Zebra is exile as education, history as passion, life as literature, and literature as death. -- Tom McCarthy, author of the Man Booker Prize-finalist Satin Island and Remainder
Oloomi's rich and delightful novel... crackles throughout with wit and absurdity... [Call Me Zebra] is a sharp and genuinely fun picaresque, employing humor and poignancy side-by-side to tell an original and memorable story. * Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) *
A darkly, funny novel...[and] bombastic homage to the metacriticism of Borges, the Romantic absurdity of Cervantes, and the punk-rock autofictions of Kathy Acker...[Call Me Zebra] is a brilliant, demented, and bizarro book that demands and rewards all the attention a reader might dare to give it. * Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review) *
There's something really radical about this epic and ecstatic quest. It's in the tradition of Cervantes' ingenious nobleman, but also deeply in conversation with Borges's Pierre Menard and Kathy Acker's own Don Quixote. The young female narrator of Call Me Zebra luxuriates in the tradition of Enrique Vila-Matas's literary sickness, or Kafka writing that he is made entirely of literature. A hilarious picaresque, perverse and voracious. -- Kate Zambreno, author of Green Girl
A penniless orphaned refugee, Zebra knows she can count on two things: literature and death. She builds a fortress out of both, surviving on fury, on memories and manifestos, until life begins to break through. Can Zebra handle life? Can literature handle Zebra? Reader, go find out! Call Me Zebra is like nothing else I've read, geo-political and bookish and sexy, quite refreshingly nuts and yet a ripping good read. Also, there's a stolen bird! I'd say I couldn't put it down, but Zebra would never approve a cliche, so I'll pay it a compliment she might actually accept: this book metabolized me. -- Danielle Dutton, author of Margaret the First
This novel is not about a zebra but about a whole sharp, amazing, malicious and wicked zoo. Please enjoy responsibly. -- Quim Monzo, author of A Thousand Morons and supporting character in the novel Call Me Zebra
An arresting exploration of grief alongside a powder keg of a romance. * Booklist *