Hemon's novel The Lazarus Project was one of the best books of 2008, a vivid tale of an East European immigrant who investigates the real-life 1908 murder of an alleged anarchist, and returns to Eastern Europe and its new, surreal gangster-soaked culture. Hemon's new collection of interrelated short stories -- all narrated by an East European immigrant in the United States who resembles Hemon himself -- continues some of the themes from Lazarus, namely the intricacies of memory, the merging of past and present, and the strains put on normal life by creativity. Funny, smart, chilling and, in parts, pretty cranky, Love and Obstacles is further proof that Hemon is one of the most interesting new writers being published today.
Love and Obstacles by Aleksandar Hemon
Riverhead, 224 pages, $25.95