53/2020. I found this novel engaging from the beginning, despite the gonzo journalism style first person reportage which doesn't usually appeal to me. The self-deprecating humour and protagonist's understanding that he and his friends are far from perfect helped to build empathy with the various personalities and their situations, which are well-described through a series of vignettes. I suspect this would be 5/5 if I could read it in Croatian but a few aspects of the translation don't quite work for me (at least Johnny Stulić and his lyrics remained intact and weren't replaced with a dodgy British reference).

"Boris was fashioned to be our national envoy in the global spectacle, and we wanted him to appear important so that we ourselves would appear important."

"[...] the three old ladies followed me with their gaze as if I was fleeing out of an Agatha Christie novel."

One for the Tripe Marketing Board: "I left that far-from-worthless inner-city location thinking of its inevitable privatisation, which would bring a swift end to the old waitress in her orthopaedic shoes, not to mention the tripe."

Currently reading my way around the European Union.

Reading: Croatia.

Read: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.

Remaining unread countries: Czechia, Latvia. ( )

Our Man in Iraq by Robert Perisic takes place in 2003, during those first few weeks of the Iraq War when some people still believe the war would be wrapped up and over in six weeks. Croatia is proud to be part of the “coalition of the willing” and the paper where Toni, our man in Zagreb, works wants to send their own reporter to cover the war. Toni recommends his cousin Boris, mainly because Boris speaks Arabic and partly out of family obligation.

But it is not working out. Boris is sending bizarre email reports that are stream of consciousness prose poems, part insight, part nonsense and utterly unusable for the paper. To cover up for his cousin and his nepotism, he rewrites the stories. But he is worried, his cousin seems to be losing touch with reality. But when Boris stops sending emails, things get worse. Toni is worried and Boris’ mother Milka is demanding explanations. Like many people, Toni ducks unpleasantness, not answering Milka’s calls. This blows up into a scandal broadcast on live TV that is both incredibly funny and devastating.

I had high expectations before I even read the first page of Our Man in Iraq. After all, not that many books by Croatian authors even get translated into English, so it had to be good to cross that bar. I have an abiding interest in the Balkans since reading the incomparable Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West. Since then I have read several nonfiction books including Robert Kaplan’s Balkan Ghosts. As far as literature, though, i had only read The Bridge on the Drina by Nobel Laureate Ivo Andrić, a Yugoslav writer from Bosnia.

Our Man in Iraq is post liberation, post war, during the early exuberant years of Croatian democracy and that excitement and freedom is important to the setting of the book. These are the first generation of people who really get to choose their destiny, or as Toni put it, “No one is obliged to inherit an identity now.” Toni’s identity as an urbane, successful member of the cultural elite is part of his downfall. The urban-rural divide separates Toni from his Aunt Milka and her worries. He takes things too lightly.

Meanwhile, there are many other things happening, a bank crash, his partner’s career as an actress seems to be taking off and Toni, all too much on the surface, allows his life to spin out of control.

The title, recalls the wonderful Graham Greene comic masterpiece, Our Man in Havana and set certain expectations. Our Man in Iraq was certainly bitterly funny and often very witty. It, too, is a social commentary and one about a country we seldom get to see from an insider’s view point.

3pawsOur Man in Iraq is a good book, worth reading and it offers a new perspective that we have few chances to see. However, even though the book was quite short and was well-written, I was eager to be done with it. I do not have to love the characters in the books I read, but I do have to care about them and I really did not care that much about Toni. ( )

A bit rough but saved by its exuberance, and also its foreignness. This is not a novel by an American about life in postwar Croatia during the early 21st century—the voice is deeply rooted there. The author's smart, cynical sociology and history, it turns out, are the story, not just part of it, and that makes what otherwise might be a bit of a shaggy dog story into an interesting portrait of a time and place, as well as its people. The pace is punky-pogo-y, there are drugs and sex and post-socialist ennui, but Perisic has the good sense not to take the feel-good way out. This was fun, and definitely worth a read—especially for a perspective you're not likely to get elsewhere. ( )

Our Man in Iraq wasn't quite what I had expected, in that I anticipated more focus on the war in Iraq and less emphasis on the daily life of Toni, the narrator, who remains in Croatia. I didn't really connect with or get into the story until around 3/4 of the way through the novel. It seemed like Toni's situation, as well as Perisic's humor, would be more understandable to those who have first-hand experience with recent Croatian history and contemporary life. The more absurd Toni's troubles got, however, the more I began to see how this could be both a poignant and a funny read. I ended up greatly enjoying the last 50 pages, so perhaps one of these days I should go back to the beginning of the book and read it in that light to see if it's improved.

Disclaimer: I received my copy of this book through GoodReads First Look in exchange for an honest review. ( )