displays stoicism--a quality I admire in her but one that ultimately signifies her repressed emotions."

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Mej

Amazing debut...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 3, 2010

Verified Purchase

Nami Mun's debut is nothing short of stunning. 280+ pages of raw human suffering, and somehow, the author has the ability to make the reader want more...not in any voyeuristic sense though. There's a certain participatory demand that is made of the reader if you choose to forge through Miles From Nowhere.

It is rare that an author's debut is so honest and compelling. There's a net of complicated characters that are weaved together by a teen girl named Joon, whose life itself is ove...more Nami Mun's debut is nothing short of stunning. 280+ pages of raw human suffering, and somehow, the author has the ability to make the reader want more...not in any voyeuristic sense though. There's a certain participatory demand that is made of the reader if you choose to forge through Miles From Nowhere.

It is rare that an author's debut is so honest and compelling. There's a net of complicated characters that are weaved together by a teen girl named Joon, whose life itself is overcome with addiction, mental sickness and death. Despite many of the harsh things that happen to Joon, that weird element of the human spirit pokes its head into many of the stories contained within, not necessarily providing hope, but a sense of honesty that most of us rarely admit to..."He had no idea that grief was a reward. That it only came to those who were loyal, to those who loved more than they were capable of."

I'll say this...I think this is a must read, but Mun's book is no light Sunday fair. Written beautifully, but emotionally taxing, Miles From Nowhere will likely be one of the better books I've read this year.

2 people found this helpful

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Jenn

Unflinching

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 24, 2022

Verified Purchase

Not a sentimental, sappy story. Reads like a memoir. Like essays or short stories.

Unapologetic.

One person found this helpful

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Teodal

Herp

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 30, 2020

Verified Purchase

A derp. One of the few books I have actually finished reading recently. Also check out the author Chuck Palahniuk Who brought me here.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 15, 2017

Verified Purchase

Miles from Nowhere is an amazingly and beautifully written novel. One of my most favorite books! Every time I read it, I discover something new with such abstract beauty. I've highlighted so many passages that fit so well within the story at their exact time, but can also stand on their own to apply anywhere at any time in one's lessons of life. Being a J major, I crave a book by an author that can use so few words to convey such deep meaning and visualization. Bravo, Ms. Mun!

One person found this helpful

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clarie

"Repair the foundation and build a better life"

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 15, 2012

Verified Purchase

this book is great. one of the great things about it is its meter and tone, and the sort of poetic flattened first person voice of a 13 year old runaway, Joon, who quickly catches on what to do for survival. and how it all blends in together, heroin, four finger measure of whiskey, a friend named Knowledge, a friend who shoots her up, an Avon lady story, "hi, I'm the Avon Lady, we have a special on mascara, two for one", door to door, seeing Mom pretend to be dead again, whose infamous quote about being an emergency ward nurse is: "I keep people alive who I don't care about."

a life all wrong on the outside, but all right on the inside. Joon deserves that four finger glass of whiskey.

2 people found this helpful

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just a reader

Raw and beautiful, Mun's debut novel is an impressive accomplishment.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 16, 2008

Verified Purchase

I just can't get over how masterfully this author handled the telling of this story. At times, I was reminded of Denis Johnson's masterpiece Jesus' Son, in the way Mun handled such harsh, gritty subject matter with such poetic and lyrical prose. But Miles from Nowhere is unique in the way it managed to hook me in emotionally. I was honestly shocked by how much I felt for Joon, the book's main character, and how much I found myself rooting for her to succeed and make her way in the world. I won't give away the ending, but I will say that when I finished the book, I was deeply moved and felt like I had just spent time with one of literature's most memorable and emotionally moving characters.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

Lindy

Great Book! Super interesting writing style (Amy Hempel Fans would adore)

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 27, 2020

Verified Purchase

Really interesting writing style. She grips you from the first few pages and pulls you into an entirely different world.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Tim

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 24, 2016

Verified Purchase

Excellent value.

lovesunshine

Difficult subject matter told really well

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on March 27, 2015

Verified Purchase

I was recommended this book by someone who had read it for her MBA program. It's a very sad, heartbreaking, disturbing story told with a lot of sensitivity and depth without getting too bogged down in the sadness of the subject matter. The author manages to tell this story simply even though it's not simple.

bianca fatima pineda

Gorgeous and devastating

Reviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on April 10, 2021

Verified Purchase

Beautiful, incisive prose. Challenging subject matter. 4 stars as I always felt at a slight arms length from the protagonist.

See all reviews

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Nami Mun

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