Rubble of Rubles

Josip Novakovich emigratedfrom Croatia to the United States at the age of 20. He has published a dozenbooks, including a novel, April Fool's Day (in ten languages), fivestory collections (Infidelities, Yolk, Salvation and Other Disasters,Heritage of Smoke, and Tumbleweed) and three collections ofnarrative essays as well as two books of practical criticism. His novel, Rubbleof Rubles, is scheduled for publication in 2022. His work was anthologizedin Best American Poetry, the Pushcart Prize and O. Henry Prize Stories. He hasreceived the Whiting Writer's Award, a Guggenheim fellowship, the IngramMerrill Award and an American Book Award, and in 2013 he was a Man BookerInternational Award finalist. He has taught at Penn State, University ofCincinnati, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and now at Concordia University inMontreal.

“Throughout the madcap plotting, apervasive sense of menace never dissipates. An international comedy of errorsthat ventures to knowingly bleak places.” —Kirkus starred review “In vertiginous scenes that evoke Kafka,Dostoyevsky, and Alice in Wonderland, the police and prison officialssubject David to extortion, drugging, and interrogation, and even Putin himselfgets a cartoonish and nightmarish cameo. Not only is this sickeningly surreal,it’s a hell of a ride.” —Publishers Weekly starred review“Josip Novakovich’s latest novel is a tour deforce that exposes the complete corruption of the Russian police and legalsystem under Putin. David Dvornik is an insomniac, former investment banker,Russophile, amateur historian, and ex graduate student from Yale, who usessarcasm and farce to describe the absurdity of his daily life in SaintPetersburg. Novakovich turns the idea of Crime and Punishment onits head. Rather than the inevitable capture of the guilty, we see theinevitable punishment of the innocent.” --Josh Barkan, author of Mexico:Stories  “Crime and the lack of punishment—Josip Novakovichconjures up a picture of Saint Petersburg that would terrify Dostoevsky.” —TiborFischer, author of Under the Frog “Rubble of Rubbles shows Josip Novakovich at his best. I know of no other writerwho knows how to ridicule the ridiculous and find meaning in the seeminglymeaningless. This is a comic novel with serious content, rich in dark humor andstartling cultural insights.” —Jim Heynen, author of The One-RoomSchoolhouse “This novel took hold of me fromthe beginning and never let go. Kafkaesque for the first two-thirds, and thensomething else. I am not sure what: maybe a bit of the Wizard of Oz, and a bitHitchcock, with a happy ending. I shall never think of Russia the same way, orof Georgian wine. A timely book filled with humor and twists and turns.” —RobertAppelbaum, author of Terrorism Before the Letter: Mythography and PoliticalViolence in England, Scotland, and France 1559-1642 “In a thrilling mix of anadventure novel and satire, Novakovich provides us with a fresh glimpse intothat horrifying and mysterious Russian soul. So relevant that it’s scary!” —Lara Vapnyar, author of DivideMe By Zero “Josip Novakovich's narrativestyle—powerfully direct, crisplyprecise, bluntly confident without arrogance—is instantly recognizable and entirely sui generis. No singlesentence goes to waste in his texts, no word a throwaway one. His proseresonates with distant rhythms of faraway histories. He is one of thepreeminent storytellers of our time—and oneof the very best we have. In this remarkable, highly immersive novel, set inearly-aughts Russia poised on the cusp of becoming the moral catastrophe of astate it is today, his satire is cutting and unswerving, his gaze steadfast anduncommonly, uncannily observant.”  —Mikhail Iossel, author of EveryHunter Wants to Know