THE LAZARUS PROJECT, by Aleksandar Hemon

The Lazarus Project is a remarkable novel by the Bosnian-American emigree writer Aleksandar Hemon, who is sometimes compared to writers like Nabokov (although it's hadly a perfect fit) and Pamuk. The story is very cleverly taught via parallel narration in which the story of a late 19th century Moldovan immigrant to Chicago who is implicated as an "anarchist" and killed by police, is embedded in the present-day story, narrated by an aspiring Bosnian writer living in the US named Vladimir Blik. Lazarus Averbuch, The name of the presumed-anarchist subject calls to mind the biblical Lazarus, whose story functions as a symbolic device throughout the book.  Blik suffers from a combination of culture shock and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrom, not to mention serious identity problems and depression, etc. He is married to a successful neurosurgeon, a solid, typically optimistic and self-assured American. It is a troubled relationship, as you can imagine. In the course of researching Lazarus Averbuch, Blik journeys to Ukraine and the trip has profound consequences on his consciousness. A powerful, brilliantly written, harrowing, sad, funny, searing book.

click here for a review of the book from NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/books/review/Schine-t.html?pagewanted=all