THE UGLY
Muzhduk the Ugli the Fourth is a 300-pound boulder-throwing mountain man from Siberia whose tribal homeland is stolen by an American lawyer out to build a butterfly conservatory for wealthy tourists. In order to restore his people’s land and honor, Muzhduk must travel to Harvard Law School to learn how to throw words instead of boulders. His anarchic adventures span continents, from Siberia to Cambridge to Africa, as he fights fellow students, Tuareg rebels, professors of law, dark magic, bureaucrats, heatstroke, postmodernists, and eventually time and space. A wild existential comedic romp, The Ugly tells the tale of a flawed and unlikely hero struggling against the machine that shapes the people who govern our world.
Published by the National Book Award winning Brooklyn Arts Press and translated into Czech by Jota Press (as Ošklivec), The Ugly was a best-seller among small presses in the United States, received the grand-prize “Best Book of 2016” award from the Chanticleer International Book Awards, and was a double finalist in the literary and humor categories for the 2016 American Library Associations Indies “Book of the Year” prize. It was also named one of the “Best Books of 2016: Best Fiction,” by Entropy Magazine and “Best Fiction Books of 2016 (A Year End List),” by Book Scrolling. It reached #1 on Goodreads’ New Releases and #1 on Amazon.com in World Literature.
Reviews and Awards
CIBA Awards: Best Book of 2016
The Ugly won the Overall Grand Prize for best book of 2016 across all genres at the CAC17 authors conference. Yay!
Book of the Year Finalist
The Ugly was named a 2016 Indies "Book of the Year" finalist by Foreword Reviews in two categories: literary fiction and humor.
2016 Somerset Prize
The Ugly won the 2016 Somerset Prize for "best literary and contemporary fiction," as well as its "satire" category, at CAC17.
Entropy Magazine
The Ugly was named one of the “Best Books of 2016: Best Fiction” by Entropy Magazine.
Book Scrolling
The Ugly was included in Book Scrolling's year-end list of the best books of 2016.
Kirkus Reviews
“Consistently hilarious...[The Ugly is] a bizarre but delightful sendup of illogical arguments.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Foreword Reviews
“Comedically absurd but also introspective, The Ugly challenges dogmatic clinging to the letter of the law...a globe-trotting tour de force that examines the complex relationship between words and actions.” [5 stars, editor's pick.].
—Foreword Reviews
Poets & Writers
“Intelligent and emotional, existential and comedic, the satirical novel takes on the irrational trappings of our supposedly rational world.”
—Poets & Writers
Publisher's Weekly
“Muscular critique of conflicts both intellectual and physical. A surprising treat.”
—Publisher's Weekly
Buffalo News
“Like a boisterous Borges ignoring the delete key or an angry Celine forced to write in a language he hates, Alexander Boldizar plays with our minds by mixing fact with fiction in The Ugly... Borrowing from every fabulist he knows he turns Conrad’s Heart of Darkness on its head. Kurtz’s 'horror' has become Boldizar’s 'Ugly'... It’s as if the Harvard Lampoon turned on itself...Kurtz has returned from the jungle and the horror is our institutions.”
—The Buffalo News, William L. Morris, Primetime Emmy-nominated writer
Softcover
“"The Ugly is an ambitious, deep, hilarious work that exists somewhere between the real and the absurd. Boldizar is able to balance humour and deep meaning to comment on law, thought, and how we construct meaning.”
—Softcover
Clash Media
“Hilarious, intelligent, challenging, and entertaining...This decade's A Confederacy of Dunces.”
—Clash Media
Harvard Law Bulletin
The Harvard Law Bulletin and Harvard Law Today say The Ugly “breaks the mold” on books set in law school.
—Harvard Law Bulletin
Kanadsky Slovak
“A great book.”
—Kanadsky Slovak
Above the Law
“The Ugly is often laugh-out-loud funny...I definitely recommend [it] for fans of insightful law school satire. If (for some reason) you are a fan of Senator Ted Cruz, you will definitely not enjoy The Ugly.”
—Above the Law (ABA's top news website for lawyers)
Slovak Spectrum TV
“One of the strangest, craziest, funniest, most interesting and most different novels anyone has ever put out.”
—Slovak Spectrum TV
Heavy Feather Review
“Oddly unforgettable debut...Boldizar’s strength is his ability in writing confidently and intimately of these two drastically different, and equally foreign, worlds. ”
—Heavy Feather Review
Writer's Bone
“I love a great writer bio. Here’s Alexander Boldizar’s: [...] Turns out that his debut novel, The Ugly, is just as entertaining ”
—Writer's Bone
AmReading
#AmReading selects The Ugly for September 2016
NetGalley Featured Author
NetGalley chose The Ugly for its "Featured Debut Author" theme.
Small Press Distribution
The Ugly spent six months on the Small Press Distribution bestseller list for Fiction
Amazon
The Ugly reached
#1 in World Literature
#1 in Mythology
#1 in Eastern European Literature
#1 in Lawyers & Criminals Humor
#3 in Dark Humor
If books had friends...
Several weeks of sitting between Joseph Heller's Catch-22 and Kurt Vonnegut's Mother Night is just too cool not to mention. Of course, nobody beats Catch-22!
Goodreads
The Ugly was voted #1 in Goodreads' list of September 2016 Releases.
North Shore News
The Ugly was featured in the North Shore News. Note: it's 372 pages, not 800!
LargeheartedBoy Book Notes
“A bold and hilarious satire.”
—LargeheartedBoy Book Notes
SPD Recommends
Small Press Distribution, which represents 400 smaller publishers, chose The Ugly as one of its recommended books
Booklist
“Boldizar’s debut successfully recognizes the chasm between youthful idealism and the reality it’s often mired in..”
—Poornima Apte, Booklist
Likeville
“A conversation with writer Alexander Boldizar about Harvard Law School, fatherhood, and his debut novel: The Ugly (2016).”
—Likeville Podcast
Vancouver Real TV
“An epic tale.”
—Vancouver RealTV
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