Reading anything by
Aleksandar Hemon is always a unique experience, and that is no different than
his short story collection Love and Obstacles. He is the writer Jonathan Safran
Foer wishes he could be: brilliant without being arrogant, though-provoking without
being needlessly obtuse and possessing an ability to dissect his homeland in a
way that is humorous new and not simply to fill the void of a foreign writer.
His narratives lack an urgency and newness that make them come off as stale,
but his prose styling, influenced by a command of the English language that
didn’t come about until Hemon was almost 30, is very fun to read and something
to behold. It can come off as funny, the misuse or overuse of metaphors and
similes can have the tendency to produce belly laughs. But it can also become
very poignant and serious, with Hemon stumbling, almost by accident over great
human truths that go beyond boundaries of culture and country. This collection
is pretty solid, and is linked not by people, but by themes and a few different
actions within the story, like the war in Sarajevo and trips to Zaire to avoid
trouble at home. There are a few stories in this collection that really stand
out. One of them is the opening story; “Stairway to Heaven” about a lovelorn
young man who befriends a nefarious American while his family is staying in
Zaire. It doesn’t break new ground but it is rather funny and has a lot of
energy. “Everything” is a more emotional based story, where the narrator finds
bigger things to worry about than lost love. But my favorite story is “The
Conductor” about a wannabe poet who constantly gets belittled by actual famous
poets. It dissects intellectualism in a Bolano-esque way that is truthful,
hurtful and funny. As I said, these stories don’t break any new ground, but
Hemon is definitely worth checking out if you want to laugh and cry within the
same page.
Rating: 4/5
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