The Lazarus Project (2008)

Book Info

Author

Aleksandar Hemon

Genre

Historical Fiction

Rating

3.55 of 5 Votes: 2

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ISBN

1594489882 (ISBN13: 9781594489884)

Language

English

Publisher

Riverhead Books

Shops

Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble

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About book The Lazarus Project (2008)

Sententious, odourless, one-dimensional writing seasoned with the writer's insufferable, bloated ego. Though eerily detached from the core of this book, every now and then, some interesting language choices keep one going from chapter to chapter.Instead of a novel, this reads like the diary of Hemon's misfired anger. The fact that he is compared to Nabokov, Kundera and Hrabal makes me want to smash my head against a wall, in despair. The Lazarus Project is a smart and compelling mystery that moves back and forth in time in a fairly standard fashion, but manages to weave together past and contemporary themes related to immigration, identity, and love in ways that feel anything but standard. Indeed, as the book went on, I found myself more and more impressed by how seemlessly Hemon managed to bring his two narratives together. I also really enjoyed the photographs that punctuated each chapter. Rather than merely a conceit or marker, they helped me feel the tone of what was to come and provided images that resonated while I read.