24.01.2013

PROSPECT reviews Our Man in Iraq

J A Hopkin reviews for the highly regarded Prospect Magazine

Highlights of the review:


With formidable insight, élan and a noir-ish relish of backstreet manoeuvres, Perišic asks how a nation can move on after conflict, how citizens can overcome the feeling that “Whoever survived all that Balkan shit, whoever breathed the fumes of that hell, had to feel defeat.”

Perišic looks at how “the whole story” (both in Croatia and in Iraq) is misrepresented or lost in spin because of the rapidly declining standards and values of journalism, thus adding another layer of ironic despair to the book. Yet he is careful to keep a winning balance between meaningful apercus and buoyant satire.

James Hopkin is the author of the novel, Winter Under Water (Picador) and the short story collection Even the Crows Say Krakow (Picador). His Dalmatian trilogy of short stories will be re-broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 10,17, 24 February, 2013.

Read the full article here