From Publishers Weekly
While Macedonia (part of the former Yugoslavia) is always present in Jovanovski's writing, this collection of short stories could be from almost any rural area of Eastern Europe under totalitarian rule. The story of a musician torn between his mystical love for music and death is reminiscent of old Jewish folktales. Dostoyevski provides the literary roots of the tale about what happens when an authority figure arrives and upsets a strict (in this case Communist) social structure. An explication of how a person loses his horror of killing deals effectively with the ability of Communism to dehumanize and make co-conspirators of us all. An old rural woman's retelling of her trip to America is farcical yet poignant, demonstrating both the wisdom and ignorance that come from a lifetime of limited experience. Yet despite an ability to imbue the mundane with significance and a style that hints at the surrealistic, Jovanovski ( Cousins ) ultimately disappoints, bringing few new insights to the literary discussion of the Balkans' plight. The universality of his themes, such as the yearning for freedom and social climbing, renders the stories accessible yet also makes them feel like old news.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
