Before: A Novel

by Joseph Hurka

Over one September night on their small suburban street, the neighbors of Joseph Hurka’s novel Before connect. Whether they’re strangers, acquaintances, or ultimately closest allies, the familiar residents of a street in Hurka’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, fascinate and terrify, and Hurka’s debut novel offers us the depths of their strange and secret lives. Seventy-three-year-old Jiri Posselt and his wife, Anna, are survivors of the Nazi horror in Czechoslovakia; they have befriended a neighbor named Tika LaFond, a college student who has faced great challenges of her own. And as night descends we meet another character, a man who enters the apartments of neighborhood women when they aren’t home, taking a peculiar inventory of their lives. We discover why this ghostly man, haunted terribly by his past, is so twisted. When he becomes increasingly violent and, in the early hours of morning, fixes his attention exclusively on Tika, it will fall to Jiri Posselt---weakened by age but an utterly determined soul---to help his young friend. As we come to know the characters of Before through their own memories, we begin to understand their lives before terror affected them. As their lives converge, we see how good can work in the face of evil. And as they come to understand fully their own pasts in this thrilling and meticulously crafted fiction, we realize how the absolute power of knowledge and redemption can counter the true birthplaces of terror.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2007

About the author

Joseph Hurka attended Bradford College, in Bradford, Massachusetts, where he became a teaching assistant to the short story master, Andre Dubus. Dubus sent Hurka to the University of Iowa, where he earned an MFA in creative writing. Hurka'a short stories have been published in numerous literary quarterlies, including Ploughshares, Dos Passos Review, and Agni. A book of his collected stories is forthcoming.
In 1993, Hurka traveled to the Czech Republic to walk in the footsteps of his father, Josef, a Czech Resistance fighter during Nazi and communist times. The result was FIELDS OF LIGHT: A SON REMEMBERS HIS HEROIC FATHER, which won the Pushcart Editors' Book Award; a subsequent novel, BEFORE, also related to Hurka's discovery of his Czech roots, and was published in 2007 by St. Martin's.
Hurka has just finished a new novel, called SUPERLAND, and is at work on another memoir.

Reviews

[Marc Minnick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joseph Hurka's debut novel "Before" is a delight.An intriguing little tale of Nazi Czechoslovakia survivor,Jiri Posselt and the people who reside in his Cambridge,Massachusetts neighborhood.Mr Hurka masterfully weaves his tale around the interaction of his septuagenarian protagonist and his young female neighbor,Tika Lafond;college student and a pure soul.Danger lurks in the form of a troubled man ;known only as Ghost-Man,a shadow,faceless and dangerous.The Mise-en-scene fluctuates between Bohemia 1942 and 9/11/2001;a ingenious way of showing Jiri's courage during the German occupation (BEFORE) and current day trivialities and normality of the diversified neighborhood of Cambridge,pre 9/11.What I found surprisingly eerie of the dates illustrated in the chapters was that Mr.Hurka wrote his novel in 2007.four years earlier than actual catastrophe that occurred.BEFORE is a a poignant reminder that what has occurred in the past can determine the outcome of the future if courage exists. "In the manner of men of the past,we build within ourselves stone,Out of stone a vast haunted castle"V.Monteiro.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't give a very objective review of this book because my writing teacher wrote it, and as such my pride/delight for him overwhelms. But maybe it overwhelms because it was very gripping and readable and as someone who can be quite fast to decide something is boring, I was pretty goddamn relieved to not be bored by this one!

But anyhow, Joe wrote it and it's great and fast so there.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading this book at the suggestion of my partner. It was a fast read and I found myself engrossed very quickly. However, I kept wondering how the plots were going to play out in such a short novel. It felt like ending came too soon.

[Heidi G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read. A very compelling, heartbreaking and thought provoking book. Hard to imagine, much less believe, the atrocities that were perpetrated on humanity and yet the smashing of statues and erasing of history was repeated just this past summer with all the riots and smashing of statutes and the attempt at erasing history in our country today. These riots and ongoing attempts at erasing our history are being condoned. We are told riots are protests, when we see pictures of buildings on fire behind the newscaster....gaslighting? Could this be a chilling omen of history starting to repeat itself?

[Diane Holm · Rating 3 out of 5]

A troubled mind full of snarled webs can be treacherous. Are the voices and visions real or just imagined? Where will they lead and whose life will they ensnare? It was in a small neighborhood of Cambridge Massachusetts, on a poorly lit street that an uninvited stranger crept, unnoticed. Will the unsuspecting residents get more than they bargained for? Who is truly safe or just unaware? The answers are elusive.

Tika, is a budding photographer, young and full of exuberance. She has become attached to an older couple in her apartment building. Juri, the husband, is recovering from a stroke and having difficulty adjusting to his current limitations. Anna attempts to care for him alone, but appreciates Tika’s helpfulness.

Juri is plagued with vivid images of the past, as he struggles with memories of the Nazi invasion. His losses were so great they still rip at his heart. He tries diligently to separate these events from current reality but waivers back and forth. Writing, he is always writing down what he remembers. The doctor says it is good for him, so he tries. But the memories bring unbearable pain and tears fall unbidden.

The residue of Ghost-Man’s deplorable youth still lingers, triggered by the simplest of things. He fights with his own inner demons and recollections as well, but they are more recent. Tragedies of the Gulf War were experienced in a gruesome and personal way, adding to the well of sorrow and pains from the past. His special training was meticulous and careful but also deadly. When things don’t go as planned, events spiral out of control and many lives are endangered.

Past and present collide and the results bring Tika, Juri and Ghost-man into a battle of wills, determination, and a triumph. But who will ultimately win the day?

Before is filled with vivid descriptions and emotions. However, the character’s stories are so intermingled from past to present and back again they are at times difficult to follow, thus making the overall flow a bit bumpy. There is also a tad of explicit material that could be offensive.