Tag Archives: April Fool’s Day

“The outside was ceasing to be.  After some quiet, clumps showered his casket.  They bumped against the wood, first loudly and then more and more softly, as the earth thickened above him.  Then only a dull thudding of shoveled soil, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

“The candles glimmered.  His visual screen was changing through all the nuances of brown, nuances of the soil out of which he was made, and it seemed that the art of dying, in dusty pastel hues, was being enacted right … Continue reading → Continue reading →

"One white wintry day, a green mufflerless truck dropped Milan Dolinar off at home, maimed.  Milan carried his severed arm and leg in a potato sack, because he had heard that science could put his limbs back on.  After several … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I have pretty much been brought to task by Mark and Steve to provide more in depth disclosures of my readings than I have been delivering here.  While my interest in reading and writing about my reading has been under … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Just about finished with this, but wanted to write down some notes on both story and technique as well as content. As I’ve said, Josip Novakovich’s style is crisp to the point of bluntness in bringing Ivan Dolinar from youth … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I’m over halfway through this Josip Novakovich novel and the protagonist Ivan has been through a hell that Novakovich has presented in a colorful and deeply intimate telling of war that reminds me somewhat of Cormac McCarthy’s hard-hitting realism.  What … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Ah, after controlled prosaic and refreshing bluntness in his story, Josip Novakovich gives us some wonderful poetry: "In the morning, loud rain knocked many yellow leaves off beeches and oaks.  Drops hit the mud, splashing it.  The wetness carried the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Listen to this: "Ivan stood close to the tracks, elbowing an old man with medals and a  woman smelling of garlic, with silver teeth and silvery eyes; everything looked silvery to Ivan through his tears.  He surprised himself; he had … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I am finding Novakovich’s first novel very enjoyable.  The language is not high imagery, yet there is enough description to put the necessary grounding base, although a constantly moving one, beneath the feet of the main character, Ivan Dolinar.  Ivan, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I have been anxious to open up this one by Josip Novakovich that I picked up at the Wesleyan Conference, and am quite impressed by just the first chapter. The book itself physically impresses me because as a framer of … Continue reading → Continue reading →