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marnash's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.5
Beautifully written. It was exactly what I needed after a veeery long break from reading. It's at times touching, at times heartwrenching. Hemon describes grief and loneliness and sorrow so beautifully and, I imagine, accurately (I haven't experienced the kinds of sorrows he's experienced). It was also interesting reading about his immigration to the states when I have my potential future immigration in mind.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Grief, Child death, and Death
monazaneefer's review against another edition
Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.5 stars...from the original 4)
It took me sometime to get used to the essay-style; I don't know if it was that or the intended way this piece ran that wasn't to my preference. It was vignettes of his life, and all the over-arching themes never truly were the star but only a constant reminder...but that’s like real life, huh? Despite well-rounded fictional novels that contrive to make one's past seem like it defines the rest of our life's course, it's not completely accurate. So I suppose Hemon's piece here does truly depict reality even in its structure (as opposed to content which is brilliant). So it's just me when I say I'd have preferred it not to be like that, either because of my expectation or simple preference. Regardless, it wasn't a hindrance in any way.
There's a lot to like about this; the simplistic writing style and the endearing, amusing voice. Sarajevo - although he doesn't describe it by its appearance, glamour, landmarks or whatever, you really can taste his yearning and nostalgia for it. I realized it's because Sarajevo here has been defined by its experience. These last two, especially the latter, are definitely two aspects I'm going to save in my handy-dandy mental writing notebook.
This book reminded me of my old, adolescent love for simplistic Salinger-esque writing.
Edit: I found a more eloquent review that articulated my first point: “The source of the problem is revealed in the "Table of Discontents" (his pun, not mine) in the appendix - most of these pieces have appeared elsewhere, and while they have been "revised and edited" for this book, the overall effect is still that this doesn't come across as a coherent work, neither thematically nor stylistically.”
Having heard that, I guess my pseudo-profound-analysis of how the structure seemed to mirror reality was not in fact intentional on Hemon’s part. So this is how literature teachers overanalyse what isn’t even in the text.
It took me sometime to get used to the essay-style; I don't know if it was that or the intended way this piece ran that wasn't to my preference. It was vignettes of his life, and all the over-arching themes never truly were the star but only a constant reminder...but that’s like real life, huh? Despite well-rounded fictional novels that contrive to make one's past seem like it defines the rest of our life's course, it's not completely accurate. So I suppose Hemon's piece here does truly depict reality even in its structure (as opposed to content which is brilliant). So it's just me when I say I'd have preferred it not to be like that, either because of my expectation or simple preference. Regardless, it wasn't a hindrance in any way.
There's a lot to like about this; the simplistic writing style and the endearing, amusing voice. Sarajevo - although he doesn't describe it by its appearance, glamour, landmarks or whatever, you really can taste his yearning and nostalgia for it. I realized it's because Sarajevo here has been defined by its experience. These last two, especially the latter, are definitely two aspects I'm going to save in my handy-dandy mental writing notebook.
This book reminded me of my old, adolescent love for simplistic Salinger-esque writing.
Edit: I found a more eloquent review that articulated my first point: “The source of the problem is revealed in the "Table of Discontents" (his pun, not mine) in the appendix - most of these pieces have appeared elsewhere, and while they have been "revised and edited" for this book, the overall effect is still that this doesn't come across as a coherent work, neither thematically nor stylistically.”
Having heard that, I guess my pseudo-profound-analysis of how the structure seemed to mirror reality was not in fact intentional on Hemon’s part. So this is how literature teachers overanalyse what isn’t even in the text.
fbroom's review against another edition
3.0
I liked some essays a lot and didn't few other essays because I felt they were long and kept repeating the same thing over and over again.
reikista's review against another edition
4.0
Memoir of the author's life as a child of, and in, Sarajevo, his adolescence and his temporary visit to the US that resulted in political asylum; his return to Bosnia later, and his life in Chicago.
Find questions of identity, otherness, landscape (inner and outer), loss and belonging.
Find questions of identity, otherness, landscape (inner and outer), loss and belonging.
ljutavidra's review against another edition
4.0
3,5 zaokruženo na 4.
Nisam nikada do sad čula za Aleksandra Hemona. Tj. mislila sam da nisam čula, a onda sam kasnije izguglala i videla da je on autor knjige [b:Kako su nastali Ratovi zombija|33225863|Kako su nastali Ratovi zombija|Aleksandar Hemon|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1480680118l/33225863._SX50_.jpg|42499103]. Zbog prezimena sam mislila da je neki Amer. Geografski i jeste, ali čovek je rodom iz Sarajeva.
Uvek je izazov čitati nečije memoare, pogotovo osobe o kojoj nemate pojma. Nekima to pođe za rukom da izvedu maestralno (i dalje sam očarana Grlićevim delom [b:Neispričane priče|41125976|Neispričane priče|Rajko Grlić|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1534066110l/41125976._SY75_.jpg|64254521]), a drugima fali taj neki tajni začin da učine takav nefikcijski tekst dovoljno zanimljivim i nasumičnim čitaocima.
