A review by tonythep
The Book of My Lives by Aleksandar Hemon

4.0

This collection of biographical essays is a mosaic of the lives lived by the author and those he has borrowed from others. But really at its heart it is a book about storytelling. From his childhood in Bosnia he chronicles his discovery of self, identity, and community through soccer, music, food, chess, and ultimately writing. He describes his family's displacement and immigration to Canada during the war while he is fortunate enough himself to have been selected for a cultural exchange program to the US just before the outbreak of war. He must discover a new home and a new story in Chicago. These essays are filled with humor and heartbreak and many wonderful stories.