The World and All That It Holds

A Novel

By: Aleksandar Hemon

Narrated by: Aleksandar Mikic

Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Long-listed, Washington Post Best Books of the Year, 2023

Nominee, International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, 2024

"Narrator Aleksandar Mikic's enchanting narration gives voice to the interplay of romance and violence."—Booklist

"The audiobook is performed in epic fashion by Bosnian actor Aleksandar Mikic, whose accents and syntax embody the many people Rafael meets as he journeys from Saravejo to Shanghai in his quest to escape war and persecution."—Bookpage

This program includes a bonus conversation between the author and book editor.

The World and All That It Holds—in all its hilarious, heartbreaking, erotic, philosophical glory—showcases Aleksandar Hemon’s celebrated talent at its pinnacle. It is a grand, tender, sweeping story that spans decades and continents. It cements Hemon as one of the boldest voices in fiction.

As the Archduke Franz Ferdinand arrives in Sarajevo one June day in 1914, Rafael Pinto is busy crushing herbs and grinding tablets behind the counter at the pharmacy he inherited from his estimable father. It’s not quite the life he had expected during his poetry-filled student days in libertine Vienna, but it’s nothing a dash of laudanum from the high shelf, a summer stroll, and idle fantasies about passersby can’t put in perspective.

And then the world explodes. In the trenches in Galicia, fantasies fall flat. Heroism gets a man killed quickly. War devours all that they have known, and the only thing Pinto has to live for are the attentions of Osman, a fellow soldier, a man of action to complement Pinto’s introspective, poetic soul; a charismatic storyteller; Pinto’s protector and lover.

Together, Pinto and Osman will escape the trenches, survive near-certain death, tangle with spies and Bolsheviks. Over mountains and across deserts, from one world to another, all the way to Shanghai, it is Pinto’s love for Osman—with the occasional opiatic interlude—that keeps him going.

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

©2023 Aleksandar Hemon (P)2023 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“Aleksandar Hemon’s The World and All That It Holds is one of the finest novels I’ve ever read, and like all great stories, it refuses to be pigeonholed. It’s a road novel, an immigrant tale, a ghost story, a family portrait, a mystery, a historical epic, a war novel, and yes, a love story—it is all that and more, a feat of
unfettered literary bravura. In short, a masterpiece.”—RABIH ALAMEDDINE, author of The Wrong End of the Telescope

"Hemonites rejoice! The master is back and he has forged a remarkable tale of love and war alongside his own 20th Century Silk Road. From Sarajevo to Shanghai, every sentence, every paragraph is a sensuous and often hilarious delight. Not a Hemonite yet? I envy you your very first encounter with one of the world's greatest writers."—GARY SHTEYNGART, author of Our Country Friends

"The World and All That It Holds is a twisting, turning epic rooted in love in all its forms; an odyssey of statelessness; a haunted museum of history ranging from Sarajevo to Shanghai and Jerusalem; and an apothecary of wit, folklore and unexpectable sentences. This life-stuffed novel is Aleksandar Hemon’s masterpiece.”—DAVID MITCHELL, author of Cloud Atlas

An experience as much a a great novel!

Hemon somehow brought me into the characters and all of the places they went! A great book!

Amazing

Hemon’s prose is mesmerizing and the narrator does a fantastic job here. The poignant love stories at the heart of the book - love for people, family, place of origin, carry the protagonists through many 20th century horrors and leave them with strangely dignified lives. I was sad to see it end.

Could not finish.

I tried but could not finish this book. I stopped while reading Tashkent. The voices were good but the story was too confusing.

Epilogue and interview changed my mind

I was all ready to give this book a tepid two stars. The first half is a confusing real time mixed with memories and dreams, and frustratingly frequent sentences in Bosnian, Spanish, German, French and perhaps others Just where am I in this story? Upon finishing I listened to the bonus Epilogue and Editor and Author interview included. The germination of the novel’s story is revealed as are the author’s reflections on war, history, love and more. Then it made sense. The second half is a much clearer narrative. It is a difficult read/listen but try the Epilogue and interview first.