Girl at War: A Novel
For readers of The Tiger’s Wife and All the Light We Cannot See comes a powerful debut novel about a girl’s coming of age—and how her sense of family, friendship, love, and belonging is profoundly shaped by war.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BOOKPAGE, BOOKLIST, AND ELECTRIC LITERATURE • ALEX AWARD WINNER • LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE FINALIST • LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION
Zagreb, 1991. Ana Jurić is a carefree ten-year-old, living with her family in a small apartment in Croatia’s capital. But that year, civil war breaks out across Yugoslavia, splintering Ana’s idyllic childhood. Daily life is altered by food rations and air raid drills, and soccer matches are replaced by sniper fire. Neighbors grow suspicious of one another, and Ana’s sense of safety starts to fray. When the war arrives at her doorstep, Ana must find her way in a dangerous world.
New York, 2001. Ana is now a college student in Manhattan. Though she’s tried to move on from her past, she can’t escape her memories of war—secrets she keeps even from those closest to her. Haunted by the events that forever changed her family, Ana returns to Croatia after a decade away, hoping to make peace with the place she once called home. As she faces her ghosts, she must come to terms with her country’s difficult history and the events that interrupted her childhood years before.
Moving back and forth through time, Girl at War is an honest, generous, brilliantly written novel that illuminates how history shapes the individual. Sara Nović fearlessly shows the impact of war on one young girl—and its legacy on all of us. It’s a debut by a writer who has stared into recent history to find a story that continues to resonate today.
Praise for Girl at War
“Outstanding . . . Girl at War performs the miracle of making the stories of broken lives in a distant country feel as large and universal as myth.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editor’s Choice)
“[An] old-fashioned page-turner that will demand all of the reader’s attention, happily given. A debut novel that astonishes.”—Vanity Fair
“Shattering . . . The book begins with what deserves to become one of contemporary literature’s more memorable opening lines. The sentences that follow are equally as lyrical as a folk lament and as taut as metal wire wrapped through an electrified fence.”—USA Today
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BOOKPAGE, BOOKLIST, AND ELECTRIC LITERATURE • ALEX AWARD WINNER • LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE FINALIST • LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION
Zagreb, 1991. Ana Jurić is a carefree ten-year-old, living with her family in a small apartment in Croatia’s capital. But that year, civil war breaks out across Yugoslavia, splintering Ana’s idyllic childhood. Daily life is altered by food rations and air raid drills, and soccer matches are replaced by sniper fire. Neighbors grow suspicious of one another, and Ana’s sense of safety starts to fray. When the war arrives at her doorstep, Ana must find her way in a dangerous world.
New York, 2001. Ana is now a college student in Manhattan. Though she’s tried to move on from her past, she can’t escape her memories of war—secrets she keeps even from those closest to her. Haunted by the events that forever changed her family, Ana returns to Croatia after a decade away, hoping to make peace with the place she once called home. As she faces her ghosts, she must come to terms with her country’s difficult history and the events that interrupted her childhood years before.
Moving back and forth through time, Girl at War is an honest, generous, brilliantly written novel that illuminates how history shapes the individual. Sara Nović fearlessly shows the impact of war on one young girl—and its legacy on all of us. It’s a debut by a writer who has stared into recent history to find a story that continues to resonate today.
Praise for Girl at War
“Outstanding . . . Girl at War performs the miracle of making the stories of broken lives in a distant country feel as large and universal as myth.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editor’s Choice)
“[An] old-fashioned page-turner that will demand all of the reader’s attention, happily given. A debut novel that astonishes.”—Vanity Fair
“Shattering . . . The book begins with what deserves to become one of contemporary literature’s more memorable opening lines. The sentences that follow are equally as lyrical as a folk lament and as taut as metal wire wrapped through an electrified fence.”—USA Today
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Readers say *Girl at War* by Sara Novic offers a poignant, immersive portrayal of a child's experience during the Yugoslav wars, skillfully moving bet...
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Girl at War by Sara Novic
320 pages
What’s it about?
It is 1991 and Ana is a ten-year-old girl living in Zagreb (Croatia’s capitol) when civil war erupts throughout Yugoslavia. Ana’s life changes in small ways at first, and then her life just changes. This book moves back and forth through time to show how war is forever woven into the lives of those who experience it.
What did I think?
