Reviews with content warning for Antisemitism - The World and All That It Holds

The World and All That it Holds is an epic love story that spans most of the first half of the twentieth century, thousands of kilometres - mostly on foot - from Sarajevo to Shanghai, via Bolshevik Russia, Tashkent and the Taklamakan Desert. It’s a story, both tender and tragic, which unfolds against the backdrop of World War I and the Sino-Japanese war. At it’s heart are two Bosnian men, Pinto and Osman, one Jewish the other Muslim, and Rahela, a beloved daughter. It’s a story which focuses a lot on migration, on the refugee experience, and the realities of being a stateless person. It includes espionage and opium addiction. It’s not the easiest of reads with a changing cast of characters, subtle changes of perspective, the looping of time, and the inclusion of multiple languages. It’s poignant, haunting, and beautifully written. It has much to say about humanity. It may not be perfect but I loved it.

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_moomin's review against another edition

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God. This book has so much potential and some beautiful moments but it is SO BORING between those bits. The author repeats motifs and phrases so frequently and inelegantly that it takes the reader out of the story. I have no reason to pick this up again. You keep waiting for Pinto to be able to return to Sarajevo or for him to have any control over the events of his life, but it's world war I and he's a gay Bosnian Jew so of course he can't do either of those things! Great characters and often pretty prose but too repetitive and slow-paced for me.

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likemindedbooks's review

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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The World and All That It Holds by Aleksandar Hemon (The Lazarus Project) is brutal, beautiful and an absolute masterpiece. I was riveted by the audiobook, the narration of which was expertly done and very authentic to the voice and tone of this piece. There are plenty of trigger warnings that would normally perhaps prevent me from picking this book up (lots of wartime violence--gore, torture, and sexual assault) but it is part of the reality of this world in the backdrop of the exceptionally tender and raw love story between the two MCs. It was difficult emotionally at times but worth it. A powerfully human novel that will stay with me a very long time. Thank you to MacMillan audio for the advanced listening copy.

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danaaliyalevinson's review

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challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I was floored by this book. Told over the course of 35 years, this is the story of an epic love between a Jewish man and a Muslim man from Sarajevo set against the backdrop of the first half of the 20th century, covering WWI, its aftermath, and WWII. This book is a lyrical and deeply moving portrait of war, trauma, grief, displacement, and Jewish longing. As a Jewish reader, there’s a certain ineffable Jewishness that can sometimes be imbued into an author’s work. I think of Nicole Krauss’ work as an example, or also Nathan Englander. It’s this balance of emotionality, an almost biblical poeticism, a sense of past always being present, and a sprinkling of absurdism and surrealism. This book oozed it. I was also impressed by how much Hemon utilized these tools to draw a vivid picture of war and being a refugee, not in the external details, but in the emotional ones. I know it’s only January, but this will be a book that all others I read this year are held against. A stunning read.

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