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A review by selenajournal
The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon
5.0
All the lives I could live, all the people I will never know, never will be, they are everywhere. That is all that the world is. (2)
Alexander Hemon reminds me of myself. We are both proudly Bosnian, but mostly American in upbringing. Neither one of us can let go of our feelings about the war. But it is difficult to explain that to anyone but those who’ve experienced it with you.
I am a reasonably loyal citizen of a couple of countries. In America – that somber land – I waste my vote, pay taxes grudgingly, share my life with a native wife, and try hard not to wish painful death to the idiot president. But I also have a Bosnian passport I seldom use; I go to Bosnia for heartbreaking vacations and funerals. (11)
The Lazarus Project is a merging of three stories. It is about a writer, Brik, who sets out to tell the story of a Jewish man who was unjustly killed in Chicago. His name was Lazarus Averbuch. The story is also his. It is also the story of Brik’s friend, Rora, a photographer from Sarajevo who tells terrifying and far-fetched tales.
The story takes place in the times of Red Emma, a time when being Jewish created a shadow of doubt about your allegiance to the United States of America. A time when Lazarus was shot without mercy with the unfair and incorrect label of Anarchist. Nobody questioned it. He was unarmed.
On almost a whim, Brik and Rora embark on their journey to follow in Lazarus’s footsteps. They end up discussing the war in Bosnia but Rora doesn’t enjoy casual conversation, instead he replies with short anecdotes. If you’ve ever known an older Bosnian, you’d know that this was an authentic voice. Rather than straight-forward answers or god-forbid, chit-chat, we speak in increasingly severe anecdotes.
“The thing is, everybody who has ever been photographed is either dead or will die. That’s why nobody photographs me. I want to stay on this side of the picture.” (189)
All throughout the novels, you see the parallels between the lives of Lazarus, Rora and Brik. The novel resurrects the same characters, playing on the myth of Lazarus. But it is subtle, not thrown in your face. Unless you remember that the reporter covering the death of Lazarus was named Miller it won’t catch your eye that the man covering the war in Sarajevo was also Miller.
It sounds rather confusing but that is misleading. The book is a merging of stories whose relatedness only becomes clearer and clearer as you read. Alexandar Hemon is someone I will go back to for as long as he writes. The Lazarus Project will probably be one of the best books of the year.
Alexander Hemon reminds me of myself. We are both proudly Bosnian, but mostly American in upbringing. Neither one of us can let go of our feelings about the war. But it is difficult to explain that to anyone but those who’ve experienced it with you.
I am a reasonably loyal citizen of a couple of countries. In America – that somber land – I waste my vote, pay taxes grudgingly, share my life with a native wife, and try hard not to wish painful death to the idiot president. But I also have a Bosnian passport I seldom use; I go to Bosnia for heartbreaking vacations and funerals. (11)
The Lazarus Project is a merging of three stories. It is about a writer, Brik, who sets out to tell the story of a Jewish man who was unjustly killed in Chicago. His name was Lazarus Averbuch. The story is also his. It is also the story of Brik’s friend, Rora, a photographer from Sarajevo who tells terrifying and far-fetched tales.
The story takes place in the times of Red Emma, a time when being Jewish created a shadow of doubt about your allegiance to the United States of America. A time when Lazarus was shot without mercy with the unfair and incorrect label of Anarchist. Nobody questioned it. He was unarmed.
On almost a whim, Brik and Rora embark on their journey to follow in Lazarus’s footsteps. They end up discussing the war in Bosnia but Rora doesn’t enjoy casual conversation, instead he replies with short anecdotes. If you’ve ever known an older Bosnian, you’d know that this was an authentic voice. Rather than straight-forward answers or god-forbid, chit-chat, we speak in increasingly severe anecdotes.
“The thing is, everybody who has ever been photographed is either dead or will die. That’s why nobody photographs me. I want to stay on this side of the picture.” (189)
All throughout the novels, you see the parallels between the lives of Lazarus, Rora and Brik. The novel resurrects the same characters, playing on the myth of Lazarus. But it is subtle, not thrown in your face. Unless you remember that the reporter covering the death of Lazarus was named Miller it won’t catch your eye that the man covering the war in Sarajevo was also Miller.
It sounds rather confusing but that is misleading. The book is a merging of stories whose relatedness only becomes clearer and clearer as you read. Alexandar Hemon is someone I will go back to for as long as he writes. The Lazarus Project will probably be one of the best books of the year.