This was an interesting and difficult look at how modern wars are waged... “As a side effect of modern warfare, we had the peculiar privilege of watching the destruction of our country on television.” The story not only moves through time but it also moves from Croatia to America. Ana narrates this story, and it is seeing Croatia and America through Ana’s eyes that make this story so compelling.
Should you read it?
I am sure this is the first of many books I will read by Sara Novic. This novel handles difficult subjects with such grace. I am really surprised this is her first novel. Very impressive!
Quote-
“The country was at war, but for most people the war was more an idea than an experience, and I felt something between anger and shame that Americans- that I- could sometimes ignore its impact for days at a time. In Croatia, life in wartime had meant a loss of control, war holding sway over every thought and movement, even while you slept. It did not allow for forgetting. But America’s war did not constrain me: it did not cut my water or shrink my food supply. There was no threat of takeover with tanks or foot soldiers or cluster bombs, not here. What war meant in America was incongruous with what had happened in Croatia- what must have been happening in Afghanistan- that it almost seemed a misuse of the word.”
Question-
Where is Ana’s home?
If you like this try-
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyememi
Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement
A Constellation of Vital Phenomenon by Anthony Marra
Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa
Girl at War by Sara Novic
320 pages
What’s it about?
It is 1991 and Ana is a ten-year-old girl living in Zagreb (Croatia’s capitol) when civil war erupts throughout Yugoslavia. Ana’s life changes in small ways at first, and then her life just changes. This book moves back and forth through time to show how war is forever woven into the lives of those who experience it.
What did I think?
This was an interesting and difficult look at how modern wars are waged... “As a side effect of modern warfare, we had the peculiar privilege of watching the destruction of our country on television.” The story not only moves through time but it also moves from Croatia to America. Ana narrates this story, and it is seeing Croatia and America through Ana’s eyes that make this story so compelling.
Should you read it?
I am sure this is the first of many books I will read by Sara Novic. This novel handles difficult subjects with such grace. I am really surprised this is her first novel. Very impressive!
Quote-
“The country was at war, but for most people the war was more an idea than an experience, and I felt something between anger and shame that Americans- that I- could sometimes ignore its impact for days at a time. In Croatia, life in wartime had meant a loss of control, war holding sway over every thought and movement, even while you slept. It did not allow for forgetting. But America’s war did not constrain me: it did not cut my water or shrink my food supply. There was no threat of takeover with tanks or foot soldiers or cluster bombs, not here. What war meant in America was incongruous with what had happened in Croatia- what must have been happening in Afghanistan- that it almost seemed a misuse of the word.”
Question-
Where is Ana’s home?
If you like this try-
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyememi
Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement
A Constellation of Vital Phenomenon by Anthony Marra
Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa
I keep going back and forth between ratings. I don’t know how to rate this one. It felt like this book wanted to say so much and it felt limited to what could be said. At times, it felt rushed and like I was being told so much information to the point I didn’t get time to sit with it. Also, I struggled with adult Ana. By the end it felt like the story said so much, and at the same time, not enough. I liked it but I also feel confused by what the purpose was for this book. At times I thought it was to raise awareness. Other times I thought there was a lesson to learn. Maybe even to understand how someone would cope with this kind of trauma. Or, there’s a possibility that all three are the point. That’s the issue though. I wasn’t sure. I feel bad that this is my review, but those are also my gripes with this book.
This was a difficult book to read that dealt with some very heavy issues, including loss of innocent, child soldiers, PTSD, and the meaning of home. I found it very easy to read and get into, even if the subject matter was difficult. I enjoyed following Ana's story from naive child to disillusioned child soldier and then eventual refugee in America trying to make sense of her story and trauma. I'm unsure if I like that the ending was so open-ended or if I wish there had been a more solid conclusion. I think I like it cause it's kind of like ~the future is wide open for her now, but at the same time, I want to know what happens with Ana and her various relationships with people afterwards. Overall though, this was a solid book that I really enjoyed.
Girl at war helps us to imagine the life of a child during a war. Ana is 10 in the first part of the Book and war in Croatia is just beginning. The details clearly relate the palpable tension in Zagreb.
The was a good story, however the ending left me wanting to know more about the heroine. It ended very abruptly and I couldn't believe there was no chapters left to read. Her writing is beautiful and I would have given it 5 stars if the ending didn't leave me hanging.......
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