About Zinsky the Obscure
• Paperback: 358 pages
• Publisher: Fomite (April 15, 2013)
Thirty-year-old Manhattan bachelor Ariel Zinsky is still recovering from his abusive childhood when he realizes no one — including his few living relatives — is truly interested in his narrative. While they numb themselves with the latest celebrity rehab story or the third-world atrocities replayed without ceasing on cable news, he sets out to write his autobiography as an exercise in his own self-medication, recasting himself as the hero in a coming-of-age story. Fans of A Confederacy of Dunces and The Perks of Being a Wallflower will relate to this tale of overcoming your childhood’s traumas, and the world’s indifference to them.
Warning: this book contains graphic sexual content and violence; it may not be suitable for all readers.
Praise for Zinsky the Obscure
“A powerful debut with Dickensian touches in its heartbreaking and occasionally humorous chronicle of the life of a modern young man.” – Kirkus Reviews
“This wry debut novel takes on the classic coming-of-age saga, and it makes the reader rethink common assumptions about how young people get from here to there.” – Booklist
“This eloquent novel from Mochari…is both bleak and affecting.” – Publishers Weekly
“Brutally funny….forged from the same literary hearth that has given us such delightful and fussy oddballs as Ignatius J. Reilly, Don Quixote, and Kilgore Trout….this book has the scope of something like Irving’s The World According to Garp. It also has that book’s heart. ” – DigBoston
“A terrific novel, whose pileup of emotional honesty is visceral and powerfully real — just try to look away.” – Dara Horn, National Jewish Book Award winner and two-time New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice selection
Zinsky the Obscure was chosen by Radio Boston as one of their Good Reads for the Summer!
About Ilan Mochari
Ilan Mochari’s novel, Zinsky the Obscure (Fomite Press), has earned rave reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and Booklist. Ilan’s short stories have appeared in Keyhole, Stymie and Ruthie’s Club. He is a contributor to Cognoscenti, the online magazine for Boston’s NPR News Station. He has a B.A. in English from Yale University. He used it to wait tables for nine years in the Boston area.
Find out more about Ilan and Zinksy the Obscure at zinskytheobscure.com. You can read a review of Zinsky the Obscure in DigBoston, as well as an interview with the author. Check out the radio interview as well.
Ilan’s Tour Stops
Thursday, July 11th: Tiffany’s Bookshelf
Wednesday, July 17th: Must Read Faster
Sunday, July 28th: 50 Books Project
Monday, July 29th: Turn the Page
Tuesday, July 30th: Wag the Fox – guest post
Wednesday, July 31st: The Relentless Reader
Thursday, August 1st: Giraffe Days
Thursday, August 8th: The Feminist Texican [Reads]
Tuesday, August 13th: Lance Mannion
Monday, August 19th: Conceptual Reception