A review by abookishtype
The World and All That It Holds by Aleksandar Hemon

adventurous challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Pinto, the son of a Jewish apothecary in Sarajevo, was made for gentler times. He’s a dreamer. He seeks love and pleasant sensations and ease. He doesn’t know it but, when we first meet him in Aleksandar Hemon’s shattering novel The World and All That It Holds, his world is about to vanish into chaos and bloodshed. On the day that the novel begins, Pinto opens the family shop, flirts with a Viennese military officer, and wanders into a curbside seat for the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Pinto is almost instantly drafted into a Bosnian regiment of the doomed Austro-Hungarian army. We know that Pinto is headed into one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history, so it’s kind of funny that he meets the love of his life in the middle of a warzone...

Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.