The Sojourn

For the 1991 novel by R. A. Salvatore, see Sojourn (novel).

The Sojourn is a 2011 debut novel by Andrew Krivak which was shortlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction.^[1][2][3] The novel is a Family Saga which deals with American emigrant to Austria-Hungary, Jozef Vinich who gets dragged into World War I.^[1] Multiple reviewers compared the novel favourably to A Farewell to Arms.^[2][4]

First edition
(publ. Bellevue Literary Press)

Reception

Reception of the novel was overwhelmingly positive.^[3] NPR reviewer Alan Cheuse called the novel "splendid", marking surprise that such a short novel can do such a good job examining the experience of the war.^[2] The Christian Science Monitor, similarly gave praise to the novel's simple language and compelling story telling, which effectively challenges the glorification of war, creating an "anti-war novel with all the heat of a just-fired artillery gun".^[4] Kirkus review noted that the novel is late to the World War I in literature genre, it's "an assured, meditative novel that turns on a forgotten theater in a largely forgotten war."^[5]