3, I think?

setting: Serbia
Rep: n/a

This is a strange, twisty, compelling little book that ultimately asks a lot of questions and answers none of them. I kept turning pages desperate for answers - what is going on?? - but then the book ends. literally out of nowhere. With no resolution. I don't know what to think! I do have a major gripe with the book's summary: it ends with the line "When two new manuscripts arrive at her doorstep, predicting even darker chapters to come, she realises the story is far from over" but this scene is literally the last one of the book??? why is it in the summary?? I'm torn because I enjoyed reading this and it brings up plenty of questions but in the end it goes nowhere. it feels as though there's 50-100 pages missing.

5 stars

Isaak Lazarevic, 58, is Serbia’s best known writer (and is being discussed for the Nobel.). He becomes involved in the government’s education initiative which goes horribly wrong and begins teaching a creative writing course at one of the capital’s premiere universities. One ordinary day he goes to class and shoots his ten students dead.

Afterward his former partner, journalist Jelena Busturk, is assigned the story, and given her relationship with Isaak, which ended horribly, her editor expects she will be able to go deeper and provide more insight than any other writer. What she discovers is more than anyone could imagine, not only about Isaak, but about herself. But what is real, what is the truth of Isaak? And as the country descends into chaos, will any sort of truth emerge?

I was absolutely enthralled by this twisty book, from its clever premise to its many layers (it was marred only by a too-abrupt ending, but I’m not sure what would have satisfied me, either.). The book makes profound statements on relationships, gun violence, reading and writing, both the love of, and the future of and where we, as a world, are going in this Internet age of short attention spans. There’s just so much here, and all in a compelling narrative. This may be my favorite read of the year so far, and I hope it reaches the audience it deserves. Highly recommended.