Nowhere Near Hollywood

by Mark SaFranko

Nowhere Near Hollywood is the fifth major instalment of the 'Max Zajack' series. Familiar to readers across the world from the earlier novels, this time around Max, after years of struggle to get his writing recognized, decides impulsively -- and unwisely -- to try his hand at acting in order to get his career off the ground. If anything can bring him attention, he tries to convince his skeptical and long-suffering girlfriend, Gayle, it's recognition as a performer. After all, the most powerful man in the world -- the President of the United States -- is himself a flopped "B" actor.

Shot through with Max's characteristic black humor, Nowhere Near Hollywood traces his long, wacky journey
through the fringes of the film and theater industries in New York City, from playing a Native American
pitching hot dogs, to being asked to drop his trousers at a movie audition, to his heartbreaking near-misses
as a playwright and screenwriter.

300 pages, Paperback

Published September 20, 2019

About the author

Mark SaFranko’s novels and stories have garnered rave reviews and a cult following, mainly in Europe. Hating Olivia was recently nominated for the Prix Littéraire Rive Gauche à Paris. In 2018 he was named the first Author in International Residence at the University of Lorraine in Nancy, France. His paintings have been exhibited in Europe, and he is also a musician. He divides his time between the United States and France.

Reviews

[Jim Pownall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark SaFranko has become my favourite author overnight. I bought a few of his books on a whim and am working my way through them at 2 a week.

Nowhere Near Hollywood is a brutal novel, describing the life of a writer who has tried everything to get noticed... so now, why not try becoming an actor? Max goes from one audition and role to the next, all the while continuing to write and hold down menial jobs, take care of his family, and make money.

The novel is relentless and told passionately, barely giving the reader a moment to breathe. And it's extremely addictive too. Try reading just one or two chapters, and before you know it, 50-60 pages have zipped by.

I'm a huge Thom Jones (The Pugilist at Rest) fan. I can't help but think, if Jones had published a novel, they would read in a similar style to SaFranko's - and I mean that as a huge compliment.

This is the 5th Max Zajack novel, but if you haven't read or can't get hold of the other Zajack novels, that's not a problem. They're all stand-alone and don't require any background info.

My goal for the remainder of 2020: get my hands on Mark SaFranko's other books - new, second hand, kindle... Whatever. I'm too much of a fan to miss out.

If anyone has any of SaFranko's other novels, please let me know.

[Keijo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mark SaFranko is the successor of Bukowski and Dan Fante, two of my favorite authors. He writes in a similarly simple, fast-paced, non-pretentious, and strongly autobiographical style.

However, unlike Bukowski, his works do not focus so much around drinking; and unlike Dan, he puts way more social commentary in them, which is often their best part, for the author's reflections are both witty and dark and eminently true.

This book is about Mark's alter ego Max Zajack who, tired of not making it as a writer, decides to become an actor to bring attention to his writing. Aging and lacking proper connections, you can imagine how that turns out for him.

The book is about giving it your best against overwhelming odds whilst being kicked down all the way through, with letdown following letdown. And yet, for whichever reason, Max keeps getting up again and again, for ever more humiliation, for ever more bad luck, with only the smallest of morsels thrown at him along the way to keep him from going completely off his rocker or jumping from a window.

It's a must read for anybody naive and deluded enough to think that they're gonna be the next big thing to make it in the showbiz industry. It is like if Bukowski had written Hollywood without ever becoming famous (hence the "nowhere near" part).

The book is, in a word, brilliant.

[Alex Kudera · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished the novel and hope to read another SaFranko soon. The other two I've read are Hating Olivia and Lounge Lizard. It's good, maybe the best SaFranko I've read for laughs. Hating Olivia might be a bit more unified, but this one has lots of funny scenes; it paints a clear picture of what it's like on the bottom rung of the NYC acting scene, and it also gets into the life of a writer.

[Tjibbe Wubbels · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mark SaFranko is often compared to the dirty old man himself. The title is a reference, no doubt. Like in a Bukowski novel, there is little character development, loads of repeats and the world is a dark and gritty place where everything and everyone seems to be against you.

The experience of endless disappointment does something to you. You begin to expect things to never change. You expect your life to continue moving south, as if it's normal. You get used to feeling beaten down. Slowly you find yourself no longer giving a damn.

Mark is no Bukowski, but he does come up with some great sentences and more often than not the art is between the lines, where beauty shines through and lights up this cruel, hard world. But you gotta stay on your toes when confronted with beauty, as you can read in this quote after just getting married on a Caribbean island with his pregnant girlfriend

We stood on the pink sand and watched the gaudy explosions overhead. The setting sun, the Roman candles, the blue-green sea splashing a few feet away - it was all quite beautiful. Beauty cajoles you into thinking that something more, something miraculous, should happen - but it doesn't. Nothing happens, the moment passes, and beauty, you realise, doesn't mean a thing...

It might not mean a thing, but I did find beauty in this novel.

[Kirk Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sa Franko is the real deal. This is not one of those bogus, ghost-written celeb tomes, but written by an author who actually writes his own books. The man knows what he's doing. Blue-collar scribe who paid his share of dues & it shows. Good stuff. Solid prose.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic writer!