Slovenia was a toddler of a country when Erica Johnson arrived there in 1993 to marry her black-haired poet lover, Aleš Debeljak. Slovenia had only won its independence from Yugoslavia two years earlier; war still raged in Croatia and Bosnia to the south. What was she thinking?
Johnson Debeljak answers that question in Forbidden Bread, her engrossing memoir about abandoning the life of a Manhattan commercial banker to move to a nascent post-communist state where most people still grew their own cabbage and considered themselves lucky to have a tiny Soviet car to drive. She uses her own story as the backdrop for Slovenia’s story, with its tumultuous history and rich, poetry-filled culture.
From her battles with power-abusing bureaucrats, to worries about bombs falling on her wedding, to ethnic jokes and fussing in-laws, Johnson Debeljak provides layers of detail that let the reader really understand what it would be like to live in a land so foreign. This is arm-chair travel at its best – a trip to the true heart of a country.
NOTES
My review was first published in the Internet Review of Books. In addition to being a terrific book, reading this one allows my to scratch it off my LibraryThing Early Reviewer list.
OTHER REVIEWS
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(If you would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.) .
Oh my gosh, that is exactly the kind of book I love. It's going on my wish list!
ReplyDeletethis sounds like a good book...thanks for the review. i don't read too many memoirs.
ReplyDeleteI really like random memoirs about non-famous people. I like the whole slice-of-life, what-if, there-but-for-the-grace-of-God thing about them.
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting my website. I am so far behind on posting reviews I could just lock myself in a closet!
ReplyDeleteHere is the link for my review. I would be happy for you to add it to your list.
I thought it was a cute book. I read for LT Early Reviewers as well. Nice review.
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