Über das Buch
Relationships, friendships, depression, sex, the nightlife of Zagreb and travels to the West combine in a graceful Bildungsroman set in the wake of the Yugoslav Wars… Josip Novakovich, Times Literary Supplement Veze, prijateljstva, depresija, seks, zagrebački noćni život i putovanja na Zapad isprepliću se u veličanstvenom Bildungsromanu smještenom u osvit jugoslavenskih ratova.
Marinko Koščec’s A Handful of Sand is the autopsy of a passionate love affair. An artist and a publisher from Zagreb recount the stories of their lives leading up to the day they first met, weaving present and past, fantasy and self-analysis into a humane and utterly convincing novel. At the same time it is the story of Croatia from the early twentieth century to the present day, a country suffering the worst effects of corruption, bigotry, and war. Koščec doesn’t provide easy answers, but a more facile treatment would only have weakened the novel.
Tim Ellison, Necessary Fiction