- Hardcover: 240 pages
- Publisher: Amacom (Mar 10 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0814401651
- ISBN-13: 978-0814401651
- Product Dimensions: 22.7 x 16 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 476 g
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#470,285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #41 in Books > History > Europe > Bosnia and Herzegovina
- #85 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Family & Childhood
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
"[T]his is a powerful book, which shows how difficult it is to make peace after such a conflict, not least peace among neighbours." --"Financial Times"
Product Description
In 1992, Savo Heleta was a young Serbian boy enjoying an idyllic, peaceful childhood in Gorazde, a primarily Muslim city in Bosnia. At the age of just thirteen, Savo's life was turned upside down as war broke out. When Bosnian Serbs attacked the city, Savo and his family became objects of suspicion overnight. Through the next two years, they endured treatment that no human being should ever be subjected to. Their lives were threatened, they were shot at, terrorised, put in a detention camp, starved and eventually stripped of everything they owned.But after two long years Savo and his family managed to escape. And then the real transformation took place. From his childhood before the war to his internment and eventual freedom, we follow Savo's emotional journey from a young teenager seeking retribution to a peaceseeking crusader seeking healing and reconciliation. At once powerful and elegiac, "Not My Turn to Die" offers a unique look at a conflict that continues to compel and enlighten us.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.9 out of 5 stars (34 customer reviews)
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing perspective which inspires introspection, Jun 1 2011
By MPLSben - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Not My Turn to Die: Memoirs of a Broken Childhood in Bosnia (Hardcover)
My parents tell me the same thing. "Don't take revenge. Don't stoop to their level." But never in my life has an experience justifiably sparked an all-consuming, searing desire to fiercely and mercilessly avenge myself. Savo Heleta has experienced such horror to warrant that vengeance.And he chooses his future over violently avenging his past. He listens to his father, the head of a remarkable family, and, by emerging a man of rare quality, proves to his readers that behaving hypocritically, acting monstrously and barbarously as his oppressors acted, would have been far more detrimental to him than to his potential victims.
In this war-torn tale of destruction and fear, akin to those of Ann Frank and Elie Wiesel, Heleta tells us of neighbors and friends who morphed into bitter enemies because a political system decided that segregation and ethnic cleansing would enrich their lives. Before the political upheaval, Bosnian citizens of Serbian, Muslim and Croatian descent generally coexisted peacefully and perhaps even blissfully; the envy of America. Perhaps the over-used cliche, "Birds of feather flock together", should be rescinded from public consciousness, because when the cliche was imposed, all hell broke loose. War. Death. Destruction. Horror. Fear.
The truly majestic strength of Savo's book put me to shame. Even in a life relatively painless, I, like so many others, search for the evil and blind myself to the good. Heleta's narrative, though horrific and more tense than Hollywood historical fiction dramas, counters savage terror with humanitarian altruism and God's interference. These simple affections and the "timely luck" inspire those who suffer to see God while those who have comparatively little reason to complain curse Him for the evils in their lives.
To paraphrase Heleta, the divide between ethnic groups are illusions. There are good, bad and indifferent people. I cherish his perspective and I am inspired by it. Perhaps we can learn a little more about how we treat these people from reading this book; the tale of a man whose integrity and character exemplifies the best in humanity.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Will find its place in any general-interest library., Sep 4 2008
By Midwest Book Review - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Not My Turn to Die: Memoirs of a Broken Childhood in Bosnia (Hardcover)
NOT MY TURN TO DIE: MEMOIRS OF A BROKEN CHILDHOOD IN BOSNIA tells of the author's struggle for life in 1996, just after the end of the Bosnia-Herzegovina war, when the then-17-year-old faced the man who had tried to kill his grandfather and terrorized his family during the war - a man who had been a former family friend. From his childhood pre-war to his internment, freedom, and eventual healing, NOT MY TURN TO DIE will find its place in any general-interest library.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Moving from war to peace-a young man shows us how to reconcile, July 24 2008
By M. Zukin - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Not My Turn to Die: Memoirs of a Broken Childhood in Bosnia (Hardcover)
The book was short, straight forward and profound. Almost like a long NYT or LA Times article, which reports and steers away from editorializing. Knowing what little I know of the Serbian/Bosnia Muslim war, I think one could have easily switched the nationalities as both groups foisted misery and atrocity on one another. Just like the American and Vietnam war...like any war. The main message I get from Savo was that in the context of war and armed conflict there are 1) very bad sadistic people, 2) very good, kind and brave people and 3) apathetic cowardly people. It is obvious that if there were many times more good people and less of the other two there would be less atrocity and murder. Let us hope the message of the book isn't muffled too much by the lingering hatred and distrust on both sides. Bravo Savo! You have restored the faith in your generation that you, collectively, have much to offer the world. From his book I get the message that we must counter hatred, revenge and murder with reconciliation and the brave heartedness that goes into doing so. More reasoning and forgiveness and fewer guns and killing will be the only pathway to more peace in the world.
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