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Wild Woman
Wild Woman is set in 1970s Croatia, interchanging between the capital, Zagreb, and the seaside towns of Rijeka and Pula on the Adriatic coast. This is a story about an everywoman from a poor family: a retied invalid father and a mother who always protects the interests of men. The story begins with a love affair between two students of literature, who bond through shared experiences and rush into the romantic dream of marriage.
However, what at first seems idyllic to a young woman in love soon becomes a nightmare as she finds herself the victim of an unscrupulous, lazy womanizer whom she must support financially and who often disappears without explanation, leaving her alone in unfamiliar surroundings. To free herself from him, she must free herself from the “prisons” imposed on her by her family, her community and tradition. She must go wild.
Wild Woman is a story about the attempt to love and thrive in a time of economic hardship. Told through the undiluted language of thought and mania, the twists and turns of internal dialogue are brought alive by a narrator desperately seeking her true voice. It is a warning against letting life slip through one’s fingers and a call for authenticity.
However, what at first seems idyllic to a young woman in love soon becomes a nightmare as she finds herself the victim of an unscrupulous, lazy womanizer whom she must support financially and who often disappears without explanation, leaving her alone in unfamiliar surroundings. To free herself from him, she must free herself from the “prisons” imposed on her by her family, her community and tradition. She must go wild.
Wild Woman is a story about the attempt to love and thrive in a time of economic hardship. Told through the undiluted language of thought and mania, the twists and turns of internal dialogue are brought alive by a narrator desperately seeking her true voice. It is a warning against letting life slip through one’s fingers and a call for authenticity.
245 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
September 4, 2018
Golema je razlika između zaljubljenosti i ljubavi. A još je veći jaz između onoga kako ljubav/brak zamišljamo i zbilje. Najveći pak bezdan otvara se između naših očekivanja od voljene osobe i njihovih stvarnih postupaka. Divljakuša je zato sjajna knjiga, jer otkriva sve to. Usto sjajno je i napisana.
August 26, 2019
The magic of this novel set in 1970s Croatia, lies in the thoroughly engaging, slightly manic monologue that unwinds across its pages. The 26 year-old narrator has just extracted herself from a disaster out marriage and is looking back over the blind romantic passion of youth that has led her to this point. Absolutely wonderful!
My full review is here: https://roughghosts.com/2019/08/18/lo...
An excerpt can be found at 3:AM Magazine: https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/marin...
My full review is here: https://roughghosts.com/2019/08/18/lo...
An excerpt can be found at 3:AM Magazine: https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/marin...
August 9, 2022
I discovered Marina Šur Puhlovski's 'Wild Woman' in an interesting way. I was looking for more translations by Christina Pribićević-Zorić, because she had translated two of my favourite books, 'Dictionary of the Khazars' and 'Zlata's Diary'. And that is how I stumbled upon 'Wild Woman'.
The story starts with a young woman in an apartment with her dog. The apartment is in a mess. There is no food and the woman and her dog are literally scraping the barrel. This woman tells us what happened, and how events led to this situation. She takes us back by many years, when she first went to college and met a guy on the first day, and sparks started to fly. What happened after that – you have to read the book to find out.
'Wild Woman' is a beautiful, dark, heartbreaking book. It describes what happens when we fall in love, and things don't go as we expect, and how sometimes we fall into a bottomless abyss from which we find it impossible to extricate ourselves.
I loved 'Wild Woman', though the word 'love' doesn't begin to describe what I feel about it. It was powerful and moving and heartbreaking, and it pulled my heartstrings and it made me angry and it made me scream. Sometimes it felt like I was reading a contemporary version of the Ingrid Bergman movie 'Gaslight'.
Marina Šur Puhlovski's prose is beautiful and I couldn't stop highlighting my favourite passages. She has been writing for a while, but it appears that this is her only book which has been translated into English. Wish more of her work gets translated.
I'll leave you with some of my favourite passages from the book.
"What hurts is what you don’t have. And it hurts, say the experts, because the brain won’t accept that you no longer have what you once did, what it still remembers, and so it turns its absence into the pain of loss, which keeps going back to the beginning. That’s my story, I guess. Because if it weren’t, then I wouldn’t be sitting here for three days now, incapable of extricating myself from it."
"I stepped out like a sleepwalker, in my nightgown, barefoot, at that magical moment in the morning that belongs to the surrounding forest, when life wakes up and you are filled with this sense of awakening, as at the dawn of humankind, when the first human realised that he was alive, because he hadn’t known it before, it came to him suddenly. And it’s no different today, the wonder of life remains hidden from us during the day, and turns into fear at night, and it is only like this in the early morning that we understand it, when we are alone and when it’s spring and when the forest within us breathes, or the sea within us breathes, when we imbue each other."
"A magical wonder is when something doesn’t look real but is, I realised as they took me around – like the way Plitvice’s waters forged their own paths through the rocks and bushes, through the grey and green, through the air and earth, creating a work of art out of nature, making it look like child’s play, untaught, becoming a work of art in itself, based on some primeval memory. It was as if we became a work of art ourselves, rather than creating one, a higher form of existence that we did not sufficiently appreciate, because it eluded us, I thought, walking with my feet in the moss and ferns and my head in the air."
