The Lazarus Project (novel)

Last updated
The Lazarus Project
Lazarus cover.jpg
First edition cover design
Author Aleksandar Hemon
LanguageEnglish
GenreNovel
Publisher Riverhead Books
Publication date
1 May 2008
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages304 pp
ISBN 978-1-59448-988-4
OCLC 183267842

The Lazarus Project is a 2008 novel by Bosnian fiction writer and journalist Aleksandar Hemon. It features the true story of the death of Lazarus Averbuch, a teenaged Jewish immigrant to Chicago who was shot and killed by a police officer in 1908. It was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award, as well as the winner of the inaugural Jan Michalski Prize for Literature in 2010. [1] [2]

Contents

Reception

The Lazarus Project received starred reviews from Booklist , [3] Kirkus Reviews , [4] and Publishers Weekly. [5]

Kirkus called the book "[a] literary page-turner that combines narrative momentum with meditations on identity and mortality." [4]

Glyn Maxwell with London Review of Books commented, "Stories. True stories, false stories, good stories, rotten stories. Everything in Hemon’s beautiful new novel trembles within this matrix, where a story’s force or charm is at least as significant as its veracity." [6]

Numerous reviewers highlighted Hemon's prose. Publishers Weekly said, "Hemon’s workmanlike prose underscores his piercing wit, and between the murders that bookend the novel, there’s pathos and outrage enough to chip away at even the hardest of hearts." [5] Booklist's Donna Seaman agreed with the sentiment: "Hemon’s sentences seethe and hiss, their dangerous beauty matched by Velibor Bozovic’s eloquent black-and-white photographs, creating an excoriating novel of rare moral clarity." [3] Carol Anshaw, writing for Los Angeles Times added, "Hemon is immensely talented-a natural storyteller and a poet, a maker of amazing, gorgeous sentences in what is his second language." [7]

In Literary Review , John Dugdale wrote: "Aleksandar Hemon is essentially a miniaturist with a flair for stylistically striking description, at his best here in passages evoking Olga’s apartment and neighbourhood. On this evidence he should stick to the sketches and short stories at which he excels, rather than acceding to the familiar pressures to produce long-form fiction." [8]

Writing for the New York Times, Cathleen Schine says the book is "a remarkable, and remarkably entertaining, chronicle of loss and hopelessness and cruelty propelled by an eloquent, irritable existential unease. It is, against all odds, full of humor and full of jokes."

Writing for The Guardian , James Lasdun provided a negative review, noting

The Lazarus Project is one of several recent books that orbit these subjects. Its sentiments are all very correct and laudable, but as a novel it seems to me largely a failure. It opts, initially, for the oblique angle... Period reconstruction clearly isn't Hemon's game... What seem to interest him more are the various practical and metaphysical questions raised by his own desire to tell the story. The result is a familiar postmodern construction: a novel about the writing of a novel ...Lacking the pressure of a plot, these passages stake everything on their pure interest as writing. [9]

Awards and honors for The Lazarus Project
YearAward/HonorResultRef.
2008 Booklist Editors' Choice: Adult BooksSelection [10]
Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for Fiction Winner
National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction Finalist [4] [11]
National Book Award for Fiction Finalist [4]
2009Society of Midland Authors Award for Adult FictionWinner [12]
2010 Jan Michalski Prize for Literature Winner [1] [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aleksandar Hemon</span> Bosnian-American author, essayist, critic, television writer and screenwriter

Aleksandar Hemon is a Bosnian-American author, essayist, critic, television writer, and screenwriter. He is best known for the novels Nowhere Man (2002) and The Lazarus Project (2008), and his scriptwriting as a co-writer of The Matrix Resurrections (2021).

<i>Ladder of Years</i> 1995 novel by Anne Tyler

Ladder of Years is a 1995 novel by Anne Tyler. It was a New York Times "Notable Book" and chosen by Time as one of ten best books of 1995.

<i>Darkwing</i> (novel) 2007 young adult fantasy novel by Kenneth Oppel

Darkwing is a 2007 young adult fantasy novel by Canadian author Kenneth Oppel. It is the prequel and fourth book of the Silverwing series, and takes place 65 million years before the events of the first book. It describes the origins of the war between the birds and the beasts.

Carol Anshaw is an American novelist and short story writer. Publishing Triangle named her debut novel, Aquamarine, one of "The Triangle's 100 Best" gay and lesbian novels of the 1990s. Four of her books have been finalists for the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction, and Lucky in the Corner won the 2003 Ferro-Grumley Award.

Ashley Little is a Canadian author of both adult and young adult literature.

<i>El Deafo</i> 2014 graphic novel by Cece Bell

El Deafo is a graphic novel written and illustrated by Cece Bell. The book is a loose autobiographical account of Bell's childhood and life with her deafness. The characters in the book are all anthropomorphic bunnies. Cece Bell, in an interview with the Horn Book Magazine, states "What are bunnies known for? Big ears; excellent hearing," rendering her choice of characters and their deafness ironic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angie Thomas</span> American author (born 1988)

Angie Thomas is an American young adult author, best known for writing The Hate U Give (2017). Her second young adult novel, On the Come Up, was released on February 25, 2019.

Lazarus “Jerome” Averbuch (1889–1908) was a 19-year-old Russian-born Jewish immigrant to Chicago who was shot and killed by Chicago Chief of Police George M. Shippy on March 2, 1908. The incident occurred during an era of public fear of foreign-born anarchists in the United States, following their involvement with the Haymarket affair in 1886. The exact circumstances of the shooting remain contested, but Averbuch's death has inspired speculation, ideological arguments, and works of fiction.

Brandy Colbert is an American author of young adult fiction and nonfiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kekla Magoon</span> American author (born 1980)

Kekla Magoon is an American author, best known for her NAACP Image Award-nominated young adult novel The Rock and the River, How It Went Down, The Season of Styx Malone, and X. In 2021, she received the Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association for her body of work. Her works also include middle grade novels, short stories, and historical, socio-political, and economy-related non-fiction.

<i>Blackout</i> (young adult novel) Young adult novel

Blackout is a young adult novel written by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon. The book contains six interlinked stories about Black teen love during a power outage in New York City. The book was released on June 22, 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leah Johnson (writer)</span> American writer

Leah Johnson is an American writer. Her debut novel You Should See Me in a Crown (2020) received critical acclaim, including a Stonewall Book Award Honor. She is the author of Rise to the Sun (2021) and Ellie Engle Saves Herself! (2023).

<i>The Book of Aron</i> 2015 novel by Jim Shepard

The Book of Aron is a historical fiction novel by Jim Shepard, published May 12, 2015 by Knopf Publishing Group.

<i>When Stars Are Scattered</i> 2020 nonfiction young adult graphic novel by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed

When Stars Are Scattered is a nonfiction young adult graphic novel written by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed, illustrated by Victoria Jamieson and Iman Geddy, and published April 14, 2020, by Dial Books.

<i>Everything Sad Is Untrue</i> 2020 young adult novel by Daniel Nayeri

Everything Sad Is Untrue: is a young adult/middle grade autobiographical novel by Daniel Nayeri, published August 25, 2020 by Levine Querido. In 2021, the book won the Michael L. Printz Award, Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children's Literature, and Middle East Book Award for Youth Literature.

<i>We Are the Ants</i> 2016 novel by Shaun David Hutchinson

We Are the Ants is a young adult science fiction novel by Shaun David Hutchinson, published January 19, 2016 by Simon Pulse with a 24-page companion story, "What We Pretend to Be", published on the publisher's website, Riveted, later that year.

Shaun David Hutchinson is an American author of young adult texts. His novels often "combine speculative elements with LGBT characters and themes."

Lev A. C. Rosen, also known as L. C. Rosen, is an American author.

<i>The Rabbit Hutch</i> 2022 novel by Tess Gunty

The Rabbit Hutch is a 2022 debut novel by writer Tess Gunty and winner of the 2022 National Book Award for Fiction. Gunty won the inaugural Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize and the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize for the novel.

<i>Book Lovers</i> 2022 romance novel by Emily Henry

Book Lovers is a 2022 romance novel by Emily Henry.

References

  1. 1 2 "Le bosniaque Aleksandar Hemon reçoit le 1er prix Jan-Michalski". LivresHebdo (in French). 2010-11-18. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  2. 1 2 "The Jan Michalski Prize for Literature 2010". Foundation Jan Michalski. November 2010. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  3. 1 2 Seaman, Donna (2008-04-01). "The Lazarus Project". Booklist. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "The Lazarus Project". Kirkus Reviews. 2010-05-20. Archived from the original on 2022-02-06. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  5. 1 2 "Fiction Book Review: The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon, Author, Velibor Bozovic, Photographer, Chicago Historical Society, Photographer . Riverhead $24.95 (294p) ISBN 978-1-59448-988-4". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
  6. ↑ Maxwell, Glyn (2008-10-23). "Miracle in a Ring-Binder". London Review of Books. Vol. 30, no. 20. ISSN   0260-9592 . Retrieved 2022-02-06.
  7. ↑ Anshaw, Carol (2008-05-04). "'The Lazarus Project: A Novel' by Aleksandar Hemon". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
  8. ↑ "John Dugdale - Everything Is Replicated". Literary Review. 2023-10-05. Retrieved 2023-10-05.
  9. ↑ Lasdun, James (2008-09-05). "Book review: The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon". the Guardian. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
  10. ↑ "Booklist Editors' Choice: Adult Books, 2008". Booklist. 2009-01-01. Archived from the original on 2022-02-06. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  11. ↑ "2008". National Book Critics Circle. Archived from the original on 2022-01-25. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
  12. ↑ "Past Winners". The Society of Midland Authors. Archived from the original on 2022-02-06. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.