"Best Book of 2016" Overall Grand Prize winner

The Ugly won the Overall Grand Prize for best book of 2016 across all genres at the CAC17 authors conference in Bellingham, WA, March 31 - April 2nd, 2017. The contest excluded the "Big 5" publishers but included thousands of independent and small press entries from 33 countries. Yay!

Somerset Prize winner

The Ugly won the 2016 Somerset Prize for "best literary and contemporary fiction," as well as its "satire" category, at CAC17. 

"Book of the Year" Indies 2016 double finalist (literary and humor)

The Ugly was named a 2016 Indies "Book of the Year" Finalist in two categories: literary fiction and humor. Winners will be announced at the American Library Association's annual conference in Chicago on June 24, 2017.

Slovak Spectrum TV: "...strangest, craziest, funniest..."

Slovak Spectrum TV called The Ugly "One of the strangest, craziest, funniest, most interesting and most different novels anyone has ever put out."

They interviewed me about The Ugly, and included some highlights of the reading at Black Squirrel Books in Ottawa. The piece on The Ugly starts at 16:25, though the English portion starts at 16:50, and goes until 24:50.

Clash Media: "This decade's A Confederacy of Dunces" 

"The Ugly is one of my favorite current novels. It is hilarious, intelligent, challenging, and entertaining. I got to interview the author Alexander Boldizar. A man as interesting as his novel."

Heavy Feather: "Oddly unforgettable debut novel" 

"Praise heaped towards The Ugly implies—with its absurdist tendencies, severe distrust of institutions (government; language; academics; politics; law), and attempts at humor (some more successful than others)—a postmodern and distorted Catch-22. But there are too many ideas packed here for such a casual, dismissive characterization."

Softcover: "ambitious, deep, hilarious." 

"The Ugly is an ambitious, deep, hilarious work that exists somewhere between the real and the absurd. Boldizar is able to balance humour and deep meaning to comment on law, thought, and how we construct meaning. The story follows Muzhduk, a Siberian mountain man who travels to Harvard with the goal of defending his tribal homeland with the law. 

"I spoke with Alexander about The Ugly, the power of the absurd, and the the relationship between reason, empathy, and compassion."

If books had friends, this would be a great party. 

After several weeks of sitting between Joseph Heller's Catch-22 and Kurt Vonnegut's Mother Night, Chuck Palahniuk knocked Kurt down, but The Ugly stayed where it was. (Nobody beats Catch-22.) Thank you to all fans of dark humor and satire! 

Buffalo News: "Like a boisterous Borges..." 

"Like a boisterous Borges ignoring the delete key or an angry Celine forced to write in a language he hates, Alexander Boldizar plays with our minds by mixing fact with fiction in “The Ugly”... Borrowing from every fabulist he knows he turns Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” on its head. Kurtz’s “horror” has become Boldizar’s “Ugly”... It’s as if the “Harvard Lampoon” turned on itself...Kurtz has returned from the jungle and the horror is our institutions."
              —William L. Morris, Primetime Emmy-nominated writer (NYPD                   Blue) and book reviewer for The Buffalo News

Best Books of 2016: Best Fiction  

The Ugly was named one of the “Best Books of 2016: Best Fiction” by Entropy Magazine. Entropy, called the “eternal champion of small press literary books” by Small Press Distribution, includes small press titles along with the big houses.

Best Fiction Books of 2016  

The Ugly was included in Book Scrolling's year-end list of the best books of 2016. 

Kirkus Reviews: "Consistently hilarious" 

Kirkus Reviews writes, “It is amusing to watch a man who’s accustomed to settling disputes physically engage in a 'word-throwing battle.' The novel’s humor carries into its occasional surreal moments...consistently hilarious...[The Ugly is] a bizarre but delightful sendup of illogical arguments."

Foreword Reviews: "The Ugly is a globe-trotting tour de force," editor's pick, 5 stars. 

Foreword Reviews writes, “Comedically absurd but also introspective, The Ugly challenges dogmatic clinging to the letter of the law...a globe-trotting tour de force that examines the complex relationship between words and actions.” [5 stars, editor's pick.]

Publisher's Weekly: "A surprising treat"

Publisher's Weekly writes that “It's possible that only law students or lawyers will fully appreciate Boldizar's send-up of Ivy League legal education, but even those with only a passing familiarity will nevertheless appreciate his muscular critique of conflicts both intellectual and physical. A surprising treat.”

Poets & Writers: "Intelligent and emotional, existential and comedic"

Poets & Writers says, "With a hero poised to go down in literary history, The Ugly tells the story of a 300-pound Siberian man who goes to Harvard Law School to try to save his homeland from an American lawyer out to turn it into a tourist trap. Intelligent and emotional, existential and comedic, the satirical novel takes on the irrational trappings of our supposedly rational world."

Harvard Law Today: "Breaks the mold."

The Harvard Law Bulletin and Harvard Law Today say The Ugly "breaks the mold" on books set in law school.

#1 on Amazon

On Amazon.ca, the Ugly has reached

• #1 in World Literature, both bestsellers and new releases
• #1 in Mythology, both bestsellers and new releases

On Amazon.com, it has reached

• #1 in Eastern European Literature, both bestsellers and new releases
• #1 in Lawyers & Criminals Humor, new releases
• #3 in Dark Humor, new releases

So far...

Kanadsky Slovak reviews The Ugly

Kanadsky Slovak, founded in 1942, is North America's only weekly Slovak newspaper. They gave The Ugly a very kind review, calling it "a great book."

(Note: The article was on pages 8 and 13 -- I consolidated the images, since it's only available as a PDF or paper copy, not digital).

North Shore News feature

The North Shore News wrote a feature article on The Ugly (Note: the headline refers to an early version; the novel is 372 pages, not 800.) 

Small Press Distribution: Bestseller

The Ugly was a Small Press Distribution bestseller in the July & August 2016 category thanks to presales (launch was September 7, 2016). 

Largehearted Boy Book Notes calls The Ugly "A bold and hilarious satire."

Largehearted Boy, a literature and music website that explores that spot in the Venn diagram where the two arts meet, writes that "The Ugly is a bold and hilarious satire, a stunning debut."

In the book notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book. Here's the music playlist for The Ugly.

Net Galley "featured author"

NetGalley chose The Ugly for its "Featured Debut Author" theme.

#AmReading selects The Ugly for September

The Ugly was chosen by #AmReading as a September "book to read."

Instructables: How to throw a boulder

Detailed step-by-step instructions on how to throw a boulder.