Surviving against all odds...

Infidelities
by Josip Novakovich

---As Serb, Croat, and Bosnian Muslim armies clash in the cities and countryside of the former Yugoslavia, it's impossible to delineate the home front from the front lines. In "Ribs," a Croatian widow goes to desperate lengths to keep her son out of the army. A Buddhist soldier in the Bosnian Muslim military is falsely accused of being an enemy informer after his detachment ambushes itself in "Hail." A draft dodger is in the hospital for a transplant in "A Purple Heart," when a Croatian general steals the heart for himself. In "Spleen," a Bosnian émigré cannot find release from the haunting memories of her homeland.

The stories in Infidelities cover a broad sweep of time, from the first shots of World War I fired in Sarajevo to the plight of Balkan immigrants in contemporary America. Throughout, acts of compassion, dark humor, and even desire arise from a landscape devastated by tragedy.

This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.---

The above is reproduced from a blurb about this book. I didn't think I could improve upon it. But my favorite story in this collection is "Snow Powder," in which ten-year-old Mirko receives his first kiss, a surprise, from his dream girl, Bojana. She says "Now, no matter what happens in our lives, we'll always be the first, you know that? We'll never forget it." "Do you want to do it again?" he asks. "No, not today," she says."It's too early for the second kiss. That can wait for a year."

And that's OK with him. He's in heaven. Until a couple of days later, when he finds her engaged in a much more passionate kiss with one of his classmates. Afterward she walks by and says "You know what? We didn't do it right. We just lip-kissed. You got to tongue-kiss, deep French kiss, that counts.You just saw my first real kiss! It's wonderful, so much better than lip-kissing, you got to try it one day when you grow up."

So now he is destroyed. Meanwhile he has stumbled onto an enemy army concentration on the mountain above his village. After teasing him, they let him go. He should warn the village. Instead, humiliated by Bojana's betrayal, he takes another course.

Any man who has ever been victimized by a self-absorbed slut will understand this one.

Some of the best short stories I've read in years.

Josip Novakovich