"What else is love except a kind of blindness, I reflected, you see what you want, what you like, what catches your fancy, what makes you grow, you see what you need but you don’t see what you don’t need. When you see what you don’t need you try not to see it, to attribute it to a random instance, to hide it from yourself, because you compare what you see with the ideal that they’ve drummed into your head and try to make it fit that ideal. Sometimes it more or less works, unless you completely fail, because basically you always fail, but even an approximation is something, at least it’s bearable. The world exists on the basis of approximation. But it’s awful when it turns out that what you get is not even close, that it’s the exact opposite, that you had imagined somebody else! And, of course, he helped you along, he tried to be what he thought you wanted him to be, not what he was, but he could pretend to be what you wanted until he captured you, until he took away your freedom, in life and, worst of all, within your inner self, because the hardest thing was to save yourself from yourself. By saving him I was saving myself from myself, I realised, from the debt of love, I supposed, a debt you couldn’t just discard as if it never existed, it doesn’t exist now but it did, it was your life and if it is worthless then so are you and your life; how do you live with that?"
"...gazing at the early autumn greenery that has only just started to turn yellow and red and to decay, a moment with no continuation, but all the same a moment that existed, that fell into place with everything else that existed, the unreal attaching itself to the real which, once it passes, itself seems unreal, and passes in a heartbeat, as if it had never existed, but you know that it did, and so a vicious circle."
Have you read 'Wild Woman'? What do you think about it?
The story starts with a young woman in an apartment with her dog. The apartment is in a mess. There is no food and the woman and her dog are literally scraping the barrel. This woman tells us what happened, and how events led to this situation. She takes us back by many years, when she first went to college and met a guy on the first day, and sparks started to fly. What happened after that – you have to read the book to find out.
'Wild Woman' is a beautiful, dark, heartbreaking book. It describes what happens when we fall in love, and things don't go as we expect, and how sometimes we fall into a bottomless abyss from which we find it impossible to extricate ourselves.
I loved 'Wild Woman', though the word 'love' doesn't begin to describe what I feel about it. It was powerful and moving and heartbreaking, and it pulled my heartstrings and it made me angry and it made me scream. Sometimes it felt like I was reading a contemporary version of the Ingrid Bergman movie 'Gaslight'.
Marina Šur Puhlovski's prose is beautiful and I couldn't stop highlighting my favourite passages. She has been writing for a while, but it appears that this is her only book which has been translated into English. Wish more of her work gets translated.
I'll leave you with some of my favourite passages from the book.
"What hurts is what you don’t have. And it hurts, say the experts, because the brain won’t accept that you no longer have what you once did, what it still remembers, and so it turns its absence into the pain of loss, which keeps going back to the beginning. That’s my story, I guess. Because if it weren’t, then I wouldn’t be sitting here for three days now, incapable of extricating myself from it."
"I stepped out like a sleepwalker, in my nightgown, barefoot, at that magical moment in the morning that belongs to the surrounding forest, when life wakes up and you are filled with this sense of awakening, as at the dawn of humankind, when the first human realised that he was alive, because he hadn’t known it before, it came to him suddenly. And it’s no different today, the wonder of life remains hidden from us during the day, and turns into fear at night, and it is only like this in the early morning that we understand it, when we are alone and when it’s spring and when the forest within us breathes, or the sea within us breathes, when we imbue each other."
"A magical wonder is when something doesn’t look real but is, I realised as they took me around – like the way Plitvice’s waters forged their own paths through the rocks and bushes, through the grey and green, through the air and earth, creating a work of art out of nature, making it look like child’s play, untaught, becoming a work of art in itself, based on some primeval memory. It was as if we became a work of art ourselves, rather than creating one, a higher form of existence that we did not sufficiently appreciate, because it eluded us, I thought, walking with my feet in the moss and ferns and my head in the air."
"What else is love except a kind of blindness, I reflected, you see what you want, what you like, what catches your fancy, what makes you grow, you see what you need but you don’t see what you don’t need. When you see what you don’t need you try not to see it, to attribute it to a random instance, to hide it from yourself, because you compare what you see with the ideal that they’ve drummed into your head and try to make it fit that ideal. Sometimes it more or less works, unless you completely fail, because basically you always fail, but even an approximation is something, at least it’s bearable. The world exists on the basis of approximation. But it’s awful when it turns out that what you get is not even close, that it’s the exact opposite, that you had imagined somebody else! And, of course, he helped you along, he tried to be what he thought you wanted him to be, not what he was, but he could pretend to be what you wanted until he captured you, until he took away your freedom, in life and, worst of all, within your inner self, because the hardest thing was to save yourself from yourself. By saving him I was saving myself from myself, I realised, from the debt of love, I supposed, a debt you couldn’t just discard as if it never existed, it doesn’t exist now but it did, it was your life and if it is worthless then so are you and your life; how do you live with that?"
"...gazing at the early autumn greenery that has only just started to turn yellow and red and to decay, a moment with no continuation, but all the same a moment that existed, that fell into place with everything else that existed, the unreal attaching itself to the real which, once it passes, itself seems unreal, and passes in a heartbeat, as if it had never existed, but you know that it did, and so a vicious circle."
Have you read 'Wild Woman'? What do you think about it?
October 28, 2018
Sedamdesete godine 20.stoljeća, Zagreb, Hrvatska, mlada devetnaestogodišnjakinja upoznaje mladića koji je osvaja na prvi pogled, počnu hodati, dovede ga kući, upoznaje s majkom čije joj mišljenje mnogo znači, dok je nije briga za očevo jer je otac alkoholičar koji ih je i doveo u bijedu u kojoj žive.
Ovo je ukratko početak romana Divljakuša, priče čije se rečenice protežu u nedogled, u kojima autorica piše poput Virginije Woolf, sve što joj padne na pamet, ne trudeći se kratiti misli nepotrebnim točkama. Struja svijesti traje do samoga kraja, a kroz tu struju upoznajemo glavnu protagonisticu čije ime uopće ne saznajemo jer je roman napisan u ich-formi.
