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plaidpladd's review
3.0
Rounded up from 2.5 stars. It would have been a solid 3 if it were shorter, but there is a lot in this book that could have been edited out. It's repetitive and I know long, rambling extraneous details are its whole deal, but it's taken too far. I liked about the first half and then it became a bit of a slog.
freewaygods's review
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
A truly momentous novel. Kin is epic on a Tolstoyan scale, a massive, fragmentary, and flowing family history that is simultaneously a history of Yugoslavia and its constituent republics, going back in time as far as the times of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But one of the novel's strengths lays in how Jergović jumps back in forth between family members, points in time, memories. Rather than a straightforward family bildungsroman, Kin is a collection of fragments, where sometimes elements reappear in other stories, but it all flows so well. By the time you reach the end, you will feel like you have lived with the Stublers, lived with them above time, of which they have none remaining.
While history is important insofar as it shaped the lives of the people the novel is concerned about, the wide-ranging time period contained within it offers an informative survey of the evolution of the Balkan states. I encourage readers to refer to maps and historical resources while reading Kin, as it'll make it feel so much more alive.
Lastly, it's fascinating how Jergović blends fact and fiction together so seamlessly, that often I'll end up searching for references only to find a blog post from the translator himself talking about how even he could not find any real-life references to Plague and Exodus by Đorđe Bijelić. Because the story of the Stublers and of Yugoslavia is larger than life, Kin transcends truth and history by making it into literature.
While history is important insofar as it shaped the lives of the people the novel is concerned about, the wide-ranging time period contained within it offers an informative survey of the evolution of the Balkan states. I encourage readers to refer to maps and historical resources while reading Kin, as it'll make it feel so much more alive.
Lastly, it's fascinating how Jergović blends fact and fiction together so seamlessly, that often I'll end up searching for references only to find a blog post from the translator himself talking about how even he could not find any real-life references to Plague and Exodus by Đorđe Bijelić. Because the story of the Stublers and of Yugoslavia is larger than life, Kin transcends truth and history by making it into literature.
mikkitrow's review
5.0
“If each person’s presence in the world serves somehow to compensate for some kind of absence, and this in turn is the most important reason for that person’s existence, then Vasilj Nikolaevich compensated for the world’s lack of decency.”
“Forgetfulness is like garbage, except with forgetting there is no ecological problem. Forgetfulness is an ecological garbage incinerator. Nothing is left behind. But forgetfulness ravages the person, just as garbage ravages the world. Against forgetfulness there is only story, which must be narrated at the moment before everything is forgotten.”
“Was I unjust toward her? Is what I’m saying ugly, and is it even possible to be ugly when a person says what he really feels? It can’t be ugly to feel.”
“Nothing is ever forgotten by chance or randomly. It happens according to an order and in accord with a person’s internal equilibrium.”
“Forgetfulness is like garbage, except with forgetting there is no ecological problem. Forgetfulness is an ecological garbage incinerator. Nothing is left behind. But forgetfulness ravages the person, just as garbage ravages the world. Against forgetfulness there is only story, which must be narrated at the moment before everything is forgotten.”
“Was I unjust toward her? Is what I’m saying ugly, and is it even possible to be ugly when a person says what he really feels? It can’t be ugly to feel.”
“Nothing is ever forgotten by chance or randomly. It happens according to an order and in accord with a person’s internal equilibrium.”
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