The Lazarus Project (Pages 249-292)

This last section of The Lazarus Project was rather surprising to me.  As Brik said goodbye to Iuliana, his infatuation with her was evident.  On page 252, Rora even asked Brik, “Did you bang her?” Brik retorts with, “She has a husband,” to which Rora responds, “You have a wife.”  I found this rather interesting.   The way he’s regarded Mary has changed so much over the course of the novel.  He even goes back to say on page 254 that “the thought of Mary leaving me was ever present in my mind.”  While this may be true, his feelings toward Mary had definitely shifted at this point, and would continue to shift as the story progresses.  After facing the death of Rora, his long time friend and accomplice during the trip, Brik is unsure whether he wants to go back to America at all.  I thought it was pretty ironic that Brik said, “He deserved a good beating, but not death.  Nobody deserves death, yet everybody gets it,” in regards to Rambo killing Miller.  This worked as a foreshadowing device for Rora’s fate during his reappearance in Sarajevo.  On their way there, though, Rora and Brik took it upon themselves to save their fellow rider from a life of prostitution.  While Brik’s hand didn’t healthily withstand the confrontation, he knew he had done the right thing.  When they arrived in Sarajevo, memories washed over Brik, and he said, “Home is where somebody notices your absence.”  It is clear in this statement that he no longer finds this place home, but instead a vague recollection.  I also found it interesting that the cab driver in Sarajevo actually wanted Brik to buckle up, which was much the contrary to the other drivers along the way.  I expected the story about Lazarus to end the way it did, though I was definitely taken aback by the contemporary ending when Rora was shot.  Olga was left alone, without a brother, friend, or probably even a job, while Brik was left alone in Sarajevo completely rattled, unsure about his future and where he truly belongs.

Vocabulary Words

• Redolent (Page 258):  strongly reminiscent or suggestive of
• Ululating (Page 270):  howling or wailing as as an expression of strong emotion, typically grief
• Ampoules (page 279):  a small glass vessel in which liquids for injection are hermetically sealed