Читать книгу No One You Know - Jason Schwartzman - Страница 1

“NO ONE YOU KNOW reads like a collection of Polaroids. Like a stranger’s photo album you found at a thrift store; everything looks familiar—the people, the poses, the detritus in the background, all these small moments and people frozen in time—but also not quite. “Five-Minute Friendships,” one of these short snapshots is titled, and that’s what they feel like, told through Schwartzman’s curious, caring, attentive eye.” — Aaron Burch, founding editor of Hobart

“In the great tradition of wayward oral historians, this compelling debut from a talented new author is a vivid and sentient portrait of everyday Americana and the nature of intimacy. A quest for realness in an age of confusion, told through a series of rollicking encounters, the book’s charm lies hidden in the most meaningful place: between the lines. NO ONE YOU KNOW is indeed everyone you know. An important collection, well-observed, stitched, and told.” — Geoffrey Gray, New York Times bestselling author of Skyjack: The Hunt for D. B. Cooper

“Schwartzman is an interlocutor, a witness, an agitator. He is thirsty for meaning; he is a “hungry depository” for the lives of others. With the moral zip of Isaac Bashevis Singer and the sharp compassion of Lydia Davis, Schwartzman takes talking to strangers as praxis for discovering his own self. NO ONE YOU KNOW is a book that revels in the sweaty intimacy of being human among other humans.” — Amanda Goldblatt, author of Hard Mouth

“At a time when so many of us are missing real human connection, NO ONE YOU KNOW reminds us of the power and beauty of random encounters with strangers. Jason’s honest, insightful and cathartic prose embraces you like a warm hug, and bears out the thesis he shares early in the book: that “a pleasure of stories [is] to feel close to something that’s actually far away.” — Noah Rosenberg, Founder of Narratively

“NO ONE YOU KNOW reads like the diary of your closest, wisest friend. In this sharp constellation of stories, Jason Schwartzman illuminates the power of human connection by taking the reader deep into his encounters with strangers and loved ones. Some are brief and others evolve over time, but all are revelatory and finely written. Dense with insight and sparkling with humor, NO ONE YOU KNOW is a one-of-a-kind book that will stay with me for years to come.” — Lucy Tan, author of What We Were Promised

“NO ONE YOU KNOW is sharply observational, atmospheric, with a clever surprise on every page. This debut is an understated and zoomed in account of what it means to be a person, and Jason Schwartzman is an exciting new voice to watch.” — Chloe Caldwell, author of Women and I’ll Tell You in Person

“If a person is a compendium of desires, beliefs, memories and actions—velocities crisscrossing beyond our expectations— then what does it mean to know somebody? How is it that a brief encounter can seem to expose us so wholly to another, and them to us, while years of acquaintance can blur by without two people ever really seeing each other except through a disheartening scrim of prejudices and proprieties? Jason Schwartzman explores this situation in prose deep and clear, inquisitive and humble, revealing—now when we’re all worried about our private bubbles—that families and friends can suddenly appear strange to us, and strangers uncannily familiar.” — Vidyan Ravinthiran, author of The Million-Petalled Flower of Being Here