Journeyman, Marc Bojanowski
Journeyman, Marc Bojanowski
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Journeyman
A Novel

Author: Marc Bojanowski

Narrator: Richard Powers

Unabridged: 7 hr 35 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/14/2017

Synopsis

Nolan Jackson is a journeyman carpenter by trade and a wanderer by nature. And in 2007, while fellow Americans fight in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Nolan roams, traveling between jobs building tract homes across the West. Following a shocking workplace accident in Las Vegas, he uproots himself from the tentative relationships he has made and heads toward the ocean.On his way he passes through his brother’s town where circumstances cost him his trailer and tools, forcing him to stay put. Unable to build houses, Nolan turns to building a meaningful life. Questions about Western-film notions of masculinity are woven throughout the novel; from the damage to Nolan’s family by the Vietnam War in which his father fought, to the ubiquity and consequence of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to slow unraveling of his brother’s marriage and mental state, to the mysterious rash of arson in their small town.Ultimately, Journeyman is a timely, and tightly wound novel about dwelling, building, belonging, love, and men and brothers finding the value of a place to call home in the modern West.

About Marc Bojanowski

Marc Bojanowski graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and received his MFA in creative writing from the New School. His writing has appeared in The Literary Review, McSweeney’s, and Granta. His first novel, The Dog Fighter, was a finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Award.

About Richard Powers

Richard Powers has published thirteen novels. He is a MacArthur Fellow and received the National Book Award. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Overstory, and Bewilderment was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Mrtruscott

4.25 stars, amended from 4.75, 12 hours later...I was thinking about this book today as I drove around in errand mode. So that guy who honked? I wasn’t on my phone, I was in my head, thinking about this book! My thoughts drifted to the characters, and I have to ding my earlier/higher rating for this......more

Goodreads review by Camille

I went to college with Marc and he was one of the major crushes of my early college years. Though many years have passed I still recall him as one of the most intensely brilliant people I ever had the pleasure of knowing. I lost touch with him ages ago, but I loved The Dogfighter and occasionally ch......more

Goodreads review by Anne

Like its protagonist, Journeyman is a quiet novel with unexpected depths about morality and modern masculinity. His need for control in a turbulent world is poignantly encompassed … Full review [URL not allowed]......more

Goodreads review by Eleanor

After Daredevils, Bojanowski’s protagonist Nolan reminded me a bit of Jason, in the way that he’s an essentially good man who is often (though, crucially, not always) defined by his passivity. This isn’t Bojanowski’s first novel, but it’s the first of his that I’ve read, and it strikes me that he’s......more

Goodreads review by Brady

I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't great/deep/thought-provoking literature, but it was an easy read that just tried to tell a pretty simple story. Nolan is a nomadic carpenter--a journeyman--who takes off at the beginning of the book, leaving behind a steady job and loving partner. It's a pattern......more

Quotes

“Bojanowski keeps it simple…His direct, unassuming style keeps the reader engaged in the ultimately optimistic story of Nolan’s attempt to overcome the contradictions in his life.” Herald Scotland

“A rich but unrefined seam of allegorical meaningfulness [runs] through this pleasing tale.” Irish Times

“Journeyman is a textured, deceptively linear novel that throws some curves and carries a trace of Cormac McCarthy.” Booklist

“A bevy of well-rendered secondary characters brings humor and heart…Bojanowski’s novel is layered and thoughtful.” Kirkus Reviews

“Angry, rootless…haunted by wars fought and unfought, these lost men have come to tell us something urgent and true about a world they no longer understand.” Jon Raymond, author of Freebird

Awards

  • New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
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