WINNER, BRONZE MEDAL, FOREWORD REVIEWS 2019 INDIE AWARD For Best LGBTQ+ Fiction
For Ari Silverman, the past has never really passed. After 20 years, the trauma from a childhood assault resurfaces as he grapples with the fate of his ex-husband, a colleague accused of sexually harassing a student. To gain perspective, Ari arranges to reconnect with his high school crush, Justin Jackson, a bold step which forces him to reflect on their relationship in the segregated suburbs of Detroit during the 1990s and the secrets they still share.
An honest story about recovery and coping with both past and present, framed by the meteoric rise and fall of the band Nirvana and the wide-reaching scope of the #metoo movement, Nirvana is Here explores issues of identity, race, sex, and family with both poignancy and unexpected humor. Deftly told intertwining stories with rich, real characters are reminiscent of the sensuality and haunting nostalgia of Andre Aciman's Call Me By Your Name blended with the raw emotion of Kurt Cobain's lyrics.
Written by award-winning writer Aaron Hamburger, Nirvana Is Here is "a wonder of a book," according to acclaimed novelist Lauren Grodstein (Our Short History). "As a Jewish Gen-Xer, the novel reminded me exactly of who I once was—and all that I still want to be. . . . a brilliant accomplishment."
Industry Reviews
"A tender self-reckoning, Nirvana Is Here brings the past full circle. Hamburger deftly reveals how incidents recede-even if they leave their mark-to bring new hopes into focus." -Foreword Reviews
"Deft characterization of a person who seeks to close the space between the past and present self." -Lambda Literary Review
"Hamburger is tender and provocative in his examinations of sexual abuse, racial strife in '90s Detroit, and the way that discovering Nirvana changes everything about Ari's world. The complexities of this novel are deftly handled by Hamburger, whose sensitive and observant prose is a pure joy to read on every page." -Electric Literature
"Bay Area Reporter 2019 Pride List"
"Nirvana is Here is told with irony and a pleasing lightness. . . . Nirvana songs and adolescent musings about Kurt Cobain pepper the book, giving it a gritty, sardonic edge." -Jewish Book Council
"An expertly written, bold, funny, serious novel." -The Rupture Magazine
"Both timely and refreshing in its complexity, Nirvana is Here gets to the heart of matters and revels in the glory of accepting one's against-the-grain identity." -Hyype
"A work that effectively weaves the elements of growing up in the 1990s, addressing race/privilege/sexuality, confronting awful truths and realizing consequences have meaning throughout your life. It makes for a very good read indeed." -QueerGuru
"Nirvana is Here is a beautiful, but sad, coming-of-age story that is a heartily welcome addition to the LGBTQ literature pantheon." -I Like to Read
"Quite simply, this is a coming of age story but it is also so much more; it is a story of recovery and dealing with both past and present as set against the band Nirvana. . . . Hamburger beautifully captures the decade of the 90s and his characters who come of age then." -Reviews by Amos Lassen
"If your idea of Heaven is sitting down with a beautifully written book full of complex, compelling characters, then get ready....Nirvana is Here! This is a drop-everything, stay-up-way-too-late, unputdownable novel written by an amazingly talented author. Funny, sexy, wise, and thought-provoking, Nirvana Is Here is a book that has it all, speaks to our times, and is an absolutely necessary read." -Leslea Newman, author October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard and Heather Has Two Mommies
"A yearning, generous, coming-of-age journey. Captures both a decade, and those scary, vital moments we reveal who we are, inside. Aaron Hamburger's prose is alive: what's here is funny, painful, heartbreaking. If you miss (or missed) the 1990s, read this book - Nirvana Is Here." -Brando Skyhorse, author of The Madonnas of Echo Park and Take This Man
"With rich, real characters and an evocative sense of time and place, Aaron Hamburger movingly explores the ways our pasts accompany us into our future lives. Nirvana Is Here is tender, wise and deeply affecting." -Tova Mirvis, author, The Book of Separation
"Aaron Hamburger's Nirvana Is Here is a wonder of a book, often funny, sometimes heartbreaking, and always enormously honest about what it means to be young and in love. As a Jewish Gen-Xer, the novel reminded me exactly of who I once was--and all that I still want to be. Nirvana Is Here is a brilliant accomplishment." -Lauren Grodstein, author of Our Short History
"Like everything Hamburger writes, Nirvana Is Here is compulsively readable, charming, and suffused with deep humanity. The title is truth in advertising, folks: this novel is nirvana indeed." -Elisa Albert, author, After Birth
"A touching, finely wrought portrait of secrets lying like buried ordinance beneath ordinary lives. The delicacy and observational wit of Aaron Hamburger's prose are a marvel." -Louis Bayard, author, Courting Mr. Lincoln
