Books like Nowhere Man

sad. if i had to review the book in a word, that'd be it. but, like the titular character, this is "complicated." the book made me sad because it's author only started writing in english in 1995 and already has a vastly, vastly better grasp and ability in the language than i do - and i've been speaking/writing it all my life. the main character, jozef pronek, is sad in so many ways: in his eastern european childhood, in the manner in which all teenagers are sad, and in how he manages to assimilate (or not) to life in america as an adult. the saddest thing about this book is that it is so clearly a thing of beauty, and i've no idea what to make of it. none whatsoever.professional reviewers seem to fall over themselves to justly praise his lingistic mastery and unique (truly!) perspective of the world, as well as the book's meditation on identity. but where others draw comparisons to nabokov (perhaps accurately - i don't know) and laud the zen-like conclusion, i can't help but wonder what the h#ll happened. the book is divided into half a dozen sections or so, but the reader can only infrequently identify the first person narrator. for much/most of the book, i wasn't sure through whose eyes i was witnessing pronek's life, and how that figures into the dream-like, ambiguous ending. nearly every sentence amazed me, but there were a number of occasions when i asked myself, "where is this going?" i might have a better idea a few days from now, after marinating in thought for a bit, but having just finished the book last night, right now i'm still wondering what hemon was trying to tell me.