Shadow Partisan - Softcover

"Children have no choice anywhere except in their heads," laments Anna, who narrates a bildungsroman set in post-WW II Yugoslavia. Anna's uneasy relationship with a mother who favors her younger brother, her yearning for an absent father and affinity for a grandmother, and her molestation by the family physician are familiar motifs in this genre. But playwright and actress Tesich apparently draws upon her own childhood experiences to limn an authentic, copiously detailed portrait of a backward Eastern European village in the first awkward throes of Communism. Anna's language is as raw and artless as her hamlet, whose progress is impeded by "reactionary" superstition, ignorance and poverty. There are poignant moments, such as when Anna's friends fatally mistake a grenade for a colorful toy. But as a baffled Anna preciously wonders, "Why are people mean. . . . Will I be like that when I grow up?" and "What shall I do later, what will I be?" her restless audience may wish for a swifter resolution to this repetitious and lengthy debut novel.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.