Publisher: CLASH Books
Language: English
Length: 182 pages
I’m From Nowhere
Can a book grieve? Can it say goodbye to all that was?
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.
“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, fervently.” – Elle Nash, author of Animals Eat Each Other and Nudes
“A heartbreaker of a debut.”
– Buzzfeed Books
“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.”
– Nonconformist Magazine
“With I’m From Nowhere, Lerman forces us to recognize that the nature of all that exists is to destroy itself. […] A dark undercurrent of human experience is brought to the fore. The result is devastating insight into feminine consciousness unbound.”
– Charlene Elsby, author of Hexis
Analysis in Bustle “Claire’s story is ultimately an optimistic one. She has to decide what she wants, because she no longer has the option not to decide.”
Interview with Genevieve Pfieffer in Anomaly “It’s safe to say I’m obsessed with impending extinction.”
Interview with Letters off Paper (podcast) “I’m From Nowhere is a psycho-thriller, […] without a doubt, one of the most emotionally demanding books I’ve ever read.”