Overview
Quiet Flows the Una is the story a man trying to overcome the personal trauma caused by the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The book covers three time periods, taking in the hero's childhood before the war, the battle lines during the war, and his attempt to continue with normal life in a post-conflict society. Through his meditative prose, Sehic attempts to reconstruct the life of a man who is bipolar in nature; being both a veteran and a poet. At times, he manages to pick up the pieces of his life, but at other times it escapes him. His memories of the recent war and the killings are ""dirty and disgusting"", while he views his present as humdrum and his identity feels incomplete. With the help of his memories, he uses his mind and strength to look for a way out of the maze in which he is confined, acting as both archivist and chronicler of the past - roles that allow him the opportunity to rebuild everything again. In parallel to this story, the book's passages on the city next to the river Una take on mythical and dreamlike dimensions.Here, the novel expands into a poetic description of nature, seasons, flora and fauna, as well as childhood memories not yet tainted by all that will happen after 1992. The book is dedicated to people who believe in the power and beauty of life in the face of death and mass destruction.
Full Product Details
Author: Faruk Sehic
Publisher: Istros Books
Imprint: Istros Books
Dimensions:
Width: 12.90cm
, Height: 1.10cm
, Length: 19.80cm
Weight: 0.198kg
ISBN: 9781908236494
ISBN 10: 1908236493
Pages: 200
Publication Date: 21 March 2016
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
Sehic's compressed, hypnotic intensity is closest to Tim O'Brien's Vietnam war novel The Things They Carried. Quiet Flows the Una brands the reader with the same brilliant heat. --Guardian Quiet Flows the Una is heartfelt, important and rich in the ambivalence as well as insights an insider brings in explaining the horrors of war. --Irish Times
"""Sehic's compressed, hypnotic intensity is closest to Tim O'Brien's Vietnam war novel The Things They Carried. Quiet Flows the Una brands the reader with the same brilliant heat."" --Guardian ""Quiet Flows the Una is heartfelt, important and rich in the ambivalence as well as insights an insider brings in explaining the horrors of war."" --Irish Times"
ehic s compressed, hypnotic intensity is closest to Tim O Brien s Vietnam war novel The Things They Carried. Quiet Flows the Una brands the reader with the same brilliant heat. Guardian
Author Information
Until the outbreak of war in 1992, Faruk Šehić studied veterinary medicine in Zagreb. However, the then 22-year-old voluntarily joined the army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which he led a unit of 130 men. After the war he studied literature and has gone on to create his own literary works. Literary critics have hailed Šehić as the leader of the ‘mangled generation’ of writers born in 1970s Yugoslavia, and his books have achieved cult status with readers across the whole region. His debut novel Quiet Flows the Una (Knjiga o Uni, 2011) received the Meša Selimović prize for the best novel published in the region, and also the EU Prize for Literature in 2013. His most recent book is a collection of poetry entitled My Rivers (Moje rijeke, Buybook, 2014). Šehić lives in Sarajevo and works as a columnist and journalist.
