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annemaries_shelves's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I liked it but I feel a little off-kilter having finished the novel.
The Ministry of Pain is a novel of tensions of the former Yugoslavia through those who have been exiled and are now scattered as refugees across Europe. Ugrešić hyperfocuses on language, memory, and pain to explore those who want to forget and those who can't forget; those who remained and those who left (the only moment of triumph being that point of departure); those who can form connections and those who struggle to exist in reality; and the liminal and ever-changing space of Yugonostalgia.
The power of nostalgia as both a political and community tool was one of the strongest points of the novel. Ugrešić delved into its impacts on the individual, the interpersonal, and the community (to a lesser extent, the political system) and how this desire to selectively remember impacts your ability to remain in the present, look to the future, or connect with those around you who may share similar experiences but have very different approaches to the past.
Tanja at times has a bit of an unreliable narrator hue to her - her desperate desire to remember the past and reconcile all of the changes that have occurred to 'our language' and 'our home' perpetrated by 'our people' causes her to make questionable decisions and form ill-advised bonds with her students, many of whom have also escaped or otherwise been exiled from the former Yugoslavia. Setting the novel in Amsterdam made for an interesting contrast to Zagreb with respect to cultural differences, isolation, and the experience of having no true home in either region.
As the novel progressed into the final part and the classroom framing device is removed, Tanja felt like a shadow of herself as the author more directly discusses the book's themes with the reader. I felt like this choice stalled our main character's presence and growth in the final 50 pages unfortunately.
I also didn't love the penultimate interaction (or final one tbh) between Igor and Tanja. I think the author made some pointed and ultimately effective choices as Tanja is in many ways unknowable to both herself and the reader. But to me, Tanja's reactions were irritating (to say nothing of how Igor acted). I did appreciate the callback to the bullet though.
I think ultimately this novel was a processing of the emotions and grief of being in exile/a refugee from a situation that the international community didn't care about soon enough. There's some really poignant passages about grief and how time heals or at least scars over the pain that I think a lot of people can relate to.
Overall, I appreciate novels like this as I don't know much about the former Yugoslavia or the experiences of those left to survive in the settling of the dust. If you like more literary writing with some bizarre metaphors and unsettling yet melancholic tension, I recommend picking this one up.
(For a different, darker type of novel that also explores the victims of these wars, I highly recommend The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan, which follows Canadian police investigators on a case with ties to the 1995 Srebrenica Massacre in Bosnia).
The Ministry of Pain is a novel of tensions of the former Yugoslavia through those who have been exiled and are now scattered as refugees across Europe. Ugrešić hyperfocuses on language, memory, and pain to explore those who want to forget and those who can't forget; those who remained and those who left (the only moment of triumph being that point of departure); those who can form connections and those who struggle to exist in reality; and the liminal and ever-changing space of Yugonostalgia.
The power of nostalgia as both a political and community tool was one of the strongest points of the novel. Ugrešić delved into its impacts on the individual, the interpersonal, and the community (to a lesser extent, the political system) and how this desire to selectively remember impacts your ability to remain in the present, look to the future, or connect with those around you who may share similar experiences but have very different approaches to the past.
Tanja at times has a bit of an unreliable narrator hue to her - her desperate desire to remember the past and reconcile all of the changes that have occurred to 'our language' and 'our home' perpetrated by 'our people' causes her to make questionable decisions and form ill-advised bonds with her students, many of whom have also escaped or otherwise been exiled from the former Yugoslavia. Setting the novel in Amsterdam made for an interesting contrast to Zagreb with respect to cultural differences, isolation, and the experience of having no true home in either region.
As the novel progressed into the final part and the classroom framing device is removed, Tanja felt like a shadow of herself as the author more directly discusses the book's themes with the reader. I felt like this choice stalled our main character's presence and growth in the final 50 pages unfortunately.
I also didn't love the penultimate interaction (or final one tbh) between Igor and Tanja. I think the author made some pointed and ultimately effective choices as Tanja is in many ways unknowable to both herself and the reader. But to me, Tanja's reactions were irritating (to say nothing of how Igor acted). I did appreciate the callback to the bullet though.
I think ultimately this novel was a processing of the emotions and grief of being in exile/a refugee from a situation that the international community didn't care about soon enough. There's some really poignant passages about grief and how time heals or at least scars over the pain that I think a lot of people can relate to.
Overall, I appreciate novels like this as I don't know much about the former Yugoslavia or the experiences of those left to survive in the settling of the dust. If you like more literary writing with some bizarre metaphors and unsettling yet melancholic tension, I recommend picking this one up.
(For a different, darker type of novel that also explores the victims of these wars, I highly recommend The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan, which follows Canadian police investigators on a case with ties to the 1995 Srebrenica Massacre in Bosnia).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Suicide, and Grief
Minor: Torture, Vomit, War, Death, and Genocide
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