Monday 14 November 2016

THOUGHTS & GIRL AT WAR BY SARA NOVIĆ


Blogging is something that seems to come in fits and bursts with me.  It is something that I wish I was more consistent with but at the moment that seems futile.  The more I try and lay down plans and  targets with publishing posts and the such like, the more overwhelming I find it and the more sporadic the posting becomes.

Go figure...*eye roll*

And this has happened again and the longer the break became the more pressure I felt for the next post to be ultimately amazing and more editorial.  But at the end of the day that is not how my blog is and although I love reading those blogs and they make me feel so inspired that is not my bag over here and that is ok.

So I am back basically with a book review because I love reading and I hope some of you do to.  




This book focuses on the Bosnian-Croat war particularly from the point of view of a Croat child experiencing its devastating effects first hand.

The book is a split between Ana's experiences of her childhood and then her current life in America and the after effects of the trauma she has suffered.  

To be honest I ams till in two minds about what I think about this novel.

On the one hand the book was easy to read due to its "simple"prose and its interesting subject matter. The plot seemed to run along quickly and easily especially in the parts of the book based in Croatia.

However at the same time the book felt quite unfinished in some respects.

I felt like the characters were not properly fleshed out and with the war being such an interesting centre piece of the novel I felt like it was not given the detail and depth that would have made this book stand out even further.  

This feeling was also present in some of the real poignant moments of the book.  These special moments seemed almost rushed and if more time had been given to exploring  these moments I think a real depth would have been added to the book.  The part of the story in America I think really epitomised this and as a result at times it seemed rather cliche and lazy. 

However maybe I missed the purpose the author had in this part of the book: I think throughout the authors purpose is not clear, is the book supposed to be informative or merely a tale to entertain?

This makes it sound like I didn't enjoy the book when really I did.  I just think there was so much potential for further exploration and detail that sadly didn't materialise.  But I would definitely recommend the book as it is very enjoyable and I look forward to reading Sara Nović's next book for comparison.  

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