Tužna je i potresna ovo studija o mladih ljudima, naizgled školovanim, a zapravo nedovršenim, pesimističnim, previše uklopljenima u situaciju oko njih. Mladi koji proživljavaju patnje vlastitih roditelja te se teško odmiču od sudbine koja se čini toliko sličnom onoj koju promatraju cijeli život.
Iako je sve započelo idealno, velikom ljubavi dvaju studenata na Filozofskome fakultetu, sklonih filozofiranju i komentiranju svega oko sebe, ubrzo se slika drastično mijenja.
„Nisu svi došli uspjeti, neki su došli propasti i tim propadanjem ostvaruju sudbinu kao neki dug, i tu su im vrhunci, pomislila sam jednom kad sam ga vidjela kako sjedi na terasi nekog kafića, gdje me je čekao, jer je došao ranije.“
Nakon vjenčanja glavnih llikova, stvari se pogoršavaju. On je čudan, ima epizode, nestaje, a ona nakon nekog vremena saznaje da je bolestan i suočava se s okrutnom istinom, zaglibila je kao vlastita majka, u suživotu s pijavicom koja je doslovno siše i ne da joj naprijed. Ona je svejedno uporna i trudi se jer ga voli, jer je naučena na takav život i jer se to podrazumijeva kad si s nekime u braku.
„Ali život nije kolač koji možeš ne peći i tako izbjeći poraz, život prisiljava, moraš se truditi i kad je rezultat neizvjestan, i vječno se nadati najboljemu.“
Ovaj je roman jako dobar prikaz nekadašnje države i smatram da će svi koju živjeli u to vrijeme i dobro ga se sjećaju prepoznati mnoge prijatelje, članove obitelji, a možda i sebe u nekim od likova romana. Kroz dugačke rečenice i na trenutke nemogućnost praćenja autoričinih misli, bivamo uvučeni u taj jad i nezadovoljstvo ljudi, s lakoćom si možemo predočiti slike s papira jer je sve zorno opisano, bez uljepšavanja i uskraćivanja i najsitnijih i ponekad neugodnih detalja.
Autorica detaljno opisuje i mentalitet stanovnika ljudi s mora i kontinenta te u srž pogađa njihova razmišljenja jednih o drugima.
Rijeka: „I sve to na suncu, koje je tamo izdašno, jer je to grad na moru, na obali, i miriše na sol, na ribu, na borovinu, na sreću juga.“
Iako je sve prožeto ljubavi i osjećajem odgovornosti koji imaš kada nekoga voliš, ovo je sve samo ne ljubavna priča i otvara oči mnogima koji su izgubljeni u svakodnevici i ne mogu se izvući iz zagušenosti koju osjećaju i koju im njihovi bližnji uzrokuju. Progovara o nesreći žena koje se ne mogu izvući iz ralja toksičnih muškaraca, a odgoj i okolina im ne dopuštaju drukčije.
„Spašavajući njega – spašavala sam se od sebe, shvatila sam, od duga ljubavi, valjda, koju ne možeš samo tako odbaciti kao da nije bila, kao da nije postojala, nema je, ali je bila, bila je tvoj život, pa ako je ona bezvrijedna, onda si bezvrijedna i ti i tvoj život, a kako se s tim nositi?
Ovo je ukratko početak romana Divljakuša, priče čije se rečenice protežu u nedogled, u kojima autorica piše poput Virginije Woolf, sve što joj padne na pamet, ne trudeći se kratiti misli nepotrebnim točkama. Struja svijesti traje do samoga kraja, a kroz tu struju upoznajemo glavnu protagonisticu čije ime uopće ne saznajemo jer je roman napisan u ich-formi.
Tužna je i potresna ovo studija o mladih ljudima, naizgled školovanim, a zapravo nedovršenim, pesimističnim, previše uklopljenima u situaciju oko njih. Mladi koji proživljavaju patnje vlastitih roditelja te se teško odmiču od sudbine koja se čini toliko sličnom onoj koju promatraju cijeli život.
Iako je sve započelo idealno, velikom ljubavi dvaju studenata na Filozofskome fakultetu, sklonih filozofiranju i komentiranju svega oko sebe, ubrzo se slika drastično mijenja.
„Nisu svi došli uspjeti, neki su došli propasti i tim propadanjem ostvaruju sudbinu kao neki dug, i tu su im vrhunci, pomislila sam jednom kad sam ga vidjela kako sjedi na terasi nekog kafića, gdje me je čekao, jer je došao ranije.“
Nakon vjenčanja glavnih llikova, stvari se pogoršavaju. On je čudan, ima epizode, nestaje, a ona nakon nekog vremena saznaje da je bolestan i suočava se s okrutnom istinom, zaglibila je kao vlastita majka, u suživotu s pijavicom koja je doslovno siše i ne da joj naprijed. Ona je svejedno uporna i trudi se jer ga voli, jer je naučena na takav život i jer se to podrazumijeva kad si s nekime u braku.
„Ali život nije kolač koji možeš ne peći i tako izbjeći poraz, život prisiljava, moraš se truditi i kad je rezultat neizvjestan, i vječno se nadati najboljemu.“
Ovaj je roman jako dobar prikaz nekadašnje države i smatram da će svi koju živjeli u to vrijeme i dobro ga se sjećaju prepoznati mnoge prijatelje, članove obitelji, a možda i sebe u nekim od likova romana. Kroz dugačke rečenice i na trenutke nemogućnost praćenja autoričinih misli, bivamo uvučeni u taj jad i nezadovoljstvo ljudi, s lakoćom si možemo predočiti slike s papira jer je sve zorno opisano, bez uljepšavanja i uskraćivanja i najsitnijih i ponekad neugodnih detalja.
