Expraedium - by Armen Melikian (Paperback)

About the Book

Expraedium explores Brathki's journeys through dysfunctional social and cultural strata in his epic search for the land of Urmashu, igniting the protagonist's inimitable voice--a voice at once acerbic, oracular, and obscure.

Book Synopsis

EXPRAEDIUM, is a 2024 Finalist of two significant literary awards in the highly contested Literary Fiction category, namely, the Feathered Quill Book Awards and the American Writing Awards, and has received astounding critical praise from several literary experts.

"A singular provocation of a novel, rendering a mad world in a madder language. A hoedown in the ruins of civilization. Especially for readers predisposed toward the Joycean, the Pynchonian."--Publishers Weekly.

"I have never encountered a book quite like Expraedium before. Its language is formulated through an origin that remains enigmatic. The author does not seem to write to impress, and it is difficult to grasp his intentions. Each line unfolds as if it were an entirely different story of its own. Expraedium remains an unforgettable reading experience that has left a lasting impression on me." --Maria Yinks, Manhattan Book Review.

"I wasn't sure what to expect when I decided to read Expraedium. But what I most certainly did not expect was to find, consistently, one of the most creatively, philosophically, culturally, semantically, and thematically ambitious novels I've ever read in my entire life.

"I am struck by the extraordinary writing, vision, and, perhaps rarest of all, originality, which abounds in every way, and at so many levels and depths of meaning, theme, narrative, etc., that I had to keep slowing my pace until I could read and "inhale" each word. . . . Now that I've reached the conclusion, I am simply in awe. 'Wow!!!!' in the vernacular.

"I'll always be with you in spirit and ever-growing admiration of who you are as a literary artist and as one of the finest people I've ever known."

Paul McCarthy, Professor of English (Former Senior Acquisitions Editor at Simon & Schuster, Harper Collins, and Doubleday)

Referred to as "cobra poison" and "the work of the Antichrist" by international religious figures, as "anti-literature" by the author, Expraedium is an incendiary and energetic tour-de-force that mercilessly skewers religion, national identity, economics, gender, social mores, and the very structure of language itself.

Expraedium inverts the parochial notions of language that control the evolution of identity and human expression. It opens floodgates into the English language, destabilizing it to its core yet enriching it in unprecedented ways.

Equal parts satire and philosophy, polemic and prophecy, Expraedium explores Brathki's journeys via dysfunctional social and cultural strata in his epic search for the land of Urmashu, igniting the protagonist's inimitable voice--a voice at once acerbic, oracular, and obscure.

Expraedium has been called "heartbreaking and diabolical" as well as "brutally raw, painfully honest," earning the author praise and death threats, interrogations, censorship and suppression even before the work's initial release.

Expraedium is an explosive condemnation of the very canon of Western civilization. Rejecting the protocols of the conventional novel, Melikian has crafted one of the most unique, ambitious, and unforgettable voices in modern literature. A voice that has much deeper ramifications for civilization than literature itself. A voice that is as inspiring as it is infuriating, as damning as it is uproariously funny, and as fragmented as it is astute; a voice that reminds us of the very limits of our finitude and our unquenchable thirst to overcome it.

Review Quotes

"The author definitely will be considered either a genius or a madman. For those who take up the challenge of reading Expraedium, I offer a tip: expect nothing! Clear your mind and see what you can get from this crazy, unique ride. I rate this as one of a kind read, which I dare everyone to experience."--Susan Violante, Reader Views

"A shocking and arresting fiction, it comes so close to the bone of so-called "facts of life" which upholders of the status quo continue to accept as facts. The novel's construction, timing, structure, and stream of consciousness push every standard of mainstream literature in the same way that the protagonist Brathki and the author wish to break down the norms of society. In audiences where the worldview of Expraedium is appreciated, it will spread like wildfire for its astute thinking and radical approach."--K.C. Finn, Readers' Favorite

"Expraedium is a book that compels the reader to slow down. Proceed intently. This book exists in a universe of its own conjuring. It's crafty, challenges the inner sanctum of words and inspires poetic rumination that zaps the reader with cognitive dissonance. This is a book for those longing for literary anarchy. Reminiscent of Finnegan's Wake, some things by Tom Robbins, and it laughs with the spirit of Haruki Murakami. Fueled by poetic dynamism. It is: hard-to-read literary geniuses speaking in whispers at a demolished jazz club. Its language spews upside down wavelengths. Pure. Word. Wizzardry. Here readers find a frightening world built by distorted language. This book is a sound bath. Quill says: Expraedium is the world's epic battles and characters throwing a wild party at the Tower of Babel."--Rebecca Jane Johnson, Feathered Quill

"The author's new interpretation of the English language renders a unique reading experience. His goal appears to eschew the constraints of plot and instead to unravel the subtext's subtext, maybe even reveal the man behind the curtain. Brathki, the protagonist, is Odysseus, and his odyssey is a journey toward understanding the answers to questions his mind cannot yet begin to form. Given the likely deliberate impossibility of deciphering what is going on throughout much of Expraedium, the suggestion that Brathki's quest is a hybrid literary-mythological journey would be apt. Expraedium should be read for the pure purpose of reading, for the joy of following the sentences as they unravel, without any expectation of arriving at a final denouement. While not an easy book, Expraedium can be a hugely rewarding read. For those looking for something challenging and thought-provoking with a mighty payoff, it may well prove to be a good choice."--Erin Britton, Chicago Book Review

Enter at your own risk! Expraedium is intricate, dense, brittle, polyglot. It has a wildly inventive style. The language is scabrous and oracular. An avalanche of sliding signifiers, nonsequiturs, neologisms. Expraedium is as infuriating and baffling as it is fascinating, challenging and engaging. Readers will struggle to find the plot that the author's savage, bleak and mordant style is in service to, but the more one reads, the less important the very notion of plot becomes. What's difficult to convey is how much fun~and sheer delight~whams into the subconscious when one gives up trying to make sense of everything and just lets the cataract of words carry him/her forward. Grappling with the unusual grammar and the obscure sense of meaning that seem to lie smoldering beneath this thicket of words isn't for amateurs. Those up to the challenge will find these untamed pages worth the effort. --Blueink Review