Girl at War
Ratings23
Average rating4.2
This was very well done. One of my favorites book read during this Books around the world challenge. Good job of capturing emotion while also telling the story of a complicated war.
Croatia book around the world.
This is the story of a young Croatian girl, Ana, growing up in the time of the Yugoslavian Wars. She, her parents, and her infant sister, Rahela, live in Zagreb where tensions are rising between Serbs and Croats, where there are shortages of food and clean water, and where there are regular air raids and bombings. Although these things are scary and stressful, Ana has her family and her best friend Luka with her, so she has a basic sense of security. Rahela, the baby, is sick, though, and all the medical treatments they have tried with doctors in Zagreb have not helped, so the family decides to take her to an organization in Sarajevo that can help. On this trip, everything falls apart for Ana, and she spends the rest of the book trying to put her life back together.
The story is written in the first person, from Ana's point of view, which gives it a feeling of intimacy and immediacy. Ana's voice is self aware, a little bit cynical about people's motivations and their ability to take in the pain of strangers (justifiably so, given her experiences). In some ways she sounds like a normal, somewhat disaffected young adult, but her experiences are not normal.
We learn about Ana's experiences out of chronological order, with childhood war experiences alternating with post-war college years in which she is struggling to relate to others and feel connected. I had questions that weren't answered immediately, but I was able to trust that the story would tell me what I needed to know and in fact, most of my questions were eventually answered.
I recommend this book, but be forewarned: it will hurt your heart.
I think I would have preferred to read this in order of what happened. It was an eye opener of what life would be like for a child growing up close to a war zone. Would have liked to know if she found Marina. The book kind of just ended abruptly in my opinion.
Ana is 10 years old when her country Croatia, in seeking independence from Yugoslavia, succumbs to civil war. Childhood games are replaced with the harsh new realities of air strikes, and enemy patrols and child soldiering. Through outside help, she and her younger sister manage to escape the war atrocities and are adopted by an American couple. 10 years later Ana is now a student in New York City, grappling with her complicated past. She decides she needs to visit, to locate the people she left behind, and to visit places of her childhood, that despite all the horror she had to experience, still hold a part of her.
Touching, in how it tells the story of the breakout of war through the eyes of a child, and in how it communicates ones feelings for family, home, and home country. The relationship between best childhood friends Ana and Luka was precious, and also resolved (left-open) in a rewarding way.
When the book opens we're introduced to ten-year old Ana Juric playing in the streets of Zagreb. But when civil war breaks out the realities of her life change. But we're still seeing it through the eyes of a young girl. Fairytales and football shattered in a gut-punch of a moment. Stories continue to have an influence on Ana and we see her struggle to define hers. Quietly compelling and beautifully done.