Autorica detaljno opisuje i mentalitet stanovnika ljudi s mora i kontinenta te u srž pogađa njihova razmišljenja jednih o drugima.
Rijeka: „I sve to na suncu, koje je tamo izdašno, jer je to grad na moru, na obali, i miriše na sol, na ribu, na borovinu, na sreću juga.“
Iako je sve prožeto ljubavi i osjećajem odgovornosti koji imaš kada nekoga voliš, ovo je sve samo ne ljubavna priča i otvara oči mnogima koji su izgubljeni u svakodnevici i ne mogu se izvući iz zagušenosti koju osjećaju i koju im njihovi bližnji uzrokuju. Progovara o nesreći žena koje se ne mogu izvući iz ralja toksičnih muškaraca, a odgoj i okolina im ne dopuštaju drukčije.
„Spašavajući njega – spašavala sam se od sebe, shvatila sam, od duga ljubavi, valjda, koju ne možeš samo tako odbaciti kao da nije bila, kao da nije postojala, nema je, ali je bila, bila je tvoj život, pa ako je ona bezvrijedna, onda si bezvrijedna i ti i tvoj život, a kako se s tim nositi?
January 17, 2024
Zanimljivo djelo pisano u ich-formi s dugim rečenicama koje unatoč dužini nisu bez reda. Na prvu može djelovati predugo, nabrajanja, zarez za zarezom, nabacano. Ali ne. Sve je dobro promišljeno. Ovo je intimna ispovijed žene koja je razotkriva sva lica ljubavi.
Smješten u sedamdesetima slušamo priču osobe koja dolazi iz siromašne obitelji. Otac alkoholičar, majka dominantna, sve što želi je bijeg od tog života. Na fakultetu pronalazi ljubav i unatoč svim upozorenjima uda se za njega. Je li pobjegla, je li život postao bolji, lakši? Ne. On se razboli.
Potrebno je pružiti mu pomoć, nastaviti studirati, raditi jer novac je potreban. Osjeća svu težinu, stvarnost života. Ali to ništa nije nemoguće, ni teško, sve za njega, sve za ljubav.
U nekom trenu kako životni put ide ta ljubav prestaje biti kao s početka. Sve više analizira svoj život, tu osobu s kojom bi trebala provesti život, okolinu, svoje odluke i shvaća da život prolazi i proći će....u čemu, zašto, za koga...
Knjiga nosi jednu težinu. Brutalno iskrena. Bolna, tužna. U nekim trenucima izbija toliko negativnosti da postane i depresivna. Konstantno sam imala viziju sebe kako sjedim sama u prostoriji, omanje kazalište i slušam monolog. Žena na pozornici, prigušeno svjetlo. Bolan prikaz njenog života. I sve što joj želite reći 'Ima vremena, nije sve izgubljeno.'
Smješten u sedamdesetima slušamo priču osobe koja dolazi iz siromašne obitelji. Otac alkoholičar, majka dominantna, sve što želi je bijeg od tog života. Na fakultetu pronalazi ljubav i unatoč svim upozorenjima uda se za njega. Je li pobjegla, je li život postao bolji, lakši? Ne. On se razboli.
Potrebno je pružiti mu pomoć, nastaviti studirati, raditi jer novac je potreban. Osjeća svu težinu, stvarnost života. Ali to ništa nije nemoguće, ni teško, sve za njega, sve za ljubav.
U nekom trenu kako životni put ide ta ljubav prestaje biti kao s početka. Sve više analizira svoj život, tu osobu s kojom bi trebala provesti život, okolinu, svoje odluke i shvaća da život prolazi i proći će....u čemu, zašto, za koga...
Knjiga nosi jednu težinu. Brutalno iskrena. Bolna, tužna. U nekim trenucima izbija toliko negativnosti da postane i depresivna. Konstantno sam imala viziju sebe kako sjedim sama u prostoriji, omanje kazalište i slušam monolog. Žena na pozornici, prigušeno svjetlo. Bolan prikaz njenog života. I sve što joj želite reći 'Ima vremena, nije sve izgubljeno.'
September 7, 2025
Marina Šur Puhlovski
Divljakuša
“…razmišljam kao da sam to jedva dočekala – taj red izvana koji je skrivao unutarnji nered, dovraga i s njim, odlučila sam, u napadu rušilačke snage, sve mora propasti da bi se moglo početi ponovno, i s redom i neredom, jer smo na njih valjda osuđeni.
“Vjerujte, nikad žensko srce toliko ne poštuje muškarca nego kad je sav prožet i predan svojim velikim ciljevima” – he he… i ovo mi smrdi na sljepilo… no ovo nije M. Š. Puhlovski već Marija Jurić Zagorka, a rođena je ovih dana (ni to nije baš jasno) prije otprilike 150 godina (i onda u istom članku piše da je rođena prije 143 godine, eto, to vam je današnje novinarstvo). Tu vijest (s oprečnim informacijama) možemo naći na portalima nakon 18 vijesti kojima dominiraju nekakvi Lovreni sa svojim srcedrapateljskim ispovijestima (nogometaš), pa skijasi, pa Grašo (pjevač), pa pjevačice (one su već neimenovane), pa sise, puno sisa, pa rat, pa vrijeme, pa tragedije…
I opet, čak i nakon 150 godina, ti ženski pisci, pardon spisateljice, prođu nekako ispod radara (a ovima koji su obilježili našu povijest ne zna se ni kada su rođene). I koliko god se trudim pratiti domaće, reflektor uvijek jače blješti nad muškim rodom. Za roman Divljakuša, M. Š. Puhlovski dobila je nagradu VBZ-a za neobjavljeni roman – mislim 2018. (koji se dostavlja anonimno – btw natječaj za 2023. je baš u tijeku…) i meni osobno se puno više sviđa od, na primjer, prošlogodišnjeg dobitnika Juraka, za čiji roman i danas ne znam što da mislim.
