Spaceman of Bohemia

January 30, 2017
A Czech astronaut travels to an interstellar dust cloud in an attempt to redeem his family name in this wonderfully jubilant and touching debut novel. Beginning with the launch of the spaceship JanHus1, the novel promptly flashes back to explore the complex motivations of the titular spaceman, Jakub Prochazka. The son of a Communist sympathizer who tortured dissidents, Jakub chooses to leave his beloved homeland and wife, Lenka, to bring renown to the oft-overlooked Czech Republic. Once in space, Jakub encounters a possibly hallucinated alien spider named Hanus, who interrogates him on philosophies both existential and personal. Through their conversations, Jakub is forced to confront Lenka’s new, seemingly happier life without him, as well as the ghosts of his father’s violent past. Their debates come to a head in the dust cloud Chopra, where Jakub must risk his mission, earthbound life, and contact with Hanus. Written in an erudite comic style, the novel boldly switches tones like a spacesuit built for multiple planetary atmospheres: from the historical to the domestic, from out-of-this-world fables to brutal terrestrial reality. Agent: Marya Spence, Janklow & Nesbit Associates.

December 15, 2016
Blend Bradbury and Lem with Saint-Exupery and perhaps a little Kafka, and you get this talky, pleasing first novel by Czech immigrant writer Kalfar. Jakub Prochazka--his name, he insists, is "common" and "simple"--is a man of numerous fears, including caterpillars and the possibility of an afterlife, "as in the possibility that life could not be escaped." An astrophysicist with a beautiful if increasingly estranged wife and a father with a fraught past, Jakub is now pushing the moral equivalent of a giant space broom, collecting cosmic dust for analysis up in the skies on a path to Venus, where the first astronaut from the Czech Republic can stake a claim to space for a nation that the world confuses with Chechnya or, in the words of a powerful technocrat, "reduces us to our great affinity for beer and pornography." The new world in the sky yields many mysteries, among them an arachnoid spider with whom Jakub, whom the creature calls "skinny human," has extensive conversations about all manner of things even as events on Earth unfold in ever stranger ways; his wife, Lenka, now has a police tail, and Jakub's wish to reconcile and produce offspring seems increasingly unlikely. And why does he wish to reproduce? So that, he answers when the creature asks, he reduces the odds of being a nobody, one of many nicely Kafkaesque nods in a book built on sly, decidedly contrarian humor. Whether the Nutella-loving creature is really there or some sort of imagined projection ("A hallucination could not be full of thoughts that had never occurred to me, could it?") remains something of a mystery, but Jakub's torments and mostly good-natured if baffled responses to them are the real meat of the story. Blending subtle asides on Czech history, the Cold War, and today's wobbly democracy, Kalfar's confection is an inventive, well-paced exercise in speculative fiction. An entertaining, provocative addition to the spate of literary near-future novels that have lately hit the shelves.

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February 15, 2017
The Iron Curtain has fallen, and the Czech Republic is hoping to keep its dark history squarely in the rear-view mirror. A space program exploring Chopra, a mysterious gassy giant near Venus, promises to be just the ticket. The country rests its hopes on the shaky shoulders of Jakub Prochazka, an astrophysicist who signs on only as reparation for his father's sins as a Communist collaborator. Looking to rewrite his personal history, Jakub becomes the country's first astronaut, traveling aboard the JanHus1 in the spring of 2018 to conduct experiments on Chopra. Unfortunately, even space can't untether Jakub from more earthly concerns. Jakub's marriage to Lenka, frayed as it already has been, is further tested. The unwitting astronaut explores existential questions with his own version of Tom Hanks' Wilson, a creature he names Hanu. Cutting to memorable scenes set in small-town Czechoslovakia and, later, in Prague, Kalfar's absurdist debut eloquently explores the crushing burden of having to carry your father's sins and its effects on a man whose sole ambition was to live an ordinary existence.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

November 1, 2016

Czech scientist--turned--big-time astronaut Jakub Prochazka undertakes a dangerous solo mission to Venus and ends up talking to a giant, possibly imaginary spider. The Little, Brown folks call this debut brilliant; with a 50,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2017

Debut novelist Kalfar offers the near-future tale of the first Czech space mission, designed to explore an enigmatic cosmic dust cloud located somewhere between Venus and Earth. Lone spaceman Jakub Prochazka has always struggled with the burden of being the child of a former party member and operative for the Soviet-backed Communist regime, and this story alternates between the present-day space adventure and Jakub's life before and after the Velvet Revolution. Integral to the narrative is the appearance of a man who was tortured by Jakub's father as well as the complications of Jakub's marriage to Lenka. The ongoing psychological challenge of the long space flight, Jakub's deteriorating relationship with Lenka, a surprising discovery of galactic proportions, and a narrow escape from death will keep readers highly engaged. VERDICT Jakub's coming-of-age story and improbable space flight combine to create an exhilarating concoction of history, social commentary, and irony. Reading like Arthur C. Clarke's 2001 crossed with a Milan Kundera novel, set in a Philip K. Dick universe, with a nod to Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, it manages to be singularly compelling while still providing mass appeal. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 10/3/16.]--Henry Bankhead, San Rafael P.L., CA

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2017

Debut novelist Kalfar offers the near-future tale of the first Czech space mission, designed to explore an enigmatic cosmic dust cloud located somewhere between Venus and Earth. Lone spaceman Jakub Prochazka has always struggled with the burden of being the child of a former party member and operative for the Soviet-backed Communist regime, and this story alternates between the present-day space adventure and Jakub's life before and after the Velvet Revolution. Integral to the narrative is the appearance of a man who was tortured by Jakub's father as well as the complications of Jakub's marriage to Lenka. The ongoing psychological challenge of the long space flight, Jakub's deteriorating relationship with Lenka, a surprising discovery of galactic proportions, and a narrow escape from death will keep readers highly engaged. VERDICT Jakub's coming-of-age story and improbable space flight combine to create an exhilarating concoction of history, social commentary, and irony. Reading like Arthur C. Clarke's 2001 crossed with a Milan Kundera novel, set in a Philip K. Dick universe, with a nod to Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, it manages to be singularly compelling while still providing mass appeal. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 10/3/16.]--Henry Bankhead, San Rafael P.L., CA

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.