Ljubezen

by Marjan Rožanc

Genres: Historical Fiction

174 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

snooze fest 🫤

[Tim Horvat · Rating 4 out of 5]

str. 115
"Po teh razburljivih dogodkih mi je obležalo na duši nekaj trpkega, težkega, še najbolj podobnega zaskrbljenosti, če ne kar razočaranju. Vsaka čast Mileni in Valeriji, a vendar ... Ali je to res vse, sem se spraševal nekako oropano. Ali je to po vseh šepetanjih in skrivnostnih namigovanjih, po vsem fantovskem prepevanju in hrepenečem pogledovanju v mansardna okna, za katerimi so tičala zelenojamska dekleta, po vseh pisemcih, ki sta jih Kramarjeva Ivona in Kranjčeva Zora razgrinjali pred mojo materjo s tresočimi se prsti, po vsem mojem dolgotrajnem in sramežljivem pričakovanju čudeža - ali je to povsem tem res vse, kar je skrivnostnega in lepega med moškim in žensko? Prav vsa ljubezen? Ta gola telesa, teh nekaj živalskih gest, to težko sopenje in ta kratki užitek, ki ti prestreli hrbtenico od zadnjice do temena? Ali se mi je res pri Mileni razodela še zadnja življenjska skrivnost? Ali se mi je res izpolnilo tam še zadnje pričakovanje, in to kot sladka žalost?"

[Primoz · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s an okay book. It didn’t really make me feel much, and it didn’t do anything that hasn’t been done elsewhere, like in Maja Haderlap’s Angel of Oblivion, which handles things better as well. I suppose the perspective of a boy growing up in WW2-occupied Ljubljana is interesting enough, but the story didn’t go anywhere, the characters were hard to discern, especially since there’s so many names, and it’s yet another memoir posing as a novel, which is a pretty annoying trend in Slovene literature. It seems a lot of our authors use literature as a kind of therapy to sift through their personal histories in public form without doing the work of shaping this raw material into something independent, self-contained and well-crafted.

[Maša · Rating 3 out of 5]

The whole story is very enjoyable and it talks about an important part of Slovenian history that should not be forgotten. However, the way it is delivered can be very confusing: a lot of information is thrown at the reader at the same time, a lot of very forgettable names that just cause a confusion. I really enjoyed the story, but had to read it 2 times in order to be able to fully grasp it. I recommend it if you’re willing to devote it some time and be really attentive when reading it.

[Sussy Sushi Roll · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the story. What I liked was how direct the author was with showing the cruelty. There's not much build up to certain events, they just hit you without any preparation and I found that to be really special. The only complaint I have is the huge amount of names in this book: it's quite hard to follow the storyline because of that.

[Nataša Sitnikov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Way too many names and information all thrown at you at once. The story isn't connected into a whole logically, rater mosaically, which is left for you to interpret.