Roman Babići Hrvoja Šalkovića uzbudljiva je, emotivna i pitko napisana priča u kojoj Ivan Babić, zagrebački momak produžene mladosti i neporeciva šarma, pripovijeda o vlastitom odrastanju i sazrijevanju, ali i o povijesti svoje obitelji, povijesti u srcu koje leži velika tragedija i nenadoknadiv gubitak.
U ovom svojevrsnom bildungsromanu s elementima sage, Šalkovićeva junaka zatičemo na raznim mjestima kugle zemaljske. Ta su mjesta naoko nespojiva, ali su u tkivo romana uvezena upravo njegovom životnom pričom. Selo u okolici Daruvara, zagrebačke ulice, primamljiva svjetla noćnog Bangkoka i hladni neboderi amsterdamskih kvartova za “proklete migrante” likovi su u romanu jednako kao što su to i oni od krvi i mesa, što pak svjedoči o tome da je Šalković iskusan pisac i iskusan putnik lijepe rečenice i pronicljiva pogleda.
Pisan brzim potezima kistom, jednostavnim, ali pomnim stilom, neposrednom emocijom, s velikim osjećajem za čovjeka – za čudesa za koja je sposoban, ali i za neminovna životna posrtanja – Babići su roman koji se čita u dahu i koji se ne ispušta iz ruku.
Hrvoje Šalković was born on 29 September 1973, at the Petrova Hospital in Zagreb.
He was conceived nine months before, on Christmas Eve 1972. The story tells that as Mrs. Mom was decorating the Christmas tree, she dropped one ornament. She bent over to pick it up...
Šalković has received a degree in Journalism from the College of Political Science at the University of Zagreb, after which he left for London for a few weeks, hoping to improve his English. He stayed for three years.
He enrolled into a postgraduate course at the University of Westminster, where he published a number of papers, receiving his Master's Degree in 2000.
Šalković then returned to Zagreb, dedicating himself to writing and travelling.
During his studies, both in Zagreb and London, he amassed a solid collection of previous jobs. He polled for the Institute of Applied Research, he travelled as a salesman for a firm named Opremanje, professionally raced cars for the Delta and Siget Autoclubs, he washed carpets, drove generals (Petković, Šlopar), edited the transportation division bulletin, bounced at concerts, helped run a warehouse at London's East End, drove a supply truck for the Army & Navy company, sold hardware at London's Elephant & Castle market with a partner (a Turk), and worked as a journalist, a London correspondent, a representative of the Canadian telecom company TIW in Croatia, and the PR manager of the Status Grupa marketing agency, a CEO of the Vulkan d.o.o. iron casting company. Today he is employed by the Institute for Action, where he holds the position of authority as The Gonzo Issues Chairman.
From 1997, Šalković has changed many addresses, from Mikulići, to Gredice, Hrgovići, Knežija, Poljanice, Chiswick, Seven Sisters Road, Stamford Hill, Masarykova street... He moved fifteen times. In case that he finally writes something good, and the city fathers decide to put commemorative plaques on the buildings in which Šalković has lived, all this could seriously damage the city budget.
Šalković has been to seventy-two countries, visiting some in the conventional way, and some in a peculiar, gonzo way.
He rode Greyhounds from coast to coast of the United States. He rode trains from end to end of Australia. He travelled through all internationally recognised European countries (alongside two defected territories - Transdniester and Northern Cyprus) from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine in the east to Lisbon in the west; from Scotland, Norway and Finland in the north all the way down to the south of Greece. He did it all by bus, train, boat, driving on his own, or hitch-hiking.
He fired RPGs and bombed the jungles of Cambodia. He gambled in Vegas. He wandered the beaches of Brasil. He emptied bars in Miami and New York. He dove with dolphins in Mexico. He skied down the slopes of the Rocky Mountains. He debauched at the New Orleans carnival.
