Salvation and Other Disasters

Rating:
Summary: Salvation and Other Disasters -- not a review but a communic
Review: Hi Amazon People,
I am the author of this book. You have posted my invitation for readers to respond to me at my email address as a 0 rating! Please take that rating out because it distorts the picture.
Josip Novakovich

Rating:
Summary: True to the Experience, Even if It's a Story
Review: I have read several books directly related to the Former Yugoslavia (Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation; Love Thy Neighbor, a Story of War; Yugoslavia and After) and books related to the former Yugoslavia (To End a War; Blood and Belonging). Those books were very informative, about the "how's" and "why's" of the war and the facts of what happened, for the most part. However, I believe it is the short stories of the former Yugoslavia, that are particularly helpful in adding a face to the place, a soul to the picture. This place, recent war, and its former present and aftermath has inspired those that were in it, and outside of it to read, write or learn all about it. The author, Novakovich, chose to write about it. This book helps you get inside of the situation without even being there. As you read this book,you can feel inside your soul what is true or seems fictitious related to this place, and this situation. The books that I mentioned above, are very good, and I add this book into the "good" category, along with them. I urge you to read this book, especially if the books you've been reading before about former Yugoslavia, are simply detailed fact books. Treat yourself to some poetry and prose such as this, and your soul will be stirred with the truth.

Rating:
Summary: intricate and beautiful
Review: I'm actually surprised at how well many of Novakovich's stories about Croatia in the early 1990s, especially "Sheepskin" and "Crimson" capture the mood and feel of life at the time, given that he has been living in the U.S. since the 1970s. These two stories in particular reflect the brutal and at times surreal atmosphere of life in wartime Croatia. Also moving are his stories that deal with various aspects of the immigrant experience in America. Novakovich is one of those writers who can really evoke a sense of time and place, I found myself haunted by many of these stories days after reading them.

Rating:
Summary: intricate and beautiful
Review: Salvation and Other Disasters is a selection of wonderful stories that take place mostly in and around a war-torn Croatia. Most of the stories explore the limits of human nature during war. One question the book asks is what man becomes during war. They are beautifully written, finely told stories involving love, rape, violence, death, illness, and through all of this -- always, that sensitive and alive flame that defines human consciousness. I really enjoyed this book, and recommend it to everyone, especially in today's political climate.