My Parents: An Introduction / This Does Not Belong to You
Published on 31. October 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
368 pages
978-1-5290-3846-0 (ISBN)
Description
Two magnificent memoirs by Aleksandar Hemon, presented together in a glorious single edition: together they make a major work from one of our major writers.
In My Parents, Aleksandar Hemon tells the story of his parents' immigration to Canada - of the lives that were upended by the war in Bosnia and siege of Sarajevo, and the new lives his parents were forced to build.
He portrays both the perfect, intimate details - of his mother's lonely upbringing, his father's fanatical beekeeping - and a sweeping, heartbreaking history of his native country. It is a story of his family and of German occupying forces, Yugoslav partisans, royalist Serb collaborators, singing Ukrainians, and a few confused Canadians.
This Does Not Belong to You is the exhilarating, freewheeling, unabashedly personal companion to My Parents. It shows Hemon at his most dazzling and untempered in a series of beautifully distilled memories and observations about his family, friends and childhood in Sarajevo, presented as explosive, hilarious, poignant miniatures.
'Not only is Hemon's book a masterpiece in literary terms, it is also a repudiation of the idea of the immigrant as a singular and infantilized creature, a human of lesser depth and complexity than everyone else' - Rafia Zakaria, TLS
In My Parents, Aleksandar Hemon tells the story of his parents' immigration to Canada - of the lives that were upended by the war in Bosnia and siege of Sarajevo, and the new lives his parents were forced to build.
He portrays both the perfect, intimate details - of his mother's lonely upbringing, his father's fanatical beekeeping - and a sweeping, heartbreaking history of his native country. It is a story of his family and of German occupying forces, Yugoslav partisans, royalist Serb collaborators, singing Ukrainians, and a few confused Canadians.
This Does Not Belong to You is the exhilarating, freewheeling, unabashedly personal companion to My Parents. It shows Hemon at his most dazzling and untempered in a series of beautifully distilled memories and observations about his family, friends and childhood in Sarajevo, presented as explosive, hilarious, poignant miniatures.
'Not only is Hemon's book a masterpiece in literary terms, it is also a repudiation of the idea of the immigrant as a singular and infantilized creature, a human of lesser depth and complexity than everyone else' - Rafia Zakaria, TLS
Reviews / Votes
Aleksandar Hemon is, quite frankly, the greatest writer of our generation. -- Colum McCann, author of <i>TransAtlantic</i> Hemon at his most contemplative, whimsical, and personal . . . a joy * Los Angeles Times * Gorgeous . . . The writing contains both immediacy and a thrillingly historical long view . . . There is all the love and frustration here that anyone feels for their aging parents . . . [and] some of the best writing about what it really feels like to be a child that I can recall reading. * Newsday * Not only is Hemon's book a masterpiece in literary terms, it is also a repudiation of the idea of the immigrant as a singular and infantilized creature, a human of lesser depth and complexity than everyone else. -- Rafia Zakaria * TLS * Hemon's recollections unite his dazzling prose style with a captivating personal narrative. * Publishers Weekly * Hemon's newest, most delving nonfiction work . . . Bracing candor, gruff tenderness, righteous anger, and political astuteness, all conveyed with Hemon's signature intensity, mordant wit, and creative bite. * Booklist *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Pan Macmillan
Target group
Interest Age: From 18 years
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Dimensions
Height: 217 mm
Width: 136 mm
Thickness: 32 mm
Weight
381 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5290-3846-0 (9781529038460)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Aleksandar Hemon is the author of The Making of Zombie Wars; The Book of My Lives, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; The Lazarus Project, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award and a New York Times bestseller; The World and All That It Holds; and three books of short stories, including Nowhere Man, which was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. He was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a 'Genius' grant from the MacArthur Foundation.