Divljakuša je roman o sljepilu, i to onom prvom, ljubavnom, koji vam se eto “omakne” kada tek kročimo u taj svijet, a nerijetko ima još i pokoju reprizu…
Iako je ta tema, rekli bismo na prvu, pravi klišej i toliko već puta, puta opjevana, opisana i o(t)plakana, nikako nije otpisana, jer ljubav uvijek je bila slijepa i uvijek će i biti…
“Jer što je zaljubljenost nego to sljepilo, vidiš što ti se sviđa, što te očarava, što te proširuje, od čega u sebi rasteš, vidiš što treba, a što ti ne treba, ne vidiš. Kad vidiš što ne želiš, nastojiš to ne vidjeti, pripisati odbojno slučaju, sakriti ga od sebe same, jer u glavu su ti uvalili ideal po kojem ćeš mjeriti i na koji viđeno nastojiš nategnuti.” Baš me nasmijala, a ima i dalje: “Katkad uspije, manje ili više kad nisi sasvim promašila, jer u biti promašiš uvijek (😂), ali i približno je nešto, barem podnošljivo. Na približnom opstoj(i) svijet.” E to mi je odlična rečenica… pa dalje: “A užasno je kad se ispostavi da dobiveno nije ni približno, da je sve upravo suprotno, da si drugog izmislio.”
Sviđa mi se jako ova autorica, način na koji piše, a drago mi je da je i roman smješten u Zagreb i da se koriste mnogi stari “zagrebački germanizmi”, šire se mirisi starih recepata, ulicom kestena i poznatih (mi) vizura.
Marina Šur Puhlovski ima zavidan broj izdanih djela, kojima ću nedvojbeno posvetiti više pažnje. A možda najzad potražim i Mariju Jurić Zagorku (…odnosno repriziram… rerea(d)am… ili kako već, omeo me kamion Čistoće, eh da, nisu bili na vijestima među prvih 18… dobro došli u 21. stoljeće).
Divljakuša
“…razmišljam kao da sam to jedva dočekala – taj red izvana koji je skrivao unutarnji nered, dovraga i s njim, odlučila sam, u napadu rušilačke snage, sve mora propasti da bi se moglo početi ponovno, i s redom i neredom, jer smo na njih valjda osuđeni.
“Vjerujte, nikad žensko srce toliko ne poštuje muškarca nego kad je sav prožet i predan svojim velikim ciljevima” – he he… i ovo mi smrdi na sljepilo… no ovo nije M. Š. Puhlovski već Marija Jurić Zagorka, a rođena je ovih dana (ni to nije baš jasno) prije otprilike 150 godina (i onda u istom članku piše da je rođena prije 143 godine, eto, to vam je današnje novinarstvo). Tu vijest (s oprečnim informacijama) možemo naći na portalima nakon 18 vijesti kojima dominiraju nekakvi Lovreni sa svojim srcedrapateljskim ispovijestima (nogometaš), pa skijasi, pa Grašo (pjevač), pa pjevačice (one su već neimenovane), pa sise, puno sisa, pa rat, pa vrijeme, pa tragedije…
I opet, čak i nakon 150 godina, ti ženski pisci, pardon spisateljice, prođu nekako ispod radara (a ovima koji su obilježili našu povijest ne zna se ni kada su rođene). I koliko god se trudim pratiti domaće, reflektor uvijek jače blješti nad muškim rodom. Za roman Divljakuša, M. Š. Puhlovski dobila je nagradu VBZ-a za neobjavljeni roman – mislim 2018. (koji se dostavlja anonimno – btw natječaj za 2023. je baš u tijeku…) i meni osobno se puno više sviđa od, na primjer, prošlogodišnjeg dobitnika Juraka, za čiji roman i danas ne znam što da mislim.
Divljakuša je roman o sljepilu, i to onom prvom, ljubavnom, koji vam se eto “omakne” kada tek kročimo u taj svijet, a nerijetko ima još i pokoju reprizu…
Iako je ta tema, rekli bismo na prvu, pravi klišej i toliko već puta, puta opjevana, opisana i o(t)plakana, nikako nije otpisana, jer ljubav uvijek je bila slijepa i uvijek će i biti…
“Jer što je zaljubljenost nego to sljepilo, vidiš što ti se sviđa, što te očarava, što te proširuje, od čega u sebi rasteš, vidiš što treba, a što ti ne treba, ne vidiš. Kad vidiš što ne želiš, nastojiš to ne vidjeti, pripisati odbojno slučaju, sakriti ga od sebe same, jer u glavu su ti uvalili ideal po kojem ćeš mjeriti i na koji viđeno nastojiš nategnuti.” Baš me nasmijala, a ima i dalje: “Katkad uspije, manje ili više kad nisi sasvim promašila, jer u biti promašiš uvijek (😂), ali i približno je nešto, barem podnošljivo. Na približnom opstoj(i) svijet.” E to mi je odlična rečenica… pa dalje: “A užasno je kad se ispostavi da dobiveno nije ni približno, da je sve upravo suprotno, da si drugog izmislio.”
