Girl at War

Sara Novic

Little, Brown/Hachette

Otago Daily Times, July 11th 2015

In today’s media-saturated world, we are constantly bombarded by news of conflicts in many and disparate areas of the globe. But where a particular event may be resolved or displaced from the headlines (and consciousness) by a more topical conflagration, for the populations living in – or displaced from – the region concerned, the effects last far beyond the cessation of hostilities.

This is the sort of selective amnesia that Croatian-born Sara Novic seeks to redress in her debut novel, Girl at War, drawing on the experiences of family and friends to examine the emotional and physical toll of the Balkans war.

Its narrator, Ana Juric, is ten when the fighting reaches Zagreb, first in the form of news reports and the sudden appearance of a refugee camp in Trg and escalating into air raids, food shortages and the enlistment of able-bodied men into military service. But Ana and her friends quickly adapt to the changed circumstances, incorporating the street barricades into their games and switching from playing soccer to playing soldiers, and her family’s main concern is not the approaching conflict but Ana’s baby sister, Rahela, who is slowly dying of liver failure.

It is not until the child is evacuated to America for treatment that the war suddenly and violently makes itself felt, leaving Ana orphaned and quite literally fighting for her life. Eventually, she escapes to join her sister in the US, but a decade later she is still struggling with the memories of her childhood and the sense of rootlessness and dislocation that so many refugees feel. She cannot sleep without nightmares nor maintain intimate relationships, and realises she has to return to Croatia and face her past so she can reclaim her home and full identity.

The novel is in four parts, with war scenes alternating with those of the older Ana. This, and the use of an adult narrator looking back on events, rather than describing them directly in the child’s voice, distances the reader from the worst of the horror. I found myself more affected by the reactions of the young Ana herself – I desperately wanted to hold the mute, terrified girl in my arms – than by the events she describes.

What really struck me, however, were the underlying patterns of behaviour. Of particular relevance is the social and cultural ”othering” that is occurs in so may conflicts, both present and historical, and .allows neighbour to turn on neighbour. The Serbian living in Ana’s apartment building who turns on all his lights as soon as the air-raid sirens sound for example, or the summary execution of ordinary citizens for the crime of having the wrong name.

If we do not remember the past, we are doomed to repeat these patterns.Novic may be writing about a ”forgotten” war, but it is as important and relevant as those that lead the news today.

https://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/books/bringing-balkans-war-back-our-consciousness