As with most of my reads, MISS EX-YUGOSLAVIA first caught my
attention with its striking yellow cover. The description made me chuckle with
its balance of humour and vulnerability, and then I noticed a blurb from Jenny
Lawson and I was all: yes I need to read this. So...well...I did, and now I'm going to rave about it. *jazz hands*
The book description, from Goodreads:
Sofija Stefanovic makes the first of many awkward entrances in 1982, when she is born in Belgrade, the capital of socialist Yugoslavia. The circumstances of her birth (a blackout, gasoline shortages, bickering parents) don’t exactly get her off to a running start. While around her, ethnic tensions are stoked by totalitarian leaders with violent agendas, Stefanovic's early life is filled with Yugo rock, inadvisable crushes, and the quirky ups and downs of life in a socialist state.
As the political situation grows more dire, the Stefanovics travel back and forth between faraway, peaceful Australia, where they can’t seem to fit in, and their turbulent homeland, which they can’t seem to shake. Meanwhile, Yugoslavia collapses into the bloodiest European conflict in recent history.
Featuring warlords and beauty queens, tiger cubs and Baby-Sitters Clubs, Sofija Stefanovic’s memoir is a window to a complicated culture that she both cherishes and resents. Revealing war and immigration from the crucial viewpoint of women and children, Stefanovic chronicles her own coming-of-age, both as a woman and as an artist who yearns to take control of her own story. Refreshingly candid, poignant, and illuminating, Miss Ex-Yugoslavia introduces a vital new voice to the immigrant narrative.
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First and foremost, Sofija Stefanovic is a storyteller. She doesn’t
just deliver a series of informative points like a tedious power point
presentation (which is how some memoirs read in my opinion). Instead, it felt like she invited me to
sit in a comfortable chair, handed me a cocktail, and then proceeded to chat my ear off. (Yay!) From
early on, Stefanovic demonstrated her comfort with being the punchline (a comfort we share, to be honest) and there were times I laughed so hard that my husband
had to check on me because he feared I’d pass out.
Cover design and illustration by Payton Turner
The most striking chapters for me described Stefanovic’s return to
Yugoslavia after living in Australia for two (very impactful) years. The contrast
at that point, having lived in both a socialist and democratic country, granted
her a wider perspective. The bad news is that perspective reinforced her
feeling of otherness. First, she was the other
in Australia, and then she became other
in a place that was supposed to be her home. Brutal. Another bounce back to Australia after increasing political upheaval didn’t
help matters, and then her family entered a pretty black time.
Big thanks to Atria Books for an ARC!
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For this mani, I used:
FingerPaints – Paper Mâché and Black Expressionism
OPI – My Twin Mimmy, A Good Man-Darin Is Hard To Find, Charged Up Cherry, Dating a Royal, and Stay Off the Lawn!
Glisten and Glow – topcoat
So Nailicious – needle, warrior, and slayer brushes