Sviđa mi se jako ova autorica, način na koji piše, a drago mi je da je i roman smješten u Zagreb i da se koriste mnogi stari “zagrebački germanizmi”, šire se mirisi starih recepata, ulicom kestena i poznatih (mi) vizura.
Marina Šur Puhlovski ima zavidan broj izdanih djela, kojima ću nedvojbeno posvetiti više pažnje. A možda najzad potražim i Mariju Jurić Zagorku (…odnosno repriziram… rerea(d)am… ili kako već, omeo me kamion Čistoće, eh da, nisu bili na vijestima među prvih 18… dobro došli u 21. stoljeće).
August 30, 2019
Najdraže su mi knjige koje čitam s lakoćom, a da sadržaj svejedno tjera na promišljanje, analizu,... životna priča, nimalo originalna... takvih ima na svakom kutku... zaludu se nadat nekom preokretu, dinamičnom i bombastičnom. Nije ni život takav.
June 9, 2025
3.75 stars
August 6, 2020
I am getting kind of tired reading about weak women who allow men to ruin their lives.
July 6, 2020
Knjiga je predepresivna za moj ukus. Osim što je antiljubavna, rekla bih i da je antimuškaračka. Svi spomenuti muški likovi su alkoholičari, pijanci, bolesnici, tromi, pasivni i žive dan po dan isto, čekajući kraj života u kojima ih već nema, što se ističe nekoliko puta. Žene su te koje zarađuju, rade duple poslove, brinu o domaćinstvu, djeci i nemaju ništa od svojih muževa. Kao da svaki započeti odnos mora završiti u blatu.
June 12, 2025
country #8: Croatia. really enjoyed the stream of consciousness, slightly manic narrative style. good read!
January 30, 2019
Definitivno jedna od najboljih koje sam procitala. Biti ce je tesko nadmasiti. Nije stvar toliko u radnji koliko u stilu pisanja i zaraznom ritmu u koji te uvuce.
August 7, 2020
Wild Woman was a recent read as part of the Borderless Book Club. A good read and a good chat at the book club.
August 29, 2023
I liked this book, but it was certainly unconventional. It's written a lot like a stream of consciousness, which made it difficult to follow at times. I really enjoyed the story, though, it was a very intimate look at the lifespan of a relationship that was probably doomed from the beginning. But, to be honest, it wasn't very memorable. I'm glad I read it, but I probably won't read it again and can't necessarily recommend it.
September 16, 2024
The book is well written and the characters are nicely portrayed. While reading I got a good insight into how the main character thinks and why she acts the way she does, which I thought was really good. However, the writing style is not really up my alley, I would have enjoyed if it had a little bit more humor.
May 11, 2025
It took me forever to finish, got me in a reading slump and gave me a major case of empathy fatigue. Plus, the manic type of stream of consciousness gets tiring at some point.
May 21, 2021
Od Divljakuše sam očekivala baš ovoliku razinu neočekivanosti. Iz naslova provučene pretpostavke odmah su izgubile dodir sa stvarnosću knjige, sa stvarnošću sedamdesetih godina prošlog stoljeća. Nepredvidiv divlji dojam može biti sebi svojstvena ironija u kojoj divljina i divljakuša postoji i bez slobode. Zarobljeni bolešću patrijarhata mladi entuzijastično gledaju svijet kao svoje igralište. Je li to zbilja tako ili će vrlo vjerojatno ostati u čvoru svojih roditelja? Bezvremenskim opisima likova koji sačinjavaju mali svijet ovog romana autorica Marina Šur Puhlovski opisuje probleme tog vremena i te generacije u kojoj se još sve dijeli na prije i poslij rata. Glavnu riječ knjige prešutnim ugovorom vode muškarci koji nisu ujedno glavni likovi jer im život na leđima nose žene, skupa s njima. Bezimeni par sličnih životnih sudbina počinje svoju ljubavnu priču koja je zapravo prava pravcata antiljubavna poruka. „Još je mogao hodati kad smo se vjenčali, samo na općini, najuža odbina, kumovi, Kostja s njegove, Flora s moje strane, nekoliko prijatelja, Adam, Filip, Petra, moja Irena iz gimnazije pa Leom; skromna večera u našem stanu, kakvi su nam i prihodi.“ Čekaju li žene svoju smrt udajom ili ožive brinući se o nekome tko to neće uzvratiti i samoubijaju se svakodnevno, revno i poslušno? Iluzija je samo iluzija i tako protagonistica, studentica književnosti, samoj sebi postaje sjena, duh koji gura njenog supruga. „Umjesto buketa kupili smo knjig kod prodavača polovnih knjiga, povoljna cijena, nismo mogli odoljeti ... pjevušili smo i skakali od sreće jer se knjiga više nije mogla kupiti.“ Idila nije ostala ni postojala čak ni kao privid. Svojim pisanjem u obliku toka misli autorica je naglasila kaotičnost i nered života iz kojeg čitatelj svakom stranicom može kristalizirati život kakav želi iz treba kao kontrast napisanom. „Nikad mu ne vraćam, bolestan je, mogla bih ga ozlijediti, samo se skvrčim, pokušavam se zaštititi rukom, kao i nekad pred ocem“
Izići iz čvora života ili ga presjeći odnosno odvezati sad djeluje kao izlaz. Teška stvarnost od pokorne žene stvori divljakušu. Priča to je koja skače iz osude u osudu. Iz žene bez glave i želje za svojim pravima u onu koja sebe i svoju vrijednost svodi samo na užitak tjelesnosti bez osjećaja za stvarnost.
