"One of the most stirring novels to come from the Balkans."–Larry Wolff
The New York Times "A startling, extraordinary creation." –
The New Yorker "Tisma has made Novi Sad a microcosm for the most painful developments of 20th-century history. It is a city of tiers, one tier the actual city in which Miroslav survives, the other filled by the possible lives of those who perished. Yet life on the edge of the abyss is surprisingly normal...The intersection of this high intellectual refinement with the most brutal incidents in history gives the novel, which has been published to acclaim in France and Germany, its great, eccentric pathos." –
Publishers Weekly
"A Balkan bible presided over by an ironic vision of the imagination, capable of envisioning utter barbarity but not the expiation for sins."–
The Boston Globe "Tisma is unrelenting in his quest for truth yet compassionate in his judgments of individuals."–
The Wall Street Journal
