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A review by readingwithkt
The Age of Skin by Dubravka Ugrešić
4.0
I bought a proof of this for weight cost from a second hand bookshop in Iceland. I know proofs are not to be sold - it says so on the cover - but books are scarce and expensive in Iceland, where I find myself somewhat stranded through coronavirus, and so I bought it without complaint.
I was drawn in by the title: The Age of Skin, and the cover design on the proof where a woman with grey hair faces away from the camera with a cigarette held up in her left hand. She’s wearing a green and black floral top. And she looks like my Grandma. Everything about this cover image just looks exactly like my Grandma. So I bought the book.
The proof comes with no description except quotes from International news and literature sources, such as ‘World Literature Today’ and ‘New York Times’. I don’t know that I’ve ever read anything translated from Croatian, but that was something else I knew going in. So I knew little, but I was so drawn to this book and so curious about it that I had to give it a go. And so I bought the book.
The Age of Skin is a collection of essays from Dubravka Ugresic, a Croatian writer now based in the Netherlands. The collection is wide-reaching and covers a whole range of topics. Topics which particularly drew me in were: consumerism, capitalism, technology, European and International politics. I personally felt that Ugresic had some really interesting and thought-provoking things to say on these topics and I found myself underlining key passages while I read. Though I didn’t agree with all that she argues (and didn’t find her feminist thought particularly groundbreaking), I still found myself thinking about her perspective long after I’d finished reading. I think that’s why it took me so long to make my way through this short collection: there was so much thinking that went on alongside the reading.
I especially liked what Ugresic had to say about immigrants and immigration, and some of her writing really struck me. A month or so ago I read: “Refugees and migrants serve as a mirror, a test, a challenge, a summons to confront our values.” (p81) and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. Especially with growing hostility towards migrants across the world, and here I experience it in Iceland, I felt chills reading the essay from which this quote was taken (Invisible Europe), but I also felt comfort and solidarity. So that was certainly a favourite. (Though I would like to acknowledge that a couple of Ugresic’s statements in this essay, in my opinion, erase the lived experiences of Native Americans).
In general, I resonated best with the earlier essays in the collection. The Age of Skin, Slow Down! and Don’t Take it Personal all left me deep in thought and reflection.
If you’re looking for a thought provoking and interesting essay collection, this is one I’d recommend. I’m interested to read some of Ugresic’s fiction and I’ll certainly be looking for more from the translator, Ellen Elias-Bursać, who I thought did a phenomenal job on this collection.
I was drawn in by the title: The Age of Skin, and the cover design on the proof where a woman with grey hair faces away from the camera with a cigarette held up in her left hand. She’s wearing a green and black floral top. And she looks like my Grandma. Everything about this cover image just looks exactly like my Grandma. So I bought the book.
The proof comes with no description except quotes from International news and literature sources, such as ‘World Literature Today’ and ‘New York Times’. I don’t know that I’ve ever read anything translated from Croatian, but that was something else I knew going in. So I knew little, but I was so drawn to this book and so curious about it that I had to give it a go. And so I bought the book.
The Age of Skin is a collection of essays from Dubravka Ugresic, a Croatian writer now based in the Netherlands. The collection is wide-reaching and covers a whole range of topics. Topics which particularly drew me in were: consumerism, capitalism, technology, European and International politics. I personally felt that Ugresic had some really interesting and thought-provoking things to say on these topics and I found myself underlining key passages while I read. Though I didn’t agree with all that she argues (and didn’t find her feminist thought particularly groundbreaking), I still found myself thinking about her perspective long after I’d finished reading. I think that’s why it took me so long to make my way through this short collection: there was so much thinking that went on alongside the reading.
I especially liked what Ugresic had to say about immigrants and immigration, and some of her writing really struck me. A month or so ago I read: “Refugees and migrants serve as a mirror, a test, a challenge, a summons to confront our values.” (p81) and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. Especially with growing hostility towards migrants across the world, and here I experience it in Iceland, I felt chills reading the essay from which this quote was taken (Invisible Europe), but I also felt comfort and solidarity. So that was certainly a favourite. (Though I would like to acknowledge that a couple of Ugresic’s statements in this essay, in my opinion, erase the lived experiences of Native Americans).
In general, I resonated best with the earlier essays in the collection. The Age of Skin, Slow Down! and Don’t Take it Personal all left me deep in thought and reflection.
If you’re looking for a thought provoking and interesting essay collection, this is one I’d recommend. I’m interested to read some of Ugresic’s fiction and I’ll certainly be looking for more from the translator, Ellen Elias-Bursać, who I thought did a phenomenal job on this collection.