Izići iz čvora života ili ga presjeći odnosno odvezati sad djeluje kao izlaz. Teška stvarnost od pokorne žene stvori divljakušu. Priča to je koja skače iz osude u osudu. Iz žene bez glave i želje za svojim pravima u onu koja sebe i svoju vrijednost svodi samo na užitak tjelesnosti bez osjećaja za stvarnost.
August 15, 2019
Mlada žena izgubljena u uzaludnosti života koji ništa ne pruža i beznadnog braka koji ništa ne donosi, samo odnosi. Vječiti problem žene u patrijarhalnom društvu koja voli, kuha, sprema, misli, organizira, spašava i djeluje za dvoje pa se, kad joj konačno bude dosta muškarca koji je niškoristi, konstantno razočarava.
Mogla je biti poprilično kraća bez da išta izgubi. Dosta je epizoda za koje mislim da ne donose skoro ništa - ne nadograđuju priču niti je objašnjavaju, na primjer, onaj put u Grčku. Ali stil je poseban, i sviđa mi se što te rečenica često odvede tamo gdje uopće ne očekuješ (Ispraćao me je mojom ulicom kojom sam bježala od kuće, s nešto veša, presvlake i neophodne kozmetike u plastičnoj putnoj torbi s natpisom Adidas i grižnjom savjesti jer sam ostavila psa čovjeku kojem ne vjerujem.).
November 6, 2022
If this book had ended a few chapters earlier, I might have given it a higher rating. I kind of got lost in the end. I felt like I got a glimpse of 1970s Zagreb, but I had a hard time with the end. I'm not sure if things will improve or get worse for the character.
August 5, 2018
Glavna junakinja Divljakuse zeli biti junakinja vlastite romanticne price; osmisljavajuci bajku za sebe i svog dragog kojeg je izabrala kao glavnog protagonista svoje utopije na pocetku studija knjizevnosti (iako ju je zapravo privlacio jednako kao sto ju je i odbijao) zanemaruje ostatak svijeta oko sebe kao i sebe samu, uljuljkavajuci se u eskapisticko stanje 'idile' koja to, naravno, nije. Autorica polagano i vjesto gradi pricu oko glavog lika i njenog 'jedinog' koja je puna rupa preko kojih junakinja stavlja lagane tkanine ne udubljavajuci se previse u probleme koji se vrlo rano pojavljuju. Sto navodi junakinju da ne propituje situaciju sa svojim dragim cak i nakon sto sa svih strana dobija znakove upozorenja? Mladenacki bunt jedno je objasnjenje, kao i pretjerana romantizacija onoga sto bi se njoj 'trebalo dogoditi', sto smatra da je 'zasluzila' ili da joj je na neki nacin predodredjeno kao bijeg iz dosadne, bolne i zapravo isprazne svakodnevice prosarane bolescu nasilnog oca, siromastvom i nedostatkom perspektive koja se uglavnom puni alkoholom, cigaretama i razgovorima o vlastitoj velicini i buducoj slavi, a koji ne motiviraju na konkretnu akciju.
Ona se tvrdoglavo drzi svojih (takodjer ispraznih) ideala odbijajuci raspravu ili ikakav konflikt (pa tako na jednom mjestu gdje se ideal vec pocinje rasplinjavati, razmislja kako 'osobito treba izbjeci raspravu, znam i razumijem, toliko sam vec odrasla, nikakva rasprava, koja je u osnovi magla, ona najgusca, po kojoj se ne mozes kretati, jer ne znas kamo, jer su strane svijeta izgubljene...').
Jednom kada balon koji je stvorila pukne, junakinja zamjenjuje sklop romanticne idealizacije bijesom koji je u njoj citavo vrijeme kljucao, jer buduci da balon nije sadrzavao nista, on nebnudi niti nikakvo rjesenje ili sadrzaj za dalje pa potraga za 'sobom' (kao na kraju svake dobro osmisljene iluzije) zapravo tek pocinje.
Ona se tvrdoglavo drzi svojih (takodjer ispraznih) ideala odbijajuci raspravu ili ikakav konflikt (pa tako na jednom mjestu gdje se ideal vec pocinje rasplinjavati, razmislja kako 'osobito treba izbjeci raspravu, znam i razumijem, toliko sam vec odrasla, nikakva rasprava, koja je u osnovi magla, ona najgusca, po kojoj se ne mozes kretati, jer ne znas kamo, jer su strane svijeta izgubljene...').
Jednom kada balon koji je stvorila pukne, junakinja zamjenjuje sklop romanticne idealizacije bijesom koji je u njoj citavo vrijeme kljucao, jer buduci da balon nije sadrzavao nista, on nebnudi niti nikakvo rjesenje ili sadrzaj za dalje pa potraga za 'sobom' (kao na kraju svake dobro osmisljene iluzije) zapravo tek pocinje.
