Aleksandar Hemon moved from Sarajevo to Chicago in 1992, wrote his first story in English in 1995, and won a MacArthur “genius grant" in 2004. Not bad, right?

Last week Hemon released the fruit of his “genius grant," The Lazarus Project [1], a novel that jumps between the murder of a Jew in early 20^th century Chicago and a Bosnian immigrant in modern-day Chicago investigating the victim. Hemon’s 2002 novel Nowhere Man and 2000 debut collection of stories, The Question of Bruno, also feature Chicago heavily. His style is a mix of careful description and epic narrative, channeling the desires and dreams of immigrants in America; he lives in Edgewater, one of the most diverse and immigrant friendly neighborhoods in the city.

The Chicago Tribune ran its review [2] of The Lazarus Project this weekend, the first one I’ve stumbled upon, applying the g-word judiciously:

All the same, I'm about to make a big assertion: Hemon just might have, in his third book, pulled it off. I'm not sure "The Lazarus Project" is a work of genius, but it may be the work of a genius.

Too much contemporary fiction seems purposefully to address small things in small ways—and it's not even a question of a writer's skill; it's a question of intent, of pinched ambition. But "The Lazarus Project" takes a healthy swing at the all-inclusive, the gripping, at the truly audacious. It's a book that manages to do what the best fiction does: It frames the public conscience of its own messy, changeful period. Hemon's is a majestic talent.

Hemon will be featured on 98.7 WFMT’s Writers on the Record on Sunday, May 18 at noon, which you can attend for free [3]. Chicagoist posted a lengthy interview [4] with him last week, as well.