He speed-boated down Vietnam. He rode elephants in the jungles of Laos. He danced with Cuban girls in Havana. He run with bulls in Pamplona. He got into trouble... got arrested at the Melbourne airport. A hostel owner in New Orleans banished him into the night at gunpoint... He has travelled across South America, from Caracas in the North all the way to Patagonia at the Southern tip. He entered the ranchos of Caracas, rode around Bolivia and Peru by bus, climbed the ancient walls of Machu Picchu, visited the national parks of Patagonia. He danced tango in Buenos Aires, and basked in the sun on the piers of Uruguay. In India he rode with the bedouin across the desert of Rajasthan, celebrated New Year's Eve in the town of Jaipur, crashed weddings in Varanasi, attended a ritual cremation on the banks of the Ganges. In Nepal he partied with musicians, in Bangladesh he wandered around the local markets. In his car, he zipped through Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon, wandered through Damascus, climbed the ancient town of Petra, watched the sun setting in the Wadi Rum desert. H
Šalkovićevi romani imaju ono nešto. Nešto zaigrano, zagrebačko, mangupsko, tužno, internacinalno, šareno, životno. I da, imaju i ono nešto - toplo i ljudsko. I zato ga volim čitati.
Znala sam da nisam trebala uzeti ovu knjigu u ruke i da nisam trebala ništa očekivati, jer u njoj je sve isto kao i u ostalim autorovim romanima; sve je plošno, od radnje do likova, uz intelektualni angažman pri čitanju koji je jednak nuli..
Životna priča koja nas poučava da život zaista počinje da se događa kada prestanemo čekati, nego preuzmemo inicijativu usprkos svim rizicima. Također, sigurno svatko od nas balkanaca ima nekog gastarbeitera ili su i sami farange, tako da ova priča ujedno i izdvaja problematiku netrpeljivosti prema migrantima koji možda nisu kao mi, ali zapravo, kada promislimo, jesu. 4+ samo jer mi se činilo da se pretjerano ponavljanje riječi pretvorilo u " In previous episode..." te mi, osobno, nije odgovarao manjak odvajanja poglavlja na bilo koji način.
I citat koji mi se jakoo svidio i zaokružio cijelu priču Babića ♥️ "Sve su ti to žabice..." "E pa najteže je baciti prvu žabicu , ako ona odskoči kako spada, onda kamen putuje i do druge obale, ako treba. Svi mi koji smo uspješno odskočili jednom nemamo više problem sa zaustavljanjem."
Prije nekih 10-15 godina čitala sam puno knjiga domaćih autora, ali sam smanjila njihov broj, jer bi me deprimirale (nije to greška autora, oni su samo portretirali našu svakodnevnicu). Tako mi je na polici ostalo nepročitano par Šalkovićevih knjiga. Ne znam zašto sam umjesto njih u knjižnici posegnula za novim romanom, ali mi je drago da jesam. Babići su pitko i zabavno štivo koje sam pročitala u 2 dana. Glavna zamjerka mi je prečesto ponavljanje istih duhovitih rečenica i opisa, pa se izližu do kraja knjige.
"Slonovi spavaju malo i gotovo uvijek spavaju stojeći. To me uvijek nekako zbuni kada s prvim zrakama sunca razmaknem drvene grede na dvokrilnim ulaznim vratima nastambe. Sony je uvijek okrenut prema vratima i dočeka me otvorenih očiju. Iza njegova krupnog tijela nazire se Lala, mekano se ziba prebacujući težinu naizmjenice s jednog para nogu na drugi, slično kako to rade kumice na placu, kad ih zebu tabani za dugih smjena na štandovima."
“Više ne izmišljam da sam Latvijac, čak me i razgovor o Luki Modriću više ne smeta. I više ne pričam nikakve priče. Ova koju sam ti ispripovijedao, ova priča o obitelji Babić, ili onome što je ostalo od nje, posljednje je što ćeš čuti od mene.”
Dobra karakterizacija likova upakirana u sažete rečenice i brzu radnju. Ipak autor ovdje odlično prikazuje užurbanost života, njegove bolne, radosne i dragocjene trenutke te u konačnici traganje za smislom. Topla preporuka 🙃
Ugodno štivo koje se lako čita, ima dijelova za nasmijat se, a slatku suzu pustite na kraj. Knjiga koja mi vjerovatno ne bi pala na pamet za uzet čitat, ali žena se tako slatk smijala da saam je pročita nakon nje. I drago mi je da jesam.