Pan (Clune novel)

Pan
2025 Penguin Press book jacket
2025 Penguin Press book jacket
AuthorMichael Clune
Audio read byMichael Crouch
Cover artistAlexis Farabaugh
GenreBildungsromans
Set in1990s Chicago suburbs
PublisherPenguin Press
Publication date
July 22, 2025
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint, eBook, Audio
Pages336
Awards2025 long listed, First novel prize, The Center for Fiction
ISBN9780593834428
OCLC1527689866
WebsiteOfficial website
LCCN 2024-44099 Print

Pan is Michael Clune's first novel. It was published by Penguin Press during the summer of 2025. The story is about a precosious fifteen -year old boy named Nicholas sent to live with with his father in the suburbs of Chicago after his parents' divorce during the early 1990s. He is infatuated with someone at school, is experiencing extraordinary insights, and is having panic attacks.[1][2]

Chronicling mental illness

According to Sandra Newman, reviewing this novel for The Guardian, says that this book depicts an honest portrayal of mental illness and the teenage years.[3] The book shows how these combined experiences can feel like a type of black magic, and then lends credence to the idea that that this might be true. The protagonist, Nicholas, is shown having abnormal experiences.[3]

For example, he predicts minor occurrences such as an increase in the wind's velocity or someone saying a specific, but quite ordinary word. He thinks he is haunted by the sound of a dead mouse. Another boy uses a fantasy book to prognosticate. Also, a well-known song, "More Than a Feeling," becomes a supernatural connection, when described as having a door in the middle of it, like on an extraterrestrial aircraft.[3]

Nicholas also believes that his thoughts can leave his body and he fears floating away. His fifteen year old friends believe him. This makes them vulnerable to Ian, an older college student who creates a small cult. Ian specifically targets Nicholas, telling him they are the only ones who can have genuine thoughts.

Ian additionally says that the others in the group are "Hollows" who have "Solid Mind," [3] which is a mechanical type of thinking that lacks a soul. Ian claims that the words coming from the "Hollows" [3] contain an empty void. The group eventually starts performing rituals that include sex, drugs, and sacrificing animals. Then when Nicholas can no longer sleep, he "spirals toward psychosis." [3]

Languaging

Reviewers discuss the "beguiling"[4] observations evident in Nick's thought processes.

Kaveh Akbar, reviewing for The New York Times says that Nicholas observes, while looking out a school window during "one February morning" that the "sun had lost its winter quality. In winter the sunlight stands apart from things. When the winter sun touches the brick of the path, it’s like a hand touching a cheek. But when the spring sun touches brick, it goes into it.'"[5]

Sam Sacks, writing for The Wall Street Journal begins by quoting the narrative voice of Nick, "“When you’re fifteen, your body and mind are still tied to nature... [t]he seasons start inside you. God fashions the new season out of interior materials. You discover the season, now you’re performing it. You’re winter, you’re spring. And the things around start to mimic you. It’s why the change in seasons feels like prophecy.” [4]

Matthew Specktor, of The Washington Post shows Nick's thoughts while in a classroom: "“Winter in Illinois, the flesh comes off the bones, what did we need geometry for? We could look at the naked angles of the trees, the circles in the sky at night. At noon we could look at our own faces. All the basic shapes were there, in bone.” [1]

References

  1. ^ a b Specktor, Mathew.(26 July 2025) ‘Pan’ is funny, insightful and a little unhinged. Washington Post.
  2. ^ Domestico, Anthony"Are they panic attacks, or visitations from an ancient Greek God?". The Boston Globe. July 16, 2025. ProQuest 3231569074
  3. ^ a b c d e f Newman, Sandra (July 16, 2025). "Pan by Michael Clune review – a stunning debut of teen psychosis". The Guardian. United Kingdom. Retrieved August 19, 2025.
  4. ^ a b Sacks, Sam. (18 July 2025). "Fiction: 'Pan' by Michael Clune". Wall Street Journal.
  5. ^ Akbar, Kaveh. "A Year in the Life (And Mind) of a Precocious Teenager". The New York Times. 20 July 2025.
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