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My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci

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kukkaruukku's review against another edition

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dark hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

andy_acid's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

The book became much more coherent and smooth after the initial awkwardness. Upon closer inspection, the book also employs a lot of symbolism, not to mention it strongly exudes allegory. Although,

I must say, his portrayal of the homophobic cat-man (?) hanging around in gay bars seems highly suspicious. Also, the mother's story and the son's story don't really complement each other thematically. I was also unconvinced why the protagonist would think about his father so much after his death, given their disconnected relationship for ages, and his father not being involved with him and his siblings for a long time.

matmatmatty's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

This is a bit of a strange book, I do need to start with that.

But the stories that it tells are so important.

This covers a wide variety of topics - gender expectations/roles, racism and xenophobia, war and the ways it can change lives, toxic relationships both romantic and familial, and tonnes more. And from the perspective of two different people - a mother and her son.

I loved the character of Emine - there were points where my heart bled for her and I wanted to jump into the story and save her. Her story, from growing up as a young girl with her father, to living alone in Finland and slowly but surely rebuilding her life the way she wants, it is wonderful to see.

Bekim, on the other hand, was very different. Some of his actions confused me (but I imagine there were a few metaphors that went over my head and potentially some context that I'm missing) but overall I could relate to him - as a person of colour who grew up in the UK, I experienced a lot of what he did. I just had the fact I was born here to protect him, which he didn't.

If you are a fan of complex stories, I would absolutely recommend this (but absolutely check out the TW, One scene in particular made me needing to take a break from listening to this.)

Content Warnings