Archive
Reviews
Readings of books from the region and beyond.
Try a theme — e.g. memory, exile, language. Search by idea, not just by title.
Tako neka bude: Between History and the Present
Robert Međurečan's ambitious novel relocates its story to first-century Judea, following Eleazar, a priest's son turned prophet-hunter, to explore messianism and divine authority in a tradition of anti-gospel reinterpretations alongside Saramago and Kazantzakis. The review credits the sharp, rhythmic prose and thematic reach, but finds the writing too direct and lacking aesthetic distance. It judges the ending, a Judas parallel, oversimplified, leaving the book provocative yet not fully realized.
- Memory & history
- Post-Yugoslav literature
- Contemporary fiction
Bejturan i ruža: The Boundaries of Love, Loss, and Identity
"Bejturan i ruža" is Aleksandar Hemon's novel that centers the love between Pinto and Osman rather than exile itself, refusing to become another nostalgic migration story. The review counts it among Hemon's finest, praising a multilingual texture that leaves eight languages untranslated to reflect Pinto's Sephardic Jewish identity and dismantle the illusion of a single tongue. It admires how the book places small, marginal figures fully inside the grip of grand history, with only the epilogue judged superfluous.
- Identity & belonging
- Memory & history
- Post-Yugoslav literature
Očenaš: From Recollection to Remembrance
A novel that voices the final reflections of an elderly woman, structuring memory as a non-linear, randomly shuffled photo album while foregrounding a female perspective and critiquing patriarchal family structures. The review praises this intent as worthy of attention, but faults the execution: the philosophical passages often slip into stereotypical banality rather than earned insight, and the repeated direct address to the reader comes across as superfluous and tiresome.
- Memory & history
- Contemporary fiction