Monday 17 February 2020

Stanišić, Saša "How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone"


Stanišić, Saša "How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone" (German: Wie der Soldat das Grammofon repariert) - 2006

I found this book a while ago and loved the title. Also, the story is taking place in Višegrad near the river Drina about which I read and loved the book "The Bridge on the Drina" by Ivo Andrić.

The author was born in Bosnia-Herzegovina, his family fled to Germany when he was a teenager. This story tells partly about his life before and after leaving his country. In the meantime, he has received several German book prizes for his literature which often reports about the war in Bosnia.

This novel is a semi-autobiographical one. The protagonist's life, Aleksandar Krsmanovic, mirrors that of the author, Saša Stanišić. The story is a little chaotic, jumps from one scene to a completely different one, sometimes comes back to it, sometimes just leaves it open. Thereby it shows how chaotic the life for a child in wartime has to be.

It wasn't an unpleasant read but I would have appreciated a little more consistency. I can ese why the author is so acclaimed, though.

From the back cover:

"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, Stanisic’s 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 Slavko’s 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 it’s 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."

3 comments:

  1. I took The Bridge on the Drina out from my library and was not able to get to it before it was due. I will try again. I have become more and more interested in Balkan authors while I am reading Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West.

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    1. I would definitely recommend to borrow it again, I've read it ages ago but I still remember it very well and love it. He only wrote that one book and received the Nobel Prize for Literature, I think that says it all.
      Enjoy.

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    2. And I haven't heard about Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, I'm sure it's quite interesting, as well.

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