Aleksandar hemon writes the story of his lives book. Its a collection of nonfiction pieces about hemon s childhood in sarajevo and his adult life in chicago. There, he watched from afar as war broke out in bosnia, his parents and sister fleeing, and hemon himself unable to return. In fact it is a collection of mostly previously published short pieces on a range of topics life under communist rule, early struggles to. In the book of my life, the author recounts professor nikola koljevic, who introduced him to the world that could be conquered by reading, and. A leksandar hemons new book is being billed as his third continuous prose narrative, a nonfiction successor to the novels nowhere man and the lazarus project, but it has far more in common with. It will make you think, laugh, cry, and remember yourself.
The final essay tells of his young daughters brain tumor and untimely death. And yet this is not really a memoir hemon s first book of nonfiction defies convention and expectation. The book of my lives aleksandar hemon national library. Aleksandar hemons lives begin in sarajevo, a small, blissful city where a young boys life is consumed with street soccer with the neighborhood kids, resentment of his younger sister, and trips abroad with his engineercumbeekeeper father.
In gathering them, a nuanced picture of hemon s life emerges, yet it is not the singular. The book of my lives is the first book of nonfiction by the bosnianamerican novelist aleksandar hemon. Hemon here riffs on that idea while evoking both his divided selves and their presence in his metafictional texts. Hemon s work crackles with so much humor and irony, so much compassion and humanity, that the book of my lives true calling almost goes by unnoticed. If youve never read aleksandar hemon, prepare to have your worldview deepened. His account revolves around one particular incident in the middle of the war when bozovic was offered the chance to visit his father in the pow campthough not, of course, without an onerous quid pro quo. Perfect because hemon s life has been almost surgically split in two by politics and genocide. Aleksandar hemon has populated both his fiction nowhere man, the lazarus project and nonfiction the book of my lives with stories and characters from his native bosnia. Aleksandar hemon is the author of the lazarus project, love and obstacles, the question of bruno, nowhere man and the book of my lives. When you finish my parents, you flip the book over and start this does not belong to you, a separate collection of isolated memories, musings and anecdotes. Hemon recounts, in the book of my life, how his university literature professor, nikola koljevic, a brilliant proponent of ahistorical new criticism, allied himself with the genocidal serbian. In his essay my prisoner, hemon tells bozovics story of life in sarajevo during the siege. The book of my lives is his first work of nonfiction. The same can be said of the other essays in the collection.
The book of my lives is hemon s first dedicated work of nonfiction, an intermittently interesting collection of memories based on his life growing up in bosnia, his move to chicago in his 20s. Aleksandar hemon reads the book of my life pen america. The lazarus project by aleksandar hemon, paperback. The book of my lives is composed of 15 standalone essays, all but one previously published in various magazines. The kind of truth hemon strives for in the book of my life is a personal truth, the truth as he needs to understand it. The book of my lives is a thoughtfully humorous and profoundly sad memoircumcollection of essays that explores hemons first life, growing up in the lively cultural atmosphere of sarajevo before the onset of the war in bosnia, and his second life. A note at the back says the essays have been reedited for the book but there are still overlaps and repetitions, odd clashes of tone. Hemons first nonfiction book, the book of my lives, was released in 20.
The book of my lives kindle edition by aleksandar hemon. Aleksandar hemon s lives begin in sarajevo, a small, blissful city where a young boys life is consumed by football, by resentment of his younger sister, and by occasional trips abroad with his engineercumbeekeeper father. The book of my lives is a thoughtfully humorous and profoundly sad memoircumcollection of essays that explores hemons first life, growing up in the lively cultural atmosphere of sarajevo before. Aleksandar hemons first book of nonfiction, the book of my lives, is a collection of essays about a shifting sense of home and displacement. Hemons novel the making of zombie wars was released in 2015. Sebald award, and, most recently, a 2012 usa fellowship.
Aleksandar hemon, born september 9, 1964, sarajevo, yugoslavia now in bosnia and herzegovina, bosnian american writer known for his short stories and novels that explore issues of exile, identity, and home through characters drawn from hemon s own experience as an immigrant hemon was raised in sarajevo, where his father was an engineer and his mother was an accountant. Aleksandar hemon reads the title piece from his latest book, the book of my lives, at mcnally jackson on march 29, 20. The book of my lives is hemon s first collection of nonfiction, consisting of 15 pieces of autobiography assembled loosely together into a variegated whole. After producing four acclaimed works of fiction, aleksandar hemon has come out with his first collection of nonfiction, the book of my lives its the perfect title. Listen to hemon in conversation with colum mccann here. A book of personal essays from the author of the lazarus project. He has been the recipient of a guggenheim fellowship, a macarthur genius award, the jan michalski prize for literature, the penw. Influences about the writers relationship with professor nikola koljevic, who taught him in poetry and criticism at the university of sarajevo. Aleksandar hemon returns with a memoir, divided chicago. Hemons new book, the book of my lives, collects nonfiction pieces about his upbringing in sarajevo and his life in america.
He published his second work of nonfiction, my parents. On march 2, 1908, nineteenyearold lazarus averbuch, an eastern european jewish immigrant, was shot to death on the doorstep of the chicago chief of police and cast as a wouldbe anarchist assassin. March 19, 20 aleksandar hemons first book of nonfiction, the book of my lives, is a collection of essays about a shifting sense of home and displacement. The book of my lives, by aleksandar hemon, tells of one mans journey from sarajevo to chicago. Mentions that koljevic helped to deliberately burn a library in sarajevo. The book of my lives, hemons first book of nonfiction, defies convention and expectation. The book of my lives, by aleksandar hemon telegraph. This is a booklike all of aleksandar hemons booksthat is an aria for our times. Hell burrow into a psycheoften his own, but occasionally someone elsesthen clamber out. The book of my lives by aleksandar hemon goodreads. Having written the first chapter of what she called the book of my life, koljevics fiveyearold daughter was waiting for more life to accumulate before tackling chapter 2. The book of my lives by aleksandar hemon, 9781447210917, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide.
The book of my lives is worth it simply for the dedication. Aleksandar hemon reads the book of my life april 2, 20. Aleksandar hemon s lives begin in sarajevo, a small, blissful city where a young boys life is consumed with street soccer with the neighborhood kids, resentment of his younger sister, and trips abroad with his engineercumbeekeeper father. The only novel from macarthur genius award winner, aleksandar hemon the national book critics circle award winning the lazarus project. The book of my lives quotes showing of 31 projecting yourself until everything is talking about you is, of course, a selfflattering form of selfpity. At the age of twentyseven, hemon journeyed from sarajevo to chicago. The same could be said about the essays that make up the book of my lives, hemon s first book of nonfiction, a collection of thorned, bloodred roses that make beauty out of his broken past. The book of my lives is a series of personal essays that form a loose sort of memoir reflecting the various lives hemon s lived up until now. The book of my lives is written with the full force of humanity. In the book of my lives, hemons exploration of identity is rich with psychological undertones.
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