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Speak, Silence
WINNER OF THE 2021 TORONTO BOOK AWARD NOMINATED FOR THE 2022 EVERGREEN AWARDFrom the internationally bestselling and Giller-shortlisted author of The Disappeared, an astounding, poetic novel about war and loss, suffering and courage, and the strength of women through it all.It’s been eleven years since Gota has seen Kosmos, yet she still finds herself fantasizing about their intimate year together in Paris