The River Runs Salt, Runs Sweet: A Young Woman's Story of Love, Loss and Survival

by Jasmina Dervisevic-Cesic, Randall Larsen (Foreword), Jay Lavender (Foreword)

At 15, Jasmina had typical teenage problems. How could she talk to the boy she liked without making a fool of herself? Would she find the right shoes to wear to the high school party? She had heard the old stories about World War II, when neighbor turned against neighbor, but she never gave them a second thought. That had all happened ages ago and she was living in a modern Yugoslavian city where Serbs and Muslims were close friends. Then Yugoslavia started to break apart, the national army turned its guns against its own people and Jasmina had to grow up fast. The River Runs Salt, Runs Sweet is a young woman’s powerful and inspiring memoir of love, loss and survival during The Bosnian War. The innocent paid the greatest price in Bosnia. More than half of the four million residents in Bosnia became refugees, an estimated 100,000 people were killed and 20,000-50,000 women were raped, many of them repeatedly. The Bosnians didn’t ask for NATO or UN troops—just the means to defend themselves from genocide so they didn’t have to fight tanks with old hunting rifles. Jasmina wrote her story to bear witness to what happened to her country and to the people she loved and lost. But as she wrote, she came to understand that her story was about much more. Everyone experiences loss. Everyone, even in peacetime, loses loved ones. Everyone feels jostled or even violated by events beyond their control. Everyone suffers the losses of disillusionment and betrayal, sooner or later. As she thought about the things that kept her going in the worst of times, Jasmina began to understand that her story was about more than Bosnia. It was about how we manage to endure, to support one another and to recover from the most difficult of trials. “My losses happened to come all at once—personally, physically and emotionally. I lost some of my faith in humanity when I discovered that people who were your best friends one day could conspire to destroy you the next. And there were more losses beyond that. Ultimately, I lost almost everything that many of us would call a normal life. Yet here I am, on the road back not only to a normal life, but perhaps a happy one...” There are many who have endured the suffering Jasmina experienced as a young woman, but survival is our most basic instinct. What sets her apart is that in the midst of genocide, her humanity survived. And in her remarkable story, we can find lessons and inspiration to help us persevere when we encounter turbulent times of our own.

258 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 6, 2014

Reviews

[Jordan Charlton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A harrowing tale of survival. Dervisevic-Cesic writes with an urgency fueled by necessity to have her, and her people's, story told to the world.

[Sarwa Azeez · Rating 5 out of 5]

How can a story become so sad and encouraging at the same time?
Jasmina's memoir speaks the unspeakable, captures the indescribable. It contains bitter irony to the most unspeakable sorrows of mankind. It warns us of observing people with a different eye. How easy it is for someone to change their hearts. We see people around us and tend to believe that very few of them do something so clearly cruel. Jasmina and her fellow citizens often heard stories of war and bloodshed from the elderly but they took them for granted. Jasmina was proud to live in a part of Europe where it was home to Olympic competitions, sports, swimming games and fun activities. She would never have believed that in 20th century a catastrophe of this magnitude could ever happen again in such a European country. No one ever have. Although memoir captures very depressing images of war and violence, but it never for one moment does it let you think about giving up.

[Ena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Words can’t describe how beautifully written this book is and the sad tragedies of former Yugoslavia.

[Nidzara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jasmina Dervisevic-Cesic tells a story that needs to be known but which is at the same time difficult to tell; I appreciate her ability to do this with grace and elegance. Her life experience as well as her persistence, attitude, and strength are inspiring, and though the book deals with some difficult themes, it is never preachy, patronizing, or in any way a turn off. Though I've read numerous war accounts (and specifically about the 92-95 war in Bosnia) -- what set this book apart was its ease and readability. As a narrator Dervisevic-Cesic is likeable and well-developed -- I was interested in her story, wanted to know what happens to her, and gobbled up the book in two days.

I'm also planning to introduce the book into my high school and junior college English curriculum and have recommended it to other educators in the humanities.

[Jordan Sher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just loved this book. The courage displayed by the author, Jasmina Dervisevic-Cesic during the ethnic cleansing campaign by nationalist Serbs in the early 1990s is so real; so visceral. This is a must-read if one wishes to hear of a truly open and honest story of survival and resilience. Kudos to Dervisevic-Cesic for bringing it to us.

[Emra Bosnjak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow to start and not my favorite style of writing but her story and what’s she overcome is incredible. The people of Bosnia deserve to have their story told, and the author was able to provide one view into the terrible atrocities completed during the genocide.

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible true story of resiliency.

[Hope · Rating 5 out of 5]

i normally don’t put books for school on here but this book was SO good. it’s told like a story rather than just history facts and i learned so much highly recommend

[Olga Moya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly appreciate every word Jasmina wrote for us readers. I can't begin to imagine the pain and suffering she endured, and relived while writing her story. It is such a tragedy the events that took place in Bosnia, and I loved how no matter what Jasmina faced, she continued on. She was so detailed and I loved her book so much that I even dreamt of the Drina. Thank you Jasmina for sharing your story!

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone should read this book.