A review by bookwormlukas
My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci

challenging lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Well, this was…something? 

If I’m honest, you could go through this book and tell me exactly what it all means, the relevant metaphors, what represents who, why he dates a homophobic cat - or you could tell me that it just doesn’t make much sense and I’d have an easy time believing both interpretations.  As a debut novel, it’s most certainly ambitious, whether it all hits or not though is going to come down to the individual reader as I see this one as quite a divisive read. 

For me personally, I guess it ‘sort of’ works? 

I truly found myself highly involved and engaged during the much more realist chapters involving the mother, with an arranged marriage to a man she’s only just met pending, the novel manages to feel like it has a clear voice in the story that’s truly grounded in reality, which is why the switch to the sons chapters can then feel sort of hard to swallow. You go from arranged marriages to wacky tales of your pet boa constrictor and your hookup staying over that just happens to be a humanoid cat and it’s all quite…jarring. There are elements to it that certainly hit hard, where you can see the intention, but it also feels like a book that needed a bit more time in development for it to manage to effectively blend both stories.

Overall, I would personally go as far as to make a soft recommend for ‘My Cat Yugoslavia’. It certainly didn’t all hit for me, but it’s also a weird enough experience that you kind of have to read it to believe it. 

3 stars