Meni je taj začin nedostajao u Hemonovom boršču. Iako je bilo pasusa koji su mi se vrlo dopali (uključujući i taj opis pripremanja porodičnog boršča), nije mi dovoljno celokupno štivo držalo pažnju. Na momente sam se teleportovala u njegovu porodičnu vikendicu na Jahorini, na košarkaški teren u Čikagu i na ulice Sarajeva. Ali samo na momente. Nažalost sam u svakom trenutku bila svesna da čitam nečije zapise, napisane vrlo konkretnim, novinarsko-dokumentarnim stilom.
Pa ipak, Hemon je na par mesta zasijao i baš zbog tih par mesta ova knjižica vredi čitanja.
"[...] možda je ljubav pronalaženje zajedničkog viđenja stvarnosti."
Nisam nikada do sad čula za Aleksandra Hemona. Tj. mislila sam da nisam čula, a onda sam kasnije izguglala i videla da je on autor knjige [b:Kako su nastali Ratovi zombija|33225863|Kako su nastali Ratovi zombija|Aleksandar Hemon|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1480680118l/33225863._SX50_.jpg|42499103]. Zbog prezimena sam mislila da je neki Amer. Geografski i jeste, ali čovek je rodom iz Sarajeva.
Uvek je izazov čitati nečije memoare, pogotovo osobe o kojoj nemate pojma. Nekima to pođe za rukom da izvedu maestralno (i dalje sam očarana Grlićevim delom [b:Neispričane priče|41125976|Neispričane priče|Rajko Grlić|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1534066110l/41125976._SY75_.jpg|64254521]), a drugima fali taj neki tajni začin da učine takav nefikcijski tekst dovoljno zanimljivim i nasumičnim čitaocima.
Meni je taj začin nedostajao u Hemonovom boršču. Iako je bilo pasusa koji su mi se vrlo dopali (uključujući i taj opis pripremanja porodičnog boršča), nije mi dovoljno celokupno štivo držalo pažnju. Na momente sam se teleportovala u njegovu porodičnu vikendicu na Jahorini, na košarkaški teren u Čikagu i na ulice Sarajeva. Ali samo na momente. Nažalost sam u svakom trenutku bila svesna da čitam nečije zapise, napisane vrlo konkretnim, novinarsko-dokumentarnim stilom.
Pa ipak, Hemon je na par mesta zasijao i baš zbog tih par mesta ova knjižica vredi čitanja.
"[...] možda je ljubav pronalaženje zajedničkog viđenja stvarnosti."
mosslevel's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.25
shirleytupperfreeman's review against another edition
Wow! I had never read anything by Aleksandar Hemon but I'll have to remedy that. He has such a way with words. This book is a compilation of mostly previously published essays edited and put together to make a type of memoir. It works. Hemon was born and raised in Sarajevo. At age 27 1/2 he was on a month-long visit to Chicago when war broke out in Sarajevo and there was no way to return home. His family escaped to Canada but of course life has never been the same. His descriptions of being a young boy in Sarajevo, an immigrant in Chicago, and a husband and father facing unspeakable tragedy are compelling. What an amazing facility with the English language!
alexisrt's review against another edition
5.0
I read "The Aquarium," the final piece in this collection, when it was published in the New Yorker 2 years ago. That essay alone would give this collection 4 stars. The story of his daughter's illness and death is one of the finest personal essays I have read in a long time.
Luckily, the rest of the book is also good. None of it comes up to the power of "The Aquarium," but it's sharply observed and often very funny. The essays are only collected, not edited or shaped into a cohesive whole, but the parts are good enough to forgive that.
Luckily, the rest of the book is also good. None of it comes up to the power of "The Aquarium," but it's sharply observed and often very funny. The essays are only collected, not edited or shaped into a cohesive whole, but the parts are good enough to forgive that.
ja3m3's review against another edition
4.0
The Book Of My Lives is a series of personal essays half memoir/ half autobiographical in which Hemon shows us that we don't live just one life we live many lives that overlap and change based on the events and people who define us. Hemon writes of growing up in Sarajevo and then watching his city destroyed by war while he is safe, but displaced in Chicago. But this book is not just a reflection of war. It is a reflection of one man’s life - the tragic and the love-altered. The final essay will break your heart.
casey_robertson's review against another edition
4.0
“And now my memory collapses”
First read of my Bosnian research hole. Burned through this compelling memoir, laughed and cried, and look forward to reading Hemon’s fiction at some point.
The last chapter is just utter devastation.
First read of my Bosnian research hole. Burned through this compelling memoir, laughed and cried, and look forward to reading Hemon’s fiction at some point.
The last chapter is just utter devastation.