Yolk [Paperback]

Josip Novakovich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1995

Yolk is a reflective and sometimes bizarre collection of stories by Croat writer-in-exile Josip Novakovich. Incorporating themes of unrequited love, obsession, war, faith, displacement, and death rituals, Novakovich's singular style reveals his affection for paradox and absurdity. Set primarily in Eastern Europe, these folktales also display Novakovich's unique social critique and dry wit. But more than the topicality gives the work its weight: the characters in Yolk touch on the universals of human experience-- the sublime as well as the base. The stories carry an odd notion of decay and infirmity, sexual peculiarity, and disturbed characters, all under the guise of a "once upon a time" innocence.

Many readers were recently introduced to Novakovich with Graywolf's publication of Apricots from Chernobyl, a collection of spirited narratives that the Hungry Mind Review called "a terrific achievement ... a celebration of life."

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Novakovich (Apricots from Chernobyl, Graywolf Pr., 1995), an award-winning author and teacher at the University of Cincinnati, left Croatia quite some time ago. Neither his achievements nor the well-deserved praise from authors such as Annie Dillard and Toby Olsen have gone to his head or otherwise marred the excellent quality of his writing. Novakovich is witty and tight, and he employs a folkloric tone for stylistic cover. The stories in Yolk send the reader through the core of the former Yugoslavia in a way that broadcast media never will. More than the chest is bared here?we get to see the heart. There are few happy endings, yet the author is no whiner. Instead, he shows us the rugged terrain of life as it is experienced by the average person, both before and during the current struggle in the Balkans. As with good folklore, we are led to water; it is up to us to drink the wisdom. Please do!?Susan M. Olcott, Columbus Metropolitan Lib., Ohio
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Novakovich, a native of Croatia who migrated to the U.S. at age 20, offers his second collection of stories to be published this year, following Apricots from Chernobyl. In prose that evokes a pervasive sadness punctuated by sudden violence, Novakovich wrestles with varieties of alienation: loneliness, unpopular spirituality, the psychological dissociation of the emigre, and generational misunderstanding. In "Dresden," for example, a man rejects his father for the father's Nazi past and is in turn rejected by his own son for his earlier Communist sympathies. Some of the stories deal with the current war in the Balkans: "Honey in the Carcase" tells of an old man who tries to keep his beehives functioning near a battleground, while, in "Hats and Veils," a previously secularized Muslim refugee from Croatia embraces conservative Islam upon moving to Vienna, wearing the veil when she ventures out of her home. These stories can be difficult to read because the emotions are so raw and so visible, but the power of the writing is undeniable. George Needham

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Graywolf Press (September 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555972292
• ISBN-13: 978-1555972295
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,596,020 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars funny as hell, November 14, 2005

By 

Scott Anderson (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Yolk (Paperback)

Anybody who has a poor assessment of this book must not have a funny bone in their body. Many of these stories, I have to say, for me, don't really pan out to be what I expect from "traditional" stories. They read almost like stand-up routines. Still, I was laughing so hard that I quickly set aside these kinds of expectations and just had fun with it. These are highly inventive, quirky stories, and, somehow, they still manage to be seeringly honest about such serious topics as politics and religion. In his later books, Novakovich does handle the structual "story" aspect (which he definitely knows how to do) a little better, while keeping the humor intact. But you won't necessarily find all these jokes in his later stuff, either. If you want, read his later stuff first, then come back to this one. But if Novakovich's humor, imagination, and insight happen to strike you half as much as they strike me, I wouldn't pass this one up.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One story is worth the whole book, July 29, 2010

By 

F. France - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yolk (Paperback)

I'm ordering this book because I fell in love with the story "Apple" which appeared in a book on turning life into fiction by Robin Hemley, the Univ of Iowa Creative Nonfiction guy.

I found this story so touching, so beautifully woven, that I think it will always be among my very very favorites. The word "poignant" is overused, yet this was the very definition. I love how he weaves resonant images throughout the story, and I'm astonished that this story isn't anthologized all over the place. In its innocence and lack of judgment, such a relief from the brand-name dropping junk that so much American fiction has fallen to.

1 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Stories From the Former Yugoslavia, July 31, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Yolk (Paperback)

The gentle fables in Josip Novakovich's collection occassionally work, but mostly fall flat. Most of the stories reach trite conclusions and plod along. Besides the exotic locale---the former Yugoslavia---most of the people are dull. The recent ethnic conflicts serve as a constant subtext, but is never addressed successfully. The few gems in the book ("The Address", "Petrol and Chocolate", and "The Eye of God") display a charming sense of cultural displacement and near surreal occurences, where American culture serves as a common denominator and everyone dreams of heading West. But these gems are few and far between. Most of the work is safe and unchallenging, the types of stories literary journals love (most of the pieces appeared in respected little magazines). It's interesting that English isn't Novakovich's native language. Whereas Nabokov stretched and revealed English, Novakovich has a more subtle approach that's unengaging.