S.: A Novel about the Balkans

I have learned so much about the experience of many women caught up in war in this book. Slavenka Drakulic in her books has helped me better understand what life was like in the Soviet occupied countries and transition from that system for ordinary people

Not for the faint of heart.

This novel was recommended to me by my daughter, who had to read it in one of her womens' studies courses in college. Now, before that scares you off, this is a very engrossing read. I've recommended it to several of my friends and family members and they all agreed that it was a very good book. It really helped illuminate the real toll of the Balkins wars for me.

This book is prescient for any conflict that has been or to come. Drakulic shows things as they are and evokes our vicarious rage and then shows what it leads to and what it's good for and what we can choose instead. Without maybe intending to be, it is almost spiritual. What do you do when someone has been wronged, how will it help things, how will it change things.

What is the horrible feel and stink of rape, and the weight of shame no one sees or feels but the victim? Drakulac tells us.

A touching history, sad, painful. Still, the ways our psychic works and tries to take us towards light is incredible. Our strength is so impressive and we, as human beings, tend toward truth, positiveness. The bad things become only history as we move on and find ways to cope.

It is as gruesome as the truth can get. I thought the Nazis were dead then the Serbs upped the ante. Shameful criminals. Dreadful tale. Wonderful courage to tell it.

It is a sickening feeling reading each page knowing that this story really is the truth for many women. Very sad, yet incredibly brave to speak so detailed of unimaginable horror.