Will today be the day the world burns down? Will a wildfire sweep across the landscape and consume everyone? Will the torrential rains fall and wash them all away?
A stark and stunning debut, I'm From Nowhere follows Claire as she mourns the sudden death of her husband and comes to terms with the fact of being a woman without a child, a job, or a man. She confronts a dying planet and an emerging sense of self, while men arrive with offers to save her from herself. Lerman refuses easy answers and searches the treacherous depths of desire, pain, and entanglement, asking readers if it is possible for a woman to reclaim her life and set its terms without succumbing to suicide or submission. Told in subtly experimental, sparse prose, and set in the American Southwest of today or ten years from now, I'm From Nowhere is a "breathtakingly honest, subversive" examination of the stories we are told-and the stories we tell ourselves-about identity, permanence, and love.
Praise for I'm From Nowhere Named one of the best books of 2019 by Entropy and LitReactor. "A heartbreaker of a debut."
- Buzzfeed Books "A slim book that packs a powerful philosophical punch."
- Kat Solomon, Heavy Feather Review "Lerman's prose is precise and gutting-the experience is like grazing death on the lips. You know you're close to something dark and special, and you want to know it more deeply, so you keep reading on, fervently."
- Elle Nash, author of Animals Eat Each Other "Contrary to what the title of her debut suggests, Lindsay Lerman comes from experience, every line dripping with dark humor and honesty. We may not live on this earth long enough to fully understand reality's complexities and contradictions but books like I'm From Nowhere act like anchors, breadcrumbs to carry us through the despair."
- Michael J. Seidlinger, author of Dreams of Being "Introspective and intense, this novel brings readers on a journey of self-discovery both smart and emotionally moving."
- Chuck Augello, Cease, Cows "Lerman has crafted an impressively insightful and multi-layered look at female identity with a genuine depth that's hard to find."
- Biblioculus "Lovely, hushed prose reminiscent of Duras."
- Monique Quintana, author of Cenote City
"To say a lot without saying much, to pack hints that can explode in a reader's mind in a tiny space, like Lerman has done, is no small feat."
- Moazzam Sheikh, Nonconformist Magazine