March 22, 2025
with a title like wild woman, i thought i was getting a story about, well, a wild woman. instead, 95% of it is just her being slowly drained by a man who gives her nothing. and then, finally, in the last chapter, she breaks free—only for the book to immediately cut to her feeling miserable again.
and sure, that’s realistic. no one walks away from a toxic relationship and instantly feels amazing. but after watching her suffer for so long, i wanted something. a shift, a sense that she might actually be okay. instead, it’s like, “yay, she left—anyway, she’s sad again. the end.”
the writing, though, was interesting. it’s stream of consciousness, which at first had me questioning if i even knew how to read english because i genuinely wasn’t understanding anything and had to re-read paragraphs multiple times just to keep up. but once i adjusted, i actually kind of loved how intimate and personal it felt. it’s raw and messy in a way that makes you feel like you’re inside the protagonist’s head, which works, even when the story itself starts to drag.
but overall? this book felt like one long, slow unraveling with no real payoff. i don’t mind reading about struggle, but at some point, i need it to go somewhere. this one doesn’t—it ends just as it finally should be beginning. two stars.
and sure, that’s realistic. no one walks away from a toxic relationship and instantly feels amazing. but after watching her suffer for so long, i wanted something. a shift, a sense that she might actually be okay. instead, it’s like, “yay, she left—anyway, she’s sad again. the end.”
the writing, though, was interesting. it’s stream of consciousness, which at first had me questioning if i even knew how to read english because i genuinely wasn’t understanding anything and had to re-read paragraphs multiple times just to keep up. but once i adjusted, i actually kind of loved how intimate and personal it felt. it’s raw and messy in a way that makes you feel like you’re inside the protagonist’s head, which works, even when the story itself starts to drag.
but overall? this book felt like one long, slow unraveling with no real payoff. i don’t mind reading about struggle, but at some point, i need it to go somewhere. this one doesn’t—it ends just as it finally should be beginning. two stars.
August 15, 2025
3⭐️
I was expecting a bit more from this book tbh. The blurb sounded quite interesting also the fact that it’s set in 1970‘s Zagreb sold it for me because I‘m in Croatia right now.
There was a strong beginning and you get thrown into the life of a young woman who’s literally decaying because she feels so horrible. The book as it is was quite boring I have to say. 250 pages of her being drained by a very miserable man, her pitying herself and not DOING anything. She wanted to leave him before they even met which is crazy!!! She tried to safe the relationship multiple times but you can’t change a man that is groundbreaking horrible.
The most underwhelming thing was the end. I thought that we would get a least something after she leaves him but nothing. She’s still miserable even tho she‘s ‚free‘ and there was no character development whatsoever. I get that you‘re not feeling rainbows after being treated like that your whole life. But it’s still a book and I just wanted some kind of conclusion.
I didn’t like the writing style to much I thought it was a bit all over the place and jumping to different topics every 5 sentences which was a bit hard to follow.
The only thing I really enjoyed was reading about the different places that I already visited or will visit in Croatia. Other than that definitely underwhelming.
I was expecting a bit more from this book tbh. The blurb sounded quite interesting also the fact that it’s set in 1970‘s Zagreb sold it for me because I‘m in Croatia right now.
There was a strong beginning and you get thrown into the life of a young woman who’s literally decaying because she feels so horrible. The book as it is was quite boring I have to say. 250 pages of her being drained by a very miserable man, her pitying herself and not DOING anything. She wanted to leave him before they even met which is crazy!!! She tried to safe the relationship multiple times but you can’t change a man that is groundbreaking horrible.
The most underwhelming thing was the end. I thought that we would get a least something after she leaves him but nothing. She’s still miserable even tho she‘s ‚free‘ and there was no character development whatsoever. I get that you‘re not feeling rainbows after being treated like that your whole life. But it’s still a book and I just wanted some kind of conclusion.
I didn’t like the writing style to much I thought it was a bit all over the place and jumping to different topics every 5 sentences which was a bit hard to follow.
The only thing I really enjoyed was reading about the different places that I already visited or will visit in Croatia. Other than that definitely underwhelming.
September 3, 2020
After quite a slow start I grew to really like this. At its heart this is a fairly bleak portrait of a young, idealistic marriage gone bad, but the bleakness is offset by the initially hopeful story of the romance between the two university students as well as an enjoyable evocation of life in 1970s Zagreb, maybe more enjoyable for me because it still reminded me of time spent in Eastern Europe some years later.
September 19, 2020
A maddening journey into a woman's outrageous desire to have the man she loves love her back, treat her with respect, and pay attention to her. The slow drip of her love's malicious taking-for-granted drives the narrator crazy, but no more than it would any of us. This isn't the traditional chauvinist tale of a woman going mad, but a woman having a completely sane response to utterly ridiculous and entitled behavior. The translation is gaunt and prickly, and perfect for the point of view.
June 1, 2023
While the style of writing was immersive, this book was like if Elena Ferrante wrote the entire Neapolitan series just about Nino. We see the tale of her failed marriage, but we have no other insight into her life, what drives her, what she loves, except for this stupid, entitled pig of a man. And in the end, we don’t even get a glimpse into if she rises from the ashes.
August 12, 2020
My second pick for Women in Translation month, this short Croatian novel set in the 1970's starts with an almost manic first person recalling of a young woman falling for the wrong guy. The narrative settles as she gains insight and maturity. A worthwhile read.
May 23, 2022
Odličan roman, čita se u jednom dahu. Priča o ljubavi razočarane mlade žene koja ju dovodi do očaja. Stilski napisana bez pretencioznosti i koliko nam spisateljica otkriva karaktere glavnih junaka toliko dobivamo i intimnu sliku hrvatskog društva desetak godina prije raspada Jugoslavije.
December 8, 2024
brilliant coming of age novel which i felt (as an american) really captures a lot of Croatian/Balkan culture. it gets dark but the ending and the way this infantilized and childish woman comes to terms with reality and becomes feral and a real woman is so great and satisfying.
September 10, 2021
The endless monologue drive me crazy as did her 'love'.
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