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ursulamonarch's review
I was a bit disappointed in myself that I couldn't make heads or tails of this book, but I did give it a solid try!
kiminohon's review
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
amerynth's review against another edition
4.0
How can you not love a book that begins like "The Museum of Unconditional Surrender?" It starts off inventorying the contents of the stomach of a dead Berlin Zoo walrus... a baby's shoe, keys, lollypops sticks, a knife... a list of wholly separate things but linked together by a common thread of being swallowed by the appetite of a zoo animal.
Like the walrus, Dubravka Ugresic's (semi-autobiographical, one supposes) novel brings together a series of nostalgic stories that evoke an exile's wanderings away from a Yugoslavia that no longer exists.
True or not, the stories are beautifully written in a variety of styles.... almost poetic... I found myself frequently returning to reread a short paragraph that concisely said so much about the loneliness of immigration.
Overall, a lovely novel... quite glad to have read this one.
Like the walrus, Dubravka Ugresic's (semi-autobiographical, one supposes) novel brings together a series of nostalgic stories that evoke an exile's wanderings away from a Yugoslavia that no longer exists.
True or not, the stories are beautifully written in a variety of styles.... almost poetic... I found myself frequently returning to reread a short paragraph that concisely said so much about the loneliness of immigration.
Overall, a lovely novel... quite glad to have read this one.
rumaysa0_0's review
5.0
Ugrešić is known for her literature of exile, depicting life after the dissolution of her home in former Yugoslavia. However, the scope of this book reaches far beyond the confines of a diasporic novel. Ugrešić, with her many postmodern quips (disjointed styles, fragmented narrative), captures life and memory in a far more convincing verisimilitude than any Realist novels I've read. Through items in the stomach of walrus, a mother's pigskin bag, pebbles, stones and yellowing photographs, we observe intimately the history of a person, a place and a broken country. This was even better on a reread.
"A photograph is a reduction of the endless and unmanageable world to a little rectangle. A photograph is our measure of the world. A photograph is also a memory. Remembering means reducing the world to little rectangles."
"I had lost my homeland. I had not yet got used to the loss, not to the fact that my homeland was the same, but different. In just one year I had lost my home, my friends, my job, the possibility of returning soon, but also the desire to return."
"A photograph is a reduction of the endless and unmanageable world to a little rectangle. A photograph is our measure of the world. A photograph is also a memory. Remembering means reducing the world to little rectangles."
"I had lost my homeland. I had not yet got used to the loss, not to the fact that my homeland was the same, but different. In just one year I had lost my home, my friends, my job, the possibility of returning soon, but also the desire to return."
cyberbosanka's review against another edition
4.0
Nije ovo knjiga koju bi čovjek mogao prepričati, niti ukratko reći o čemu je jer nema radnju ili red. Ali je odlična i prosto sam je progurala u par dana. Sve su to djelići razmišljanja, autobiografskih crtica, osvrti na razne stvari i zajedno je kao jedan mozaik sjećanja veoma zanimljivo ispričan.
sperdut_a's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
faintgirl's review
3.0
Despite the horrifying title, The Museum of Unconditional Surrender is not as doom laden as it may seem. A series of vignettes about the experience of being an exile, many are simple observations of everyday humanity, with war and refuge as a back up to a more human subplot. Ugrešić was born in the former Yugoslavia, and left the country in 1993 having taken an anti war stance as the country fought for independence. Despite this potential for bitterness, she describes her homeland with a mix of nostalgia and regret, and her following life as one of personal exploration, but never quite belonging. In places the stories are beautiful, in places they are tiny snapsnots of a larger moment, and in the odd place they go a bit bonkers and I wasn't really sure about them (the Angel story).
I'm still not really sure about the walrus - the seemingly random items in his stomach reflect the seemingly random mix of stories that make up a life? Drawn together by wobbly lines and history? Whatever, I enjoyed this far more than I expected to, and am torn between a 3 and a 4.
I'm still not really sure about the walrus - the seemingly random items in his stomach reflect the seemingly random mix of stories that make up a life? Drawn together by wobbly lines and history? Whatever, I enjoyed this far more than I expected to, and am torn between a 3 and a 4.