In Migration

by Daniel Blokh

As a fifteen-year-old American author with a Russian immigrant family, Daniel Blokh’s identity is a mystery even to himself. He is consumed with anxiety for the future, melancholia for the past, and feelings of detachment from both the country of his family and the one where he was born. Even his growing body is a point of anxiety. In this debut novel of creative nonfiction, these themes surface, told through intricate symbols and raw memories. From the tender Drifter to the spectral and haunting Orbital, he explores his childhood, adolescence, and worry for the future. In one essay, Daniel composes letters to his body; in another, he expresses his grandmother through the image of snow. Family, guilt, nationality, and self are all important themes in In Migration. Yet most of all, it is a story of growing up, of discovering one’s identity, of learning both how to find your roots and how to fly forward.

First published July 27, 2016