A review by faintgirl
The Museum of Unconditional Surrender by Dubravka Ugrešić

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.