Surviving Peace: A Political Memoir

by Olivera Simić

How do you pick up the pieces after your life is shattered by war? How do you continue living when your country no longer exists, your language is no longer spoken and your family is divided, not just by distance but by politics too? What happens when your old identity is taken from you and a new one imposed, one that you never asked for? When Olivera Simic was seven years old, President Tito died. Old divisions re-emerged as bitter ethnic conflicts unfolded. War arrived in 1992. People were no longer Yugoslavs but Serbs, Croatians, Bosnians. Old friends became enemies overnight. In this heartfelt account of life before, during, and after the Bosnian War and the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999, Simic talks of her transition from peace to war and back again. She shows how she found the determination to build a new life when the old one was irretrievable. Traversing four continents, she takes us on her winding journey from Bosnia to Australia, revealing the complex challenges of adjusting to life in a new country and exposing the harsh reality of the post-traumatic stress that accompanies her. Simic strives to find the balance between wanting to move on to a different future and a pressing need to look back at a past that won t go away. The pull of her homeland remains irresistible despite it being ravaged by destruction, and her exposure of the war crimes that took place there means she is labeled both a traitor and a truth seeker. "Surviving Peace" is one woman s story of courage that echoes the stories of millions of people whose lives have been displaced by war. As we still face a world rife with armed conflict, this book is a timely reminder that once the last gunshot has been fired and the last bomb dropped, the new challenge of surviving peace begins."

Genres: Nonfiction

210 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Amra Pajalic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Olivera Simic is an academic who was born in what was Yugoslavia and now lives in Australia. In Surviving Peace she uses her own experiences to explore the way that war impacts on people, and the country they left behind. There are a lot of insights in the way that the Balkan War of 1992-1995 has scarred what were once the republics of Yugoslavia, and left its people traumatised. The way the ethnic cleansing of areas has created spaces where the new generation are growing up without the benefits of understanding different groups. Simic struggles with her own identity and writes about war crimes committed in her name as a Serb, and as such struggles with her own identity as she sees herself as Yugoslav as that is where she grew up.

My favourite passage is when she talks about a party where a Australian friend, Michael, asks another friend, Vladimir, where is he from. Vladimir snaps "Former Yugoslavia."
"But this was not good enough for Michael so he stated rather determinedly, "Well the former Yugoslavia does not exist anymore." Afterwards Olivera speaks to Michael and he finds Vladimir weird. After all he was just asking a simple question. Olivera writes:
"This anecdote is an example of the behaviour of a powerful dominant group towards a powerless minority group...Michael who is a member of the powerful group (white, heterosexual, well-educated Australian men) insisted on a prescriptive mode of behaviour , while expecting Vladimir to fit the norm... Thus seen as the 'other' the minority group, the migrants, do not enjoy the privilege of private space."

This is a great book that does much to humanise the war and the suffering that all sides suffered. It is very thoughtful and has given me a lot of insights into the way we create a narrative about war, and that there is a need to be more nuanced and thoughtful in our approach.

[Janine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells the author's story but analyzed from an academic perspective, and interwoven with literature, history, genocide studies, trauma studies, human rights and peace studies. It’s not the sort of memoir that will make you cry, but it will make you think.

Read my complete review at:
https://residentjudge.wordpress.com/2...