Charles Simic was seven years old when he, his mother, and his brother crossed the mountains of Slovenia on foot to the Austrian border, leaving behind communist Yugoslavia to eventually reach Paris, where they would wait to be reunited with his father, who had fled to the United States. This is just one of the episodes that populates this touching memoir, which spans from Simic’s childhood in Belgrade in an era of frequent bombings and violence; to his arrival by ship in the promised land, New York; to his bohemian youth and entrance into the world of art; to a stint in France as a military policeman. These are singular adventures, which Simic approaches in a manner at once intelligent, sensitive, and wry.