A review by huntingforagoodread
Complication by Fikret Pajalic

3.0

What initially attracted me to this book was that the author is Bosnian. I have a friend who is from Bosnia and I thought that, as part of my diversification challenge this year, I would read an author from Bosnia so I picked this book right up. Because it was a book of short stories, I was expecting it to be a little light and fluffy read. Oh boy, was I wrong.

Within the first five short stories, I was already messaging my friend, telling her that she needed to look this book up and read it. My brain was already running on overdrive and trying to classify all of the different social issues that I was seeing within the pages. From racism to discrimination to poverty and sexual assault, there is so much between each page.

But that’s not all there is. Even though bad things happen in the majority of these stories, our author gives us silver linings: Whether it’s the love of family, friendship, community, or even the love of a pet. 

My biggest take away from this book is that it really made me think and it really made me thankful to live where I live and to not have experienced the type of war and refugee situations that Bosnian refugees experienced in the 90s. 

There’s another book similar to it with more of a mental health rep from this authors wife. I’ll be looking that book up!