Slavenka Drakulic: They Wouldn't Hurt A Fly

[Heteronym]

In this book, Drakulic writes about the men being tried in the International Tribunal in the Hague, for crimes during the Yugoslav Wars of 1991-1999. In 1993, with the end of Yugoslavia, it was created the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, where people like Slobodan Milosevic are being tried. Drakulic, a journalist, essayist and writer, attended the court sessions and became interested in what made these men murderers, dictators, rapists and genocidal maniacs. It's not a book that's going to offer any new explanations - lust for power, nationalist pride, comformism, et cetera - about the nature of evil, but each chapter is a fascinating sketch of a normal life that, for some reason or another, became involved in monstrous crimes.

It's also an excellent history about the conflicts in former Yugoslavia.

It also contains some darkly comical information. In prison, the same men who were trying to kill each other, now behave politely to each other, as if nothing had ever happened. They play sports together, read together, and live together in comradeship. And they worry about the end of the trials. In the Hague, they live in luxurious cells with every imaginable comfort. Since they're all innocent until proven guilty, authorities must provide them with every right and benefit they'd have if they were free men. So they actually live better off than most people, in the Hague cells. When they're sentenced, they'll be transferred to state prisons that aren't near as good to carry out their prison terms. It's like you've stepped through Alice's mirror into another dimension.

Great book, I highly recommend it.

[pesahson]

Have you read anything else by Drakulic?
The only thing I've read is Cafe Europa which is a collection of essays also concerning similar topics and it was just alright, 3 stars out of 5 I'd say. I was wondering whether to give Drakulic another chance or is Cafe Europa representative of her writing and just not my cup of tea. Although the topic itself is interesting and she isn't a bad writer by any means.

[Heteronym]

No, it was my first and only book. I'm anxious to read more from her, though. I've heard about Café Europa and I'm sure I'll enjoy: it seems right my type of book. I'm also curious to read How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed, a book about how women lived their day-to-day existence under communism.

[kpjayan]

I have read two of her novels in 2011 ( Taste of a Man and Frida's Bed), yet to read her non-fiction books. I am keen to read Cafe Europa as well.

[rabbitfast]

Haven't read the Hague book but I've read Balkan Express, S - a Novel About the Balkans, Holograms of Fear and Frida's Bed, the last being my favourite.