Famous Men Who Never Lived
by K. Chess
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Pub Date Mar 05 2019 | Archive Date Feb 28 2019
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Description
For readers of Station Eleven and Exit West, Famous Men Who Never Lived explores the effects of displacement on our identities, the communities that come together through circumstance, and the power of art to save us.
Wherever Hel looks, New York City is both reassuringly familiar and terribly wrong. As one of the thousands who fled the outbreak of nuclear war in an alternate United States—an alternate timeline—she finds herself living as a refugee in our own not-so-parallel New York. The slang and technology are foreign to her, the politics and art unrecognizable. While others, like her partner Vikram, attempt to assimilate, Hel refuses to reclaim her former career or create a new life. Instead, she obsessively rereads Vikram’s copy of The Pyronauts—a science fiction masterwork in her world that now only exists as a single flimsy paperback—and becomes determined to create a museum dedicated to preserving the remaining artifacts and memories of her vanished culture.
But the refugees are unwelcome and Hel’s efforts are met with either indifference or hostility. And when the only copy of The Pyronauts goes missing, Hel must decide how far she is willing to go to recover it and finally face her own anger, guilt, and grief over what she has truly lost.
About the Author: K. Chess was a W.K. Rose Fellow and her short stories have been honored by the Nelson Algren Award and the Pushcart Prize. She earned an MFA from Southern Illinois University and currently teaches at GrubStreet. She lives with her wife in Boston, MA.
A Note From the Publisher
LibraryReads votes due by 2/1/19.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781947793248 |
| PRICE | $24.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 324 |
Featured Reviews
Jacob O, Reviewer
Famous Men Who Never Lived is a strikingly unique tale of alternate realities and the struggle to cope with losing your ties to the place you call home. It’s a character piece filled with emotional depth that rings true on every page. Chess has shown us the human side of technological advancement and how a life saved can alternatively become an identity lost.
The overall concept is a fascinating one. Chess reveals pieces of an apocalyptic origin story throughout, peppered between the current day experiences of our small group of characters. This technology was meant to save millions and, in the end, rescued thousands. There is no hard science or technical explanation, and that’s okay. The book isn’t about that. Instead, we see the aftermath of arriving as a stranger in your own city. It’s quite jarring to imagine. They left behind families, friends, jobs, homes – the list goes on and on. It makes you think about the things we take for granted. Your favorites books, art, or music most likely doesn’t exist. Cars, cell phones, even the cultural makeup of the world – it could all be different in another reality.
The inclusion of first-person accounts adds another human element to the story. They’re hurting deep inside, longing to return from a new world that’s different in every way that counts. Many of the survivors are unraveling in some way as they try to juggle their ties to both realities. They go about their lives, trying to hold down jobs, trying to find romantic partners who can deal with their otherness. Chess really drives home a feeling of longing, of trying to hold onto memories that are the only record of something you’ll never experience again.
I applaud Famous Men Who Never Lived for its originality and solid writing. Above all, it’s a reminder that home isn’t something to be taken for granted. Experience everything because one day, you might find yourself standing in a different reality having lost the people, places and things that define you.
Review will be published on 2/28: https://reviewsandrobots.com/2019/02/28/famous-men-who-never-lived-book-review/
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