A review by annietaber
Love Novel by Ivana Sajko

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow wow WOW I loved this book. Another book I wish I had written. The perfect late-stage capitalism (anti-)love story set against the 2008 financial crisis and Croatia’s accession to the EU. Tightly wrought, tense, darkly comic, and addictive. The perspective switching was so entrancing and natural that I didn’t even consciously realize it was happening until a few chapters in, and the repeated tropes were masterfully sprinkled about. I love reading about messed up, complicated relationships, and this was no exception. A perfect novel I think!!!! (And an excellent, natural-feeling translation)

Some favorite quotes I want to hang onto bc I read this in a library copy and can’t underline them: 

• “Because the neighbor’s heart is too small to have room for more than one Jesus” (24)
• “The last thing she needs is for someone to love her just as she is, at her worst, and he did it from the very start, loved her at her worst, applauded her with all his might” (26) 
• “Because he already had the whole novel in his head… all that had to be done was to store it away safely and unpack it somewhere quiet” (66) 
• “When the peeling walls of fiction cracked, and the shitty, fucked-up world burst in. With no poetry. With no humor. And no income” (96)