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In viaggio contromano
Poche storie, Ella e John hanno partiranno. Chi se ne frega dei divieti e delle ansie dei figli, al diavolo medici, paramedici, rompiscatole che ti ammorbano a suon di esami prescrizioni precauzioni. Ella ha più problemi sanitari di un paese del Terzo mondo, John non ricorda come si chiama sua moglie, ma insieme “formano una persona intera”.
Di cose grandiose, se ne possono fare anche all’ultimo round. Anche dopo una vita che non ha nulla di straordinario. E allora? Si parte e stop. In barba a ogni cautela, ogni pallosa ragionevolezza, a ottant’anni suonati Ella e John balzano sul loro camper – un vecchio Leisure Seeker – e attraversano l’America da Est a Ovest. Partendo da Detroit, puntano dritti a Disneyland, lungo la mitica Route 66. Un vero e proprio viaggio contromano a base di cocktail vietati, hippies irriducibili, diapositive all’alba, malviventi messi in fuga.
Un inno alla Strada, un caleidoscopio di paesaggi strepitosi e cittadine fantasma, ansie sogni paure; quello che è stato, che si è amato, quel che è qui e ora e più non sarà… perché la vita è profondamente nostra, drammaticamente grande, fino all’ultimo chilometro.
Di cose grandiose, se ne possono fare anche all’ultimo round. Anche dopo una vita che non ha nulla di straordinario. E allora? Si parte e stop. In barba a ogni cautela, ogni pallosa ragionevolezza, a ottant’anni suonati Ella e John balzano sul loro camper – un vecchio Leisure Seeker – e attraversano l’America da Est a Ovest. Partendo da Detroit, puntano dritti a Disneyland, lungo la mitica Route 66. Un vero e proprio viaggio contromano a base di cocktail vietati, hippies irriducibili, diapositive all’alba, malviventi messi in fuga.
Un inno alla Strada, un caleidoscopio di paesaggi strepitosi e cittadine fantasma, ansie sogni paure; quello che è stato, che si è amato, quel che è qui e ora e più non sarà… perché la vita è profondamente nostra, drammaticamente grande, fino all’ultimo chilometro.
229 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 4, 2026
About the author
Michael Zadoorian
11 books244 followersMichael Zadoorian is the author of six works of fiction. His second novel, The Leisure Seeker was made into a feature film starring Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland.
Coming out in March of 2027 is BEAT GIRL, a biographical novel based on the life of Edie Kerouac, Jack Kerouac's first wife from Detroit.
BACK COVER COPY: In 1942, Edie Parker, a Detroit debutante her mother considered "too wild," is exiled to New York City, where "too wild" is just right. There she meets a young Jack Kerouac, who has just quit college to devote himself to writing. Their love affair is fireworks from the start.
Soon, Edie pulls intellectual ruffians Lucien Carr, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs into her orbit, forming the group that America would call "The Beats." Edie and her boys tumble headlong into sex, drugs, crime, obsession, and even murder. After Edie and Jack rush into a hasty marriage to get him out of jail, everything falls to pieces.
Yet their love for each other endures, even after Jack writes On the Road and is consumed by fame that ultimately destroys him. Beat Girl is Edie Parker's chance to have her say about the boys' club she created and readers will finally meet this unforgettable woman: a strong, charismatic free spirit with an endless lust for life and love.
Published in 2020, Michael's fourth novel is The Narcissism of Small Differences. Set in bottomed-out 2009 Detroit, it’s the story of Joe Keen and Ana Urbanek, an unmarried Gen X couple with no kids or mortgage, as Midwestern parents seem to require. Now on the cusp of forty, both work at jobs that they’re not sure they believe in anymore, yet with varying returns. Ana is successful, Joe is floundering—both caught somewhere between mainstream and alternative culture, sincerity and irony, achievement and arrested development. The Narcissism of Small Differences tells of an aging creative class, doomed to ask the questions: Is it possible to outgrow irony? Does not having children make you one? Is there even such a thing as selling out anymore? By turns wry and ribald, kitschy and gritty, poignant and thoughtful, The Narcissism of Small Differences is the story of Joe and Ana’s life together, their relationship, their tribes, their work, and their comic quest for a life that is their own and no one else’s.
His third novel was Beautiful Music. Set in 1970’s era Detroit, Beautiful Music is about one young man’s transformation through music. Danny Yzemski is a husky, pop radio–loving loner balancing a dysfunctional home life with the sudden harsh realities of freshman year at a high school marked by racial turbulence. When tragedy strikes the family, Danny’s mother becomes increasingly erratic and angry about the seismic cultural shifts unfolding in her city and the world. As she tries to keep it together with the help of Librium, highballs, and breakfast cereal, Danny finds his own reason to carry on: rock ‘n’ roll. Beautiful Music is a funny and poignant story about the power of music and its ability to save one’s soul.
Zadoorian’s second novel, The Leisure Seeker was an international bestseller and translated into over 20 different languages worldwide. John and Ella, two eighty-somethings, decide to kidnap themselves from the doctors and grown children who run their lives for a final adventure in their ancient Winnebago. In a starred review, Booklist wrote "The Leisure Seeker is pretty much like life itself: joyous, painful, moving, tragic, mysterious, and not to be missed." The L.A. Times said: Zadoorian is true to these geezers. He draws them in their most honest light. I hoped for a book that would make me laugh during these tight times, and I was rewarded." And the Sydney Morning Herald stated: "This is a sad, sweet love letter to a fading America… sharp humour about aging and a quietly shocking ending.”
Michael Zadoorian's first novel, Second Hand is about love and loss for a Detroit-area junk store owner. The New Y
Coming out in March of 2027 is BEAT GIRL, a biographical novel based on the life of Edie Kerouac, Jack Kerouac's first wife from Detroit.
BACK COVER COPY: In 1942, Edie Parker, a Detroit debutante her mother considered "too wild," is exiled to New York City, where "too wild" is just right. There she meets a young Jack Kerouac, who has just quit college to devote himself to writing. Their love affair is fireworks from the start.
Soon, Edie pulls intellectual ruffians Lucien Carr, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs into her orbit, forming the group that America would call "The Beats." Edie and her boys tumble headlong into sex, drugs, crime, obsession, and even murder. After Edie and Jack rush into a hasty marriage to get him out of jail, everything falls to pieces.
Yet their love for each other endures, even after Jack writes On the Road and is consumed by fame that ultimately destroys him. Beat Girl is Edie Parker's chance to have her say about the boys' club she created and readers will finally meet this unforgettable woman: a strong, charismatic free spirit with an endless lust for life and love.
Published in 2020, Michael's fourth novel is The Narcissism of Small Differences. Set in bottomed-out 2009 Detroit, it’s the story of Joe Keen and Ana Urbanek, an unmarried Gen X couple with no kids or mortgage, as Midwestern parents seem to require. Now on the cusp of forty, both work at jobs that they’re not sure they believe in anymore, yet with varying returns. Ana is successful, Joe is floundering—both caught somewhere between mainstream and alternative culture, sincerity and irony, achievement and arrested development. The Narcissism of Small Differences tells of an aging creative class, doomed to ask the questions: Is it possible to outgrow irony? Does not having children make you one? Is there even such a thing as selling out anymore? By turns wry and ribald, kitschy and gritty, poignant and thoughtful, The Narcissism of Small Differences is the story of Joe and Ana’s life together, their relationship, their tribes, their work, and their comic quest for a life that is their own and no one else’s.
His third novel was Beautiful Music. Set in 1970’s era Detroit, Beautiful Music is about one young man’s transformation through music. Danny Yzemski is a husky, pop radio–loving loner balancing a dysfunctional home life with the sudden harsh realities of freshman year at a high school marked by racial turbulence. When tragedy strikes the family, Danny’s mother becomes increasingly erratic and angry about the seismic cultural shifts unfolding in her city and the world. As she tries to keep it together with the help of Librium, highballs, and breakfast cereal, Danny finds his own reason to carry on: rock ‘n’ roll. Beautiful Music is a funny and poignant story about the power of music and its ability to save one’s soul.
Zadoorian’s second novel, The Leisure Seeker was an international bestseller and translated into over 20 different languages worldwide. John and Ella, two eighty-somethings, decide to kidnap themselves from the doctors and grown children who run their lives for a final adventure in their ancient Winnebago. In a starred review, Booklist wrote "The Leisure Seeker is pretty much like life itself: joyous, painful, moving, tragic, mysterious, and not to be missed." The L.A. Times said: Zadoorian is true to these geezers. He draws them in their most honest light. I hoped for a book that would make me laugh during these tight times, and I was rewarded." And the Sydney Morning Herald stated: "This is a sad, sweet love letter to a fading America… sharp humour about aging and a quietly shocking ending.”
Michael Zadoorian's first novel, Second Hand is about love and loss for a Detroit-area junk store owner. The New Y
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
October 4, 2026
Questo libro può essere riassunto con una parola, per me: tenerezza. Ho riso, ho provato ansia, ho provato nostalgia di vite ricordi amici non miei, ho provato in primis però una grande tenerezza. Letto con la velocità con cui Ella e John macinano i chilometri di strada.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review