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Sto caricando le informazioni... Little Bastards in Springtime: A Noveldi Katja Rudolph
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Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. This is an extremely powerful book, detailing the self-destruction and ultimate resurrection of a boy whose family and world are torn apart by war. The narrative is so strong that one experiences the utter despair that Jevrem succumbs to. The extreme nihilism that he resorts to becomes understandable as the only way to survive after losing family, country and home to war. Not an easy book to read, and in fact, the author is dedicated to promoting books that are uncomfortable, with her website www.bookrattle.com. This is her debut novel, and I'll be on the lookout for her next book! nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
Premi e riconoscimenti
Spring, 1992. Jevrem Andric is eleven years old and war is erupting in Sarajevo. As the shelling worsens, Jevrem's journalist father and teenaged brother join the Bosnian army. Jevrem, his sisters, his concert pianist mother and beloved grandmother move into the basement. Spring, 1997. Refugee life in Toronto is bleak, and 16-year-old Jevrem and his gang of Yugoslav friends are on a rampage: drinking, smoking weed, popping pills, breaking into houses. Survival means relying on your cunning in an indifferent world. Besides, they relish the adrenaline rush; it reminds them of home. Spring, 1998. After a year in remand, Jevrem has another three in juvenile detention ahead of him, once again trapped in cramped spaces. The only way to save his soul is to escape, and so he does. He hitches rides and as he makes his way west across America toward Los Angeles and his estranged uncle, he feels that it's a chance to leave the repeating patterns of the past behind. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
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Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyClassificazione LCVotoMedia:
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There is a lot in this book that is intense and gripping. It’s a visceral exploration of civil war and civil society from the point of view of a youth who cannot escape them, and Katja Rudolph gives the reader a textured sense of the reality. I could see what it’s like living under a siege, with little food and snipers shooting down the streets, as well as the drugged-up life of a deeply alienated kid in suburban Toronto or in jail. It’s pretty scary. Rudolph shows how people make foolish decisions, or get pushed into them, or get dragged along whether they decide or not. Even when motivated by the best intentions, in bad circumstances they make bad choices. Jevrem’s pacifist father feels he has to fight. Jevrem adopts bizarre ways to try to help people whom he thinks need his help.
In spite of the grim scenes, the book is a positive one. Jevrem’s mother and his sister find their own ways to cope, even if they appear a bit fragile. Jevrem launches himself on a long, complex journey to a better future, which ultimately seems to work out. This gets a bit mythical in the last part of the book, although it still seems to me to be well grounded in reality.
Rudolph makes a recurring theme of the stories people tell themselves, national and family stories and myths. Jevrem’s granny keeps retelling the stories of her life as a young Yugoslav partisan fighting the Nazis with Tito, and building the country after the war. Jevrem takes inspiration from her heroism and her victories. But her stories of surviving in the forest have parallels to Jevrem’s family starving in Sarajevo, and her building a railway while writing to her separated love sounds a bit like she’s in a forced labour camp. Her stories are idealized, justifying what she went through, although they, perhaps happily, give Jevrem the inspiration he needs to make himself a new life.
When I first read the novel, I was a bit disappointed in the ending – it seemed a bit too idealized as Jevrem is re-inspired to take a productive new role in his life. But on further thought, I realized that in fact the whole book is told from Jevrem’s point of view, and so is the ending. It is idealized because that’s how he sees it. His ending is a story that he is telling himself and if it keeps him going on a good path, that’s a good thing. If he finds out later that it’s not entirely realistic, perhaps he’ll find another story that will keep him going.
I liked this book quite a lot. It’s gritty and realistic, but it also raises questions about society, ranging from ideology and war to how we deal with children of war and refugees. One question that it raises for me is, what stories do we as Canadians tell ourselves about our values and our reality? Our national myths about our welcoming society and our supportive social systems have some gaping holes as Jevrem sees them. ( )