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Rating: 
Summary: Disturbing in a good way
Review: "Generally speaking, the intellectual class is made up of men of average or less than average intelligence..." and the entire book is peppered with such truisms and wicked observations. In fact, all of the stories in this book seem to rest on a certain acid wit and, inasmuch as most of them are (semi)autobiographical, a great deal of mild, but honest self-deprecation. Hemon's childhood reminiscences written in story form are very skillfully rendered. His observations as the struggling refugee in America are particularly amusing - and there's always something mildy disturbing about them all. I'll refrain from making bold pronouncements about Hemon's place in world literature or even post-Yugoslav-war-in-Bosnia-trauma literature; these stories are simply well-written, interesting and often funny. If nothing else, it's quite entertaining to see the practical use of words taken straight from the high-school SATs, like crepuscular, glissade, hypocoristic and nacreously.
Rating: 
Summary: Sarajevo . . . As Remembered and Viewed from Chicago
Review: Alexander Hemon left his home in Sarajevo in 1992 to visit a friend in Chicago. The visit was intended to last a few months. Hemon never returned to Bosnia, however, because the Bosnian-Serb army had surrounded his hometown on the very day he planned to return. Undaunted, Hemon, a half-Serbian, half-Ukrainian writer, remained in Chicago, where he worked at a number of menial jobs and began learning English. He published his first story in English in 1995 and, five years later, the collection of seven stories and a novella that form "The Question of Bruno." Perhaps because he is from Eastern Europe and had been a writer in his native language before he learned English, he has often been compared to Nabokov. While the comparison is simplistic, it is seemingly suggested by Hemon himself, at one point, when he related to Salon Magazine how he learned English: "I read 'Lolita' in English and underlined the words I didn't know." However, unlike Nabokov, who circulated largely in academic circles, Hemon spent two and a half years canvassing for Greenpeace, where he met and spoke with thousands of people of every stripe, developing an ear for English as it is actually spoken. It is not surprising, then, that Hemon's writing is less academic and obscure than that of Nabokov. "The Question of Bruno" is a remarkably good collection of stories that continually engage the reader. Like many first works of fiction, the stories, while fictional, appear to draw heavily from Hemon's own experiences, particularly those of living under Marshall Tito's communism and the implosion of Yugoslavia which followed Tito's death, of growing up in a family with roots in both Serbia and the Ukraine, and, ultimately, living and writing in a language not his own. Hemon's writing is vivid, intelligent and darkly humorous, his style marked by keen description and uniquely discordant turns of phrase that sometimes seem to reflect his alienation from the English language in which he writes as much as his remarkable skill as a writer. The best of the stories in this collection is "A Coin," a tale of Aida, a woman living in Sarajevo under siege, and a man, presumably Hemon, living in Chicago, where he worries about Aida, about whether she is still among the living. Thus, Aida relates what it's like in Sarajevo: "Suppose there is a Point A and a Point B and that, if you want to get from Point A to Point B, you have to pass through an open space clearly visible to a skillful sniper." And Hemon, the author, relates from the disconnected safety of his dingy Chicago apartment: "I open my mailbox-a long tunnel dead-ending with a dark square-and I find Aida's letter, I shiver with dread. What terrifies me is that, as I rip the exhausted envelope, she may be dead. . . I dread the fact that life is always slower than death and I have been chosen, despite my weakness, against my will, to witness the discrepancy." "A Coin" is a remarkable story which vividly captures both the hellish, contingent existence of Aida in war-torn Sarajevo and the dark anxiety of her Chicago correspondent. "The Sorge Spy Ring" is another outstanding story, the fictional childhood memoir of a boy growing up in Sarajevo during the time of Tito, a boy fascinated with spies who develops an elaborate fantasy that his father is a spy. It is a fantasy that seemingly becomes grim reality when Marshal Tito's security police appear in the middle of the night and take the boy's father away. He is released from prison several years later, "diagnosed with brain cancer, curled into an old man, with most of his teeth missing." Longer than the story itself is the subtext, a series of forty footnotes that relate snippets of the biography of Richard Sorge, a real-life Soviet spy who achieved high rank in the German army and the Nazi Party and was eventually executed by Japanese security police in 1944. "Exchange of Pleasant Words" is a wonderful fictional memoir of the Hemon family history and a Hemon family reunion of sorts. "Inspired by the success of the Sarajevo Olympiad and the newly established ancient family history, the family council, headed righteously by my father, decided to have an epic get-together, which was to be held only once, and was to be recorded as the Hemoniad." "Blind Josef Pronek & Dead Souls," which runs to nearly eighty pages and may be characterized as a novella, tells the story of a man named Pronek who emigrates to Chicago from Sarajevo in 1992. The story appears to be, of course, the thinly fictionalized, episodic story of the author himself. While somewhat uneven in quality, the story within the novella titled "Iceberg Lettuce, Romaine Lettuce" is a wonderfully humorous narrative of Pronek's first job in the United States that displays Hemon's writing at its best. "The Life and Work of Alphonse Kauders" is a series of short, factual statements about a character named Alphonse Kauders, who appears Zelig-like (as one reviewer has aptly put it) at various important moments in history and with various historical personages. It is a humorous and enigmatic piece that is accompanied by a glossary providing background on its referents. Finally, there are three shorter stories. "Imitation of Life" is a wonderful little memoir of childhood recollection, fantasy and film. "The Accordion" is an almost photographic tale of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. "Islands," the first story in the book, is another reminiscence of a childhood trip from Yugoslavia to the coast that suffers from excessive and discordant use of language. It is the weakest of the writing in this collection, a story that has a kind of strangeness that apparently derives as much from Hemon's alienation from the English language as it does from any innate skill as a writer.
Rating: 
Summary: The Question of Bruno
Review: Beautifully written, stylistically without peer. A collection of stories presented in a deadpan manner, the reader is allowed to emphasize what they wish. It is interesting that Hemon, writing in a language that is not his mother tongue, is able to utilize the english language in a way that makes the greatest impact upon the reader. Causes the reader to question the universal nature of emotions not usuallly questioned, such as whimsy. To read a story like "The Life and Work of Alphonse Kauders" is too see a refugee from Sarajevo toying with absurdity, and owning it. "Islands" is one of the most beautiful stories I've ever read. In truth that one story has the power to fill a reader with hope and ambition. I read in hopes of finding stories like "Islands".
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Hemon has a great eye for detail -- there is no doubting that. And he is obviously well-read and intelligent. However, Hemon gets a great deal of mileage out of the fact that he is a Bosnian, writing in English. Readers seem quite willing to overlook his often awkward, unidiomatic phrasing, and contrived metaphors. I almost laughed when I picked up the book and the first sentence contained the expression "yokey sun". Later, I chuckled at "prostrate towel". Hemon tries too hard to leave a mark with every image. The other criticism I have is that Hemon borrows (imitates?) many of the techniques of Kis, Kundera et. al, but his work does not have the intellectual scope of those authors. If Hemon were just a guy from Chicago, and not from a war-torn country, one wonders whether people would be heaping the same amount of praise on him. Undoubtedly he has tapped into the West's obsession with the former Yugoslavia. That said, I too am waiting to see what he does next. Hemon writes neatly, and he is very readable, that alone makes him someone to follow. This collection is worth a read, but it is not entirely satisfying. Kis's Encyclopedia of the Dead is a far far better work of fiction and hopefully readers will move from Hemon and get to the really good innovative stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Mostly excellent
Review: Overall, an excellent collection of short stories. Some of it was a little tedious, the story of the spy was grueling to finish. The Coin and Blind Jozef were the most touching and eye-opening.
Rating: 
Summary: Pointless wordplay
Review: This was a fun read! Interesting to hear the voice of a writer from a culture so different from ours. The imagery leaves vivid pictures in your mind and places you at the scene where the action is. My favorites of the stories are "The Life and Work of Alphonse Kauders", "Islands", "The Sorge Spy Ring", and "Blind Jozef Pronek & Dead Souls". This is truly a masterpiece!
Rating:
Summary: Blind Josef Pronek
Review: William Hurt read "Blind Josef Pronek" over at Symphony Space in New York and I was lucky enough to hear it on public radio. It was unbelievably evocative. I am a history buff and don't usually enjoy fiction, however, the historical references throughout the book intrigued me. The prose is imaginative yet glib. This combination allows one to "see" the scenes he elaborately paints and the dimensions of his characters all while not romanticizing the stark reality of his subject with pretty language. You'll surely enjoy this book and learn something at the same time.
Rating:
Summary: Blind Josef Pronek
Review: William Hurt read "Blind Josef Pronek" over at Symphony Space in New York and I was lucky enough to hear it on public radio. It was unbelievably evocative. I am a history buff and don't usually enjoy fiction, however, the historical references throughout the book intrigued me. The prose is imaginative yet glib. This combination allows one to "see" the scenes he elaborately paints and the dimensions of his characters all while not romanticizing the stark reality of his subject with pretty language. You'll surely enjoy this book and learn something at the same time.
Rating:
Summary: Something bright and fearful
Review: You don't get far with "The Question of Bruno" without knowing a little about Aleksander Hemon, so here goes : born in Sarajevo in 1964, emigrated to Chicago in 1992, took a series of menial job-type-jobs (bus boy, waiter, you get the picture) and wrote - in English, not his first tongue - at night or whenever else he could. Oh, and you wont find a single bit of Hemon-related information that does not include a reference to Nabokov. Hemon is the new Nabokov, you see? "The Question of Bruno" is made up of seven shortish short stories and one not-quite-a-novella. In "The Sorge Spy Ring" (an intensely irritating story to read, it has to be said, due to the huge number of footnotes), Hemon relates how - following reading a book on a charismatic WWII spy called Sorge - he started believing his own father was a spy. The footnotes act as a synopsis of the biography young Hemon read. Prior to the Sorge story, we hear about Alphonse Kauders, who knew Sorge. The Kauder story is funny. This seems to surprise people for whatever reason. You can hear them bubbling at fashionable parties. He comes from Sarajevo? Yes, and he's funny. The Alphonse Kauders story is funny like Vonnegut (funny like "Hocus Pocus"). Elsewhere - in "Islands", in the lovely "The Accordion" - Hemon explores his past, his ancestry, his "Hemonhood", the relation of Hemon(s) to the world and to history. Some of the stories are good. Some of the stories are beautiful. All of the stories - even the irritating ones - show potential. That is the most important word. Years from now, out back of some old pawnbroker's shop, this old guy will unearth this book (he'll have it wrapped up in cloth, buried at the bottom of a chest) and talk about the great potential young Hemon showed. Course, the old pawnbroker will know whether Hemon made good. That's the danger right now. Everybody says Hemon, Nabokov / Nabokov, Hemon. It's the kind of thing could go to your head if you let it. It's the kind of thing could spoil whatever comes next. You should read "The Question of Bruno" because it's good. You should praise "The Question of Bruno" because it is brave and shows potential. You should be hesitant - and excited - about whatever comes next, and you should read whatever he does next because - that's the test.
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