Miss Tamara, The Reader

( Serbian - ÄŒitateljka - 2006 )

collection / mosaic by Zoran Zivkovic

translated by Alice Copple-Tošić

Published: Polaris - paperback - 2006
ISBN: 8683741311 / 9788683741311

Kurdohan Press - trade paperback - 2010
ISBN: 4902075326 / 9784902075328


contents
Apples ( aka Jabuke )
Lemons ( aka Limunovi )
Blackberries ( aka Kupini )
Bananas ( aka Banani )
Apricots ( aka Kajsiji )
Gooseberries ( aka Ogrozdi )
Melons ( aka Dinja )
Fruit Salad ( aka Vočna salata )

synopsis
In this suite of eight stories, the three ages of woman—youth, midlife and senescence—engage in a complex and fruitful dance. A young Miss Tamara is lured by a series of postcards concealed in library books. A middle-aged Miss Tamara discovers that her new reading glasses turn the pages blank. An afternoon’s reading is disturbed by the realisation that all books have turned fatally toxic. A mysterious phone call leads to a book which blinds its readers but also to romance. Woven through these seemingly simple narratives are deep themes of youth and ageing, memory and loss, solitude and companionship, and the relationship between the physical and the mental life. Above all this is a book about reading: its pleasures, rituals, essential preciousness. Reading as an obsession which can not only isolate, but also lead to discovery and love.

awards
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