Synopses & Reviews
The hardcover publication of
How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone launched Stanisic as an exciting and important new voice in literary fiction and earned exuberant praise from readers and critics alike. Now in paperback, Stanisics debut about a boy who experiences the Bosnian War and finds the secret to survival in language and stories is bound to dazzle a whole new readership.
For Aleksandar Krsmanovic, Grandpa Slavkos stories endow life in Višegrad with a kaleidoscopic brilliance. Neighbors, friends, and family past and present take on a mythic quality; the River Drina courses through town like the pulse of life itself. So when his grandfather dies suddenly, Aleksandar promises to carry on the tradition. But then soldiers invade Višegrad—a town previously unconscious of racial and religious divides—and its no longer important that Aleksandar is the best magician in the nonaligned states; suddenly it is important to have the right last name and to convince the soldiers that Asija, the Muslim girl who turns up in his apartment building, is his sister.
Alive with the magic of childhood, the surreality of war and exile, and the power of language, every page of this glittering novel thrums with the joy of storytelling.
Review
A bold, questing work of art.”
Los Angeles TimesFunny, heartbreaking, beautifully written.”The Seattle Times
Wildly inventive . . . It rages rough and broad and joyful.”San Francisco Chronicle
The magic of storytelling lies at the heart of Saša Stanišics sensational debut. . . . A book that will dominate the discourse on how children experience war for a long time to come.”Foreign Policy
Poignant and hauntingly beautiful.”The Village Voice
Will convert skeptics with the sheer force of its emotional power.”The Oregonian
An astonishing accomplishment . . . Enthralling, something you cant put down.”Deseret News (Salt Lake City)
Dazzling . . . A novel rich with experience and imagination.”Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
Powerful, vivid, and devastating, this novel captures the catastrophe of war through a child's eyes and shows how words have the ability to mend what is broken and resurrect what is lost.