Love and Obstacles

Date
26 June 2009

We’ve again joined forces with publishers Picador to give away some advance copies of one of their future releases. This time we’re offering Alexander Hemon’s new book Love & Obstacles – a collection of fantastic short stories that “crackles with curiosity and irrepressible energy”.

In return we’re asking everyone who receives a copy to answer a couple of quick questions on their reading habits and to write their thoughts on the book on the back of a specially made bookmark, with the chance of winning a set of Hemon’s previous titles. If you’re already a keen reader, or if you’d like an excuse to start reading we’d love to hear from you.

“Set in the darkest heart of Africa, in deepest Slovenia, in the melting pot of Chicago and in Hemon’s native Sarajevo, this brilliant collection of stories crackles with curiosity and irrepressible energy.

Linked by a young narrator who, like the author, was raised in Yugoslavia and emigrated to the United States, the world the stories create is one of restlessness: of adolescent boys who can’t quite be men, failed poets, ‘accomplished’ alcoholics and striving families. Recalling the surreal and salient experiences of a life – not least in the narrator’s ill-fated expedition across Yugoslavia by night train to acquire a freezer chest and dispose of his virginity – each is exhilarating, surprising, cut through with humour, pathos and insight.

As ever, Hemon confronts pain without blanching but finds delicious absurdity in experience. His is the great humanity of a writer who cares for what otherwise might go unrecorded, and gives voice to what he sees in a style that is breathtakingly his own."

“Hemon is a world-class writer of Seismic depth, riptide humour, wine-dark language, and unflinching candor.” Booklist

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About the Author

Alex Bec

Alex joined as director in 2008 and oversees the commercial side of The HudsonBec Group which includes It's Nice That, Anyways, Lecture in Progress and If You Could Jobs. Contact him to discuss working with us on sponsored content, commercial partnerships, media partnerships and commissioning work.

alex@thehudsonbecgroup.com

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