Aleksandar Hemon’s, The Lazarus Project, “was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award”. After reading the historically-based novel, I can understand why.

The novel is based on a factual case, concerning Lazarus Averbuch, an Eastern European Jew, who was shot down in 1908, by the Chicago police chief. Lazarus was mistaken for an anarchist, amidst a time period of fear, prejudice and anxiety over immigrants, and over Jews who were part of the then, anarchist movement. The novel moves from 1908 forward to the current time, where a Bosnian writer named Vladimir Brik, undertakes a modern-day journey to research and explore Averbuch’s background, places where he lived, people involved in his life before emigration, etc. (financed with a grant), in order to write a book about him. He brings a man named Rora, a Bosnian photographer with him. For Brik, this will be his finest accomplishment to date. He has lived a life in a state of “no man’s land”, so to speak, and one in which he is not motivated. He is unhappy with the American way. Little did he know where the journey would lead him, as he travels through cities and villages, crossing borders, and having flashbacks of his own former life in Eastern Europe.

Familiarity surrounds him and fills his senses. The air fills his nostrils with scents of the past. The humorous stories that Rora tells him fill his imagination with visions of what once was. He longs for what he has not been able to grasp, in America. Nostalgia for his former life takes root, and we slowly see his attitude towards life begin to change.

The novel moves back and forth between Brik’s life and Averbuch’s life, and includes accounts of Olga Averbuch (Lazarus Averbuch’s sister), and how she was mistreated and discriminated against by the police who investigated her brother’s background. The scenarios are extremely graphic, as she is interviewed, mishandled and abused. The prejudice against Jews was quite pronounced, as the authorities made biased comments and slurs. The police were trying to get her to admit her brother was an anarchist, who frequently met with others in the movement, and verbally unleashed their hatred of Jews.

The Lazarus Project is much more than a book about the murder of Lazarus Averbuch. It is a book about loss, assimilation, a book about yearning for one’s roots and familiar surroundings. It is a book that explores the loss of the familiar with the loss of one’s spirit. There is also a strong underlying theme of fear, contrasting the fear in 1908 of the anarchist movement, and how it parallels with fears of today’s terrorism, politics and prejudices.

The Lazarus Project also include several photographs, one for each chapter beginning. Some of the photographs were taken by Hemon, and some were taken by a friend of his, as they traveled through Eastern Europe to research the book. Other photographs come from the actual case, itself.

What began as a trip of discovery regarding Averbuch’s life, turns out to also be a journey to discover one’s Self, through Brik’s travels and research. In my opinion, after reading a short blurb about Hemon’s own life, I tend to think The Lazarus Project is somewhat auto-biographical. Hemon depicts vivid imagery, and does so while not writing in his native tongue. Aleksandar Hemon is masterful in his comparisons, and his prose is brilliant. The book is infused with humor, poignancy, self-discovery and the fear of one group of individuals over another. It is a book that includes many journeys, from spiritual to geographical to emotional, the discoveries along the way are told with sensitivity. Bravo to Aleksandar Hemon!
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Sunday May 17, 2009 – 23rd of Iyyar, 5769