The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon - Essay Example

The Lazarus Project is an interesting novel written by the well-known Aleksander Hemon. Without wasting much time Hemon directly jumps towards the main theme of the story. A healthy, young and impressive looking boy named Lazarus Averbuch, who is only 19 years old reaches Chicago by successfully escaping pogroms in Europe’s eastern part. Lazarus after reaching Chicago on 2nd March of 1908 visits the house of Chief of Chicago police named George Shippy. But Lazarus receives a bullet and dies on the door of Chief. The chief of police George Shippy after seeing Lazarus dead on his door arouses his suspicion about the boy, but he did not want to take any chances. However the chief was left with numerous questions like what the boy was doing there? Why Lazarus wanted to visit his house? Or what the boy was up to? All these questions remain unanswered because of sudden death of the boy suddenly in the story and the novel gives no answers to these questions. After nearly a hundred years, a charming and talented guy named Brik takes up the mysterious story of Lazarus. Brik is an excellent young writer of Chicago. He wants to investigate about the Lazarus’s past for which he decides to visit all the places the immigrant boy has been to during his journey from East of Europe to Chicago. Brik starts his journey from Chicago and after visiting Ukraine, Moldova, Romania and Bosnia, he finally ends up in the Eastern part of Europe. Brik on his way is accompanied by a friend, Ahmed Rora who is a photographer and takes many pictures during the trip along with interesting but exaggerated stories. However Ahmed is a fake artist with immense lying capability. Although the plot of the story is thrilling however Hemon has adopted a humorous and impressive tone to explain the journey of Brik and his photographer friend. His humor with investigative approach captivates the mind of the reader and creates more effects. The book also contains some pictures taken by the friend of Hemon, Velibor Bozovic. These pictures complement the story of the novel very impressively by giving a visual perception to readers. The novel contains some of the rare and unique pictures from 1908 of the U.S.A which helped the novel to earn a great deal of fame. Hermon is simply a great writer excelling in creating interesting and attention drawing story for the readers. This novel had completely drew some parallels between the situation of 1908 in the country and the war currently going against terrorism in many parts of the world. The relevance between the situation in past and the present is no different which lets the reader comprehend the story in a better way. There is also a depiction of prejudice shown towards Native Americans in the novel especially when Brik makes fun of his father-in-law. Novel shows that although both events i.e. of Brits and Lazarus are taking place with a difference of a century, but ironically they are facing the same situations. Aleksander Hemon doesn’t take a lot of time in moving towards the main point of the story and quickly mentions the series of events to keep the thrill of the novel. Lazarus Averbuch, a young Jewish handsome, good looking and charming boy whose age is only 19 years migrates to Chicago. He is actually one of the lucky people who have survived the pogroms in the Eastern area of Europe. In 1908, 2nd of March in Chicago, he goes to the house of the Chicago’s chief of police whose name is George Shippy. The reason why he visited the chief remains unclear. The sudden death of Lazarus on the door leaves the Chief with many unanswered questions. The chief of police after seeing a young boy dead on his door step, was not in favor of taking any risks. After a century,, a young, talented writer of Chicago named Brik looks on the thrilling story of Lazarus and the history attracts him greatly. He tries hard to find out about the past of the immigrant boy and for uncovering the history travels to East Europe. This novel provides the detail about the Chicago at that time i.e. in 1908 and also rebirth of Lazarus who was murdered in the past. Hermon also portraits the terrorism in Chicago and USA. The novel contains pictures taken by a friend of Hermon named Velibor Bozovic. The novel also contains some interesting pictures of 1908. These pictures play a vital role in the novel and created the visual impact on the readers. The powerful wording and the wonderful pictures makes his novel a master piece. The relevancy of terrorism factor which existed in the times of Lazarus’s death and at present made it apprehensible for the readers to understand the view point of the writer. The unique and rare pictures of USA added the color and gave a base to readers to visualize the atmosphere of that era. This combination has made this book an attraction for all the readers. There is an interesting and captivating details given by Hemon in the novel about the Eastern part of Europe and about those places which Brik visited with his friend who was a photographer. As the friend of Brik has the unlimited stock of exaggerated stories, the story gets very interesting and humorous for the readers. Hermon also talks about a room which is on the fifth floor in a hostel. He explains the actual condition of the room which is filled with cockroaches, a small television set in the left corner, greasy blanket lying on the bed. The carpet was totally stained. The walls were very white reflecting that they were whitewashed by using quicklime to remove blood spots. This explanation develops a thrilling feeling among the reader. Hermon also added a racial incident against the Native Americans, when Brik shows his prejudice towards his father-in-law and also makes fun of him. In an interview, Hermon drew the attention of every one towards the cartoons which were published in U.S.A back in 1908. The impressive achievement of this novel is that it clearly draws some similarities between xenophobia in the country many years ago and the current war against terrorism. Hemon, Aleksander. The Lazarus Project. Riverhead Trade. Reprint 2009. Read More