How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone [Paperback]

Sasa Stanisic (Author), Anthea Bell (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 6, 2009

The hardcover publication ofHow the Soldier Repairs the Gramophonelaunched Stanisic as an exciting and important new voice in literary fiction and earned exuberant praise from readers and critics alike. Now in paperback, Stanisic’s debut about a boy who experiences the Bosnian War and finds the secret to survival in language and stories is bound to dazzle a whole new readership.
For Aleksandar Krsmanovic, Grandpa Slavko’s stories endow life in Višegrad with a kaleidoscopic brilliance. Neighbors, friends, and family past and present take on a mythic quality; the River Drina courses through town like the pulse of life itself. So when his grandfather dies suddenly, Aleksandar promises to carry on the tradition. But then soldiers invade Višegrad—a town previously unconscious of racial and religious divides—and it’s no longer important that Aleksandar is the best magician in the nonaligned states; suddenly it is important to have the right last name and to convince the soldiers that Asija, the Muslim girl who turns up in his apartment building, is his sister.
Alive with the magic of childhood, the surreality of war and exile, and the power of language, every page of this glittering novel thrums with the joy of storytelling.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Stanisic's debut novel is the moving story of a young Bosnian refugee named Aleksandar Krsmanovic. Aleksandar is the apple of his family's eye, but his sheltered childhood ends when ethnic wars brewing in the surrounding republics make their way to his hometown in the spring of 1992. As Serbian troops storm the village, Aleksandar's family hides, but nowhere is safe. The violence forces the family to Germany, where they struggle to adjust to their new lives as refugees. In the depths of their despair, Aleksandar's grandmother makes him promise to "remember when everything was all right and the time when nothing's all right." Aleksandar keeps his word, and the memories pour out of him like a river. The author organizes Aleksandar's recollections as a stream of consciousness, operating on no distinct linear time line and often stopping one story and starting another in the same breath. It is difficult to keep up with this frantic pace, but it pays to be patient because a remarkable life's journey unfolds. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“A bold, questing work of art.”—Los Angeles Times

“Funny, heartbreaking, beautifully written.”—The Seattle Times

“Wildly inventive . . . It rages rough and broad and joyful.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“The magic of storytelling lies at the heart of Saša Stanišic’s sensational debut. . . . A book that will dominate the discourse on how children experience war for a long time to come.”—Foreign Policy

“Poignant and hauntingly beautiful.”—The Village Voice

“Will convert skeptics with the sheer force of its emotional power.”—The Oregonian

“An astonishing accomplishment . . . Enthralling, something you can’t put down.”—Deseret News(Salt Lake City)

“Dazzling . . . A novel rich with experience and imagination.”—Kirkus Reviews

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press; First Trade Paper Edition edition (May 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802144225
• ISBN-13: 978-0802144225
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,339,131 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars awe, May 31, 2008

By 

Arienette Cervantes - See all my reviews

This review is from: How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone (Hardcover)

I picked up this novel after attempting (and then giving up on) a couple of others that I felt I was wasting my time on. I wanted to read a valuable book...and then I found one.

This starts out happy. And then it gets a little bleak. And then it comes together in a manic fit of emotion.

This is Aleksandar's documented memory and it provides so much insight to his shattered world. At times, we are as disillusioned as he is-but then he enlightens us with his deft storytelling... His sporadic thoughts...

"If I were a magician who could make things possible, I'd have lemonade always tasting as it did on the evening Francesco explained how right it was for the Italian moon to be a feminine moon. If I were a magician who could make things possible, we'd be able to understand all languages every evening between eight and nine. If I were a magician who could make things possible, all dams would keep their promises. If I were a magician who could make things possible, we'd be really brave."

Sasa Stanisic is a truly innovative author. This was spectacular.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a firecracker!, June 22, 2008

By 

Dragana Djordjevic-Laky - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone (Hardcover)

Whether the term "migrant literature" is justified in its existence is a question that is, hm, existential. Sasa Stanisic may not think it is, but whatever the theoretical basis, DO READ this book, please! Even if you think you've read about all the semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tales sparkling with magic realism, pop-culture, wayward tragicomedy and lyrical interludes you can take, read it. In the author's adopted home country of Germany, it's a much publicized fact that he came as a refugee from Visegrad, Bosnia-Hercegovina (engraved in literature by 1961 Nobel Prize Winner Ivo Andric) at age 14 without speaking a word of German but started publishing to great success years ago and pulled off this poetic, inventive masterpiece when he was all of twice that age.

Anthea Bell's translation is certainly competent, though occasionally she doesn't quite hit the offbeat tone. But, in fairness, that's tough to do. Even in the original there are chapters where it takes pages to grasp what's going on, and I strongly hope that readers will apply some patience where necessary, because it will be rewarded. The most poignant example is the tour-de-force chapter (too long to quote) between pages 256 and 276 about a soccer game between warring factions turned bloody, which is based on a true event.

So why should American readers care about mental pole vaults on a part of the world with rituals, wars and sports they may not understand? Because the book makes a mark. Clever? For sure. Think Jonathan Safran Foer getting drunk with Gary Shteyngart, and I said this before I saw that the latter threw in his praise on the back flap. Biased reviewer? Maybe, though only to the extent that I hold writers whose vita bears any resemblance to mine to a higher standard. But find out for yourself.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my fav reads of the year, August 28, 2008

By 

ash (Phoenix) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone (Hardcover)

I well remember the frustration I felt when I would sit and listen to the news about the war in Bosnia, about the snipers, the mass killings, the ethnic cleansing (I hate that term), and the destruction of the beautiful city of Sarajevo. I was hoping, young that I was, that the world would set this all straight. Boy was that bubble burst in an instant.

This book brings all of that back. With a staccato almost like a machine gun, he lets the memories of the war, and the time before, shoot the reader. Its a heartbreaking book about a heartbreaking war, but it could be about any war, any time, anywhere.

Caveat - his writing style is not for everyone. Some people may find the twists, turns and cloverleafs a bit daunting. There were times I had to put it down and read something else for a bit to get my balance. Others might be put off by the stream of consciousness. My suggestion to you is to just read and not worry about the style. I know for me, despite some confusion here and there, the time spend was well worth it!