“A picaresque novel about mountain people, Harvard lawyers, the heft of rocks, and the power of words. The Ugly brims with intelligence and humor.”

—Laila Lalami, author of The Moor’s Account, Pulitzer Prize finalist

“In his restrained and stark prose, Boldizar mixes a kind of fabulism with the absurd. The Ugly combines history and hilarity, and offers a sardonic view of the law and legal system. This is a strange and bold novel, original in its scope, story, and point of view. A wild fictional ride that will leave you wanting more.”

—Nina Swamidoss McConigley, author of Cowboys and East Indians, winner of the PEN Open Book Award

“The hilarious and inventive and unforgettable story of Muzhduk the Ugli is a work of kinetic absurdism infused with deep intelligence and feeling. A gift of a debut from a wholly original new voice.”

—Laura van den Berg, author of Find Me

“Boldizar has opened a door into the parallel universe of myth. Out of it has stepped a modern day Beowulf.”

—Alan Stone, author of Movies and the Moral Adventure of Life, former president of the American Psychiatric Association

“The Ugly is the funniest, smartest novel I’ve read in a long, long time; its protagonist, the inimitable and lovable Muzhduk, is a literary creation for the ages.”

— Pete Duval, author of Rear View: Stories

“Seldom does one encounter a book that balances so much intelligence with so much heart. Muzhduk the Ugli belongs among the great heroes of fiction, alongside Bellow’s Augie March and Dostoevsky’s Alyosha. It’s only after you stop laughing that you realize how much you’ve learned.”

— Mark Powell, author of The Sheltering

“The Ugly hit me like a giant, knee-bending, stomach-emptying boulder.”

— Stefan Sagmeister, author of Things I have learned in my life so far, and two-time Grammy award-winning designer

“Here is a hero’s journey like you’ve never read before. It’s a wild ride that shows us the irrational underbelly of our supposedly rational world.”

— Gibson Fay-Leblanc, author of Death of a Ventriloquist and poet laureate of Portland