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A review by andrew_j_r
Zlata's Diary by Zlata Filipović, Christina Pribićević-Zorić, Janine di Giovanni
4.0
This is part of a chain read. My previous book in the chain was the the story of General Rose of UNROFOR in the Balkans war in the early nineties. This book is the diary of a young girl who lived in Sarajevo during that same conflict.
It’s scary to read. I kept a diary at about the same time, and the initial entries (before the war really comes it the city) read just like the kind of things I would have written, complete with short sentences and one word comments.
As the conflict escalates you just realise how dreadful this must have been for everyone caught up in it, especially the children. Occasionally friends die in the shelling. Her family are out of contact with other family and friends and have no idea if they are safe - her grandparents live just on the other side of a bridge, but people are regularly killed by sniper fire on the bridge. Then there is the lack of electricity, gas, water, proper schooling. No new clothes as she grows. Shoes seem to be a big problem too.
The irony is that it is the diary that eventually gets her out of Sarajevo. Someone is looking to publish the war diary of a child, and hers is chosen, which ultimately leads her and her immediate family to safety in Paris.
This book is, I am guessing, edited. But it leaves you with a genuine feel for what is like on the ground if you are an 11-year-old and everything around you is being destroyed. It’s thought-provoking, harrowing and definitely worth a read.
It’s scary to read. I kept a diary at about the same time, and the initial entries (before the war really comes it the city) read just like the kind of things I would have written, complete with short sentences and one word comments.
As the conflict escalates you just realise how dreadful this must have been for everyone caught up in it, especially the children. Occasionally friends die in the shelling. Her family are out of contact with other family and friends and have no idea if they are safe - her grandparents live just on the other side of a bridge, but people are regularly killed by sniper fire on the bridge. Then there is the lack of electricity, gas, water, proper schooling. No new clothes as she grows. Shoes seem to be a big problem too.
The irony is that it is the diary that eventually gets her out of Sarajevo. Someone is looking to publish the war diary of a child, and hers is chosen, which ultimately leads her and her immediate family to safety in Paris.
This book is, I am guessing, edited. But it leaves you with a genuine feel for what is like on the ground if you are an 11-year-old and everything around you is being destroyed. It’s thought-provoking, harrowing and definitely worth a read.