Aleksandar Hemon Books in Order

Where to Start Reading Aleksandar Hemon

Aleksandar Hemon’s works traverse the borders of fiction, biography, and historical chronicling. If you are new to his writing, the best place to begin depends on the genre you prefer:

• For Fiction: Start with his debut collection, The Question of Bruno (2000). It establishes his core themes of exile, identity, and the Bosnian War, while showcasing the lyrical prose style that earned him early comparisons to Vladimir Nabokov. Alternatively, for a longer narrative, start with The Lazarus Project (2008), a dual-timeline novel that represents Hemon at the height of his powers.
• For Non-Fiction: Start with The Book of My Lives (2013). This essay collection is a deeply moving introduction to Hemon’s real-life experiences in Sarajevo, his sudden exile in Chicago, and his struggles with grief, identity, and language.

The Jozef Pronek Stories: A Connected Reading Path

While Hemon’s novels are largely standalone works, there is a significant connection between his debut collection and his first novel through the character of Jozef Pronek. To experience this character's journey fully, read them in this order:

1. The Question of Bruno (2000): Read the central novella, "Blind Jozef Pronek & Dead Souls". This story introduces Pronek, a young Bosnian musician who becomes stranded in Chicago just as war erupts in his homeland.
2. Nowhere Man (2002): Read Hemon's debut novel (sometimes subtitled The Pronek Fantasies), which centers entirely on Jozef Pronek. The book expands on Pronek's life, tracing his childhood in Sarajevo, his adolescent misadventures, and his surreal experiences navigating the immigrant grind in Chicago.

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

For readers who wish to witness Hemon's growth as a novelist and his shifting narrative scope, reading his novels in order of publication is highly recommended:

1. Nowhere Man (2002): A fragmented, satirical novel focusing on the immigrant experience in Chicago through the lens of Jozef Pronek.
2. The Lazarus Project (2008): A complex masterpiece that pairs the real-world historical tragedy of Lazarus Averbuch (a Jewish immigrant shot in Chicago in 1908) with the contemporary journey of Vladimir Brik, a Bosnian-American writer tracing Averbuch's roots in Eastern Europe.
3. The Making of Zombie Wars (2015): A dark comedy set in Chicago during the lead-up to the 2003 Iraq War. It follows Joshua Levin, an aspiring screenwriter teaching English as a Second Language (ESL), whose life descends into absolute chaos as he attempts to draft a script about a zombie invasion.
4. The World and All That It Holds (2023): An epic historical novel that begins with the 1914 Sarajevo assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and follows Sephardic Jewish pharmacist Rafael Pinto across continents, war zones, and decades to Shanghai. It is a sweeping, linguistically diverse love story and Hemon's most ambitious work of fiction.

Fiction Collections & Individual Story Clarifications

Hemon is widely celebrated for his short fiction. However, online databases sometimes list specific stories as separate books. Here is a clarification of his collections and short works:

• The Question of Bruno (2000): His debut collection. In addition to the Pronek novella, it contains celebrated stories like "A Coin" (written as letters from wartime Sarajevo) and "Exchange of Pleasant Words" (a fictionalized reconstruction of Hemon's family history). Note that some databases list "Exchange of Pleasant Words & A Coin" as a standalone 2006 publication; these are simply reprintings of stories from the 2000 collection.
• Love and Obstacles (2008): A collection of linked stories narrated by an unnamed first-person protagonist whose life path mirrors Hemon’s own. It contains the story "Good Living" (focusing on a door-to-door magazine salesman in Chicago), which is occasionally listed separately.

Non-Fiction and Memoirs

Hemon’s non-fiction works are essential reading, offering direct insight into the history and personal tragedies that inform his fiction:

• The Book of My Lives (2013): A collection of personal essays exploring home, war, exile, soccer, and the devastating loss of his infant daughter. It contains the essay "My Prisoner" (which recounts his photographer friend Velibor Božović's visit to a POW camp during the Bosnian War and was also published as an individual ebook).
• The Matters of Life, Death, and More (2014): A short ebook collection focused entirely on soccer, tracking Hemon's memories of World Cups from 1974 to 2014 and his love for the sport. It includes the essay "If God Existed, He'd Be a Solid Midfielder".
• Behind the Glass Wall (2015): A chronicle of Hemon's experiences as the first writer-in-residence at the United Nations in New York, offering a critical yet empathetic look at the institution's inner workings.
• My Parents: An Introduction / This Does Not Belong to You (2019): A unique memoir published in a back-to-back, upside-down *dos-à-dos* format. One half is an intimate, thematic history of Hemon’s parents and their lives before and after displacement; the other half is a series of short, impressionistic memories from Hemon's own childhood.

Anthology Contributions

Hemon has been a frequent contributor to and editor of literary anthologies. Key works featuring his short fiction, essays, or editorial work include:

• The Best of McSweeney's (2004)
• The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories (2004)
• The Book of Other People (2007)
• Best European Fiction Series (2010–2012): Hemon served as the editor for these annual anthologies, bringing contemporary European voices to English-speaking readers.
• Freeman's: Arrival (2015) and Freeman's Power (2018)
• The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives (2018): An anthology edited by Viet Thanh Nguyen, featuring an essay by Hemon.
• Fight of the Century (2020): A collection celebrating the centenary of the ACLU, co-edited by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman, featuring Hemon's work.