Book of the Year: The Lazarus Project

The usual end of year round up will dominate most of the posts for the next few days. When it came to deciding the best novel of 2008 there was really no question in my mind. It had to be Aleksander Hemon's fantastic and devastating third novel The Lazarus Project. The novel intertwines two stories, one being the true life murder of Lazarus Averbuch, an Eastern European Jew, who was shot to death in 1908 by the Chicago chief of police while trying to deliver a letter. His death sparked widespread paranoia about anarchy and dissent while only perpetuating unrest in the city's immigrant ghettos. The second story arc follows a Bosnian immigrant writer who becomes obsessed with the case and sets off to Europe with a photographer to try to understand Lazarus and his horrible fate. Hemon does a brilliant job balancing both narratives: one factual (kinda), one fictional. The novel is also interspersed with beautiful photographs, either from the Chicago Historical Society or by Velibor Bozovic. The photos enrich Hemon's hugely entertaining chronicle of loss, identity, and place. There is also an underlying comment on today's War on Terror. The Lazarus Project is one of those BIG IMPORTANT BOOKS we'll be talking about for years to come.