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... a mature work with the
snappish charm of youth. Falter
Unusual in plot and striking in style, this first novel by Olja Savičević casts a glance at a young and different Croatia which we have not yet seen through such an original prism. Deutschlandradio
Savičević
tells her story in highly poetic, sensual language aglow with
wondrously incandescent images. Berliner
Zeitung
… a wild ride
through the dusty streets of a coastal city in Dalmatia; clouds
of memories are stirred up and verbal hot lead fills the air.
The dust settles to reveal a subtle and cleverly crafted family
story, which revolves around a pervasive past waiting to be addressed.
Wortlandschaften
Dada represents the generation
which the war in ex-Yugoslavia has catapulted into a new future.
A future, in which redskins were suddenly no longer cooler than
the cowboys who had embodied the imperialist West. (...) Time
and again, Savičević's
hovering poetics come close to crash landing from the weight of
their metaphors, but her dry humour and the succinct descriptions
of tangible tragedy keep the story airborne... Die
Zeit online
...a book, in which a senstitive female mind reflects on her world. Süddeutsche Zeitung online
The young Croatian writer Olja Savičević recounts her full-on childhood and the acts of its heroes, delves into death and the pain it causes, writes about heat, war and the Wild West, which can actually be anywhere – and all this in a wonderfully direct and breathtakingly vulgar style. This mosaic of memories and the present, jottings and letters, makes a fascinating reading experience full of vivid impressions, sentimental truths and satirical insights into life in all its depravity. Blog Bücherwurmloch
Savičević strikes a raspy, direct and sometimes ribald tone – yet can switch abruptly to a language full of poetry. (...) Her idiosyncratic debut novel is well worth reading. Kulturtipp
Olja
Savičević has written a modern novel that is youthful in spirit and truly
international. In a nutshell: "Adios Cowboy" is not the kind of
book that is published every day in Britain or America. Globus
Olja Savičević, a Croatian poet who three years ago published her first short stories in German, enchants now with this novel. „Goodbye Cowboy“ is a farewell to childhood and farewell to a brother. Wonderful! Weltexpress
The novel thrives on its
language - rich in imagery and unswervingly direct - which makes
it fun to read. Leipziger Internet Zeitung
The beauty and force of this
novel come not from big topics per se but from the way Olja Savičević
binds them into her writing, i.e. by using the only credible form
of textualisation: the subjective narrative of the main heroine.
This young woman, a horseless cowgirl who roams the suburban wilds
on a rickety motor scooter, conveys an image of Dalmatia as it
will probably never be - not a tacky, postcard Mediterranean but
one incomparably spicier and livelier, and at the same time harsher
and more painful. The author crafts this image intricately, word
for word, creating fragmented scenes carefully melded into prose
that meanders for pages like poetry. Vijenac
Olja's
boldly poetic style is striking. Her authentic and powerful lyricism
rounds off images, hones emphasis and heightens the atmosphere.
This poeticness is intertwined with vibrant wit in approaching
even the bleakest of motifs and myths. (...) This book is a tour
de force demonstrating her virtuoso elasticity of expression.
She weaves this magic in magnificent language shaped perfectly
to fit everything she invents and imagines - it is truly her willing
servant. Umag City Library
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