Alexsander Hemon, novelist

Perhaps only a Bosnia-American novelist could write, "Writing is nothing if not carrying the hopeless, backbreaking burden of decisions devoid of consequences," as Hemon writes in his novel, "The Making of the Zombie Wars" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015).

Reading Mr. Hemon's novel, as I am now, prompts me to question the cherished theory I'd formed about the tight connection between literature and sincerity: that all creative writing falls into one of two camps, the heartfelt or the snide.

Am I enjoying reading Mr. Hemon's novel? Yes and no. I'm enjoying what's snide about it, the snideness seems heartfelt or, if not heartfelt, hard earned. The book takes its jokes seriously.

Would I read it again, as I read "Zeno's Conscience" every other year or so? No, I won't read it again as I've read it once for the first time and that seems to be enough for now.