Dispatches from Parts Unknown

By: Bryan Bliss

Narrated by: Joy Nash

*An Odyssey Award Honor Audiobook*

“The feel-good novel of the year.” —ALA Booklist (starred review)

Julie knows it’s unusual that a professional wrestler runs a constant commentary on her life that only she can hear. But grief can be awfully funny sometimes. National Book Award nominee Bryan Bliss delivers a thought-provoking, one-of-a-kind novel about how to tread the line between moving on and holding on. Dispatches from Parts Unknown is for fans of David Arnold, Nina LaCour, and You’ve Reached Sam.

Ever since her dad died three years ago, Julie has been surviving more than thriving. And surviving is sneaking into her parents’ closet when her mom is out, since it’s the only place that still sometimes smells like her dad. It’s roaming around the Mall of America. It’s pulling out the box of her dad’s VHS tapes, recordings of his favorite vintage professional wrestling matches.

And it’s hearing the voice of the Masked Man in her head, running a commentary of her life.

It’s embarrassing, really. Sure, he was her dad’s favorite wrestler, but that doesn’t mean she wants him in her head.

As Julie finally starts to come out of the haze of grief, maybe she’ll finally figure out why that voice is there, and how to let it go.

The quiet, tender side of grief

Superb narrative performance. And a wonderful book exploring the less touted tender sides of grief that are laced with a deep hope of healing. The beauty Bliss provides is that he doesn’t allow his characters to find healing through some American myth of self-sufficiency and grind mentality but—through friends, interlocked webs of community, and more importantly shared belief in a higher power, or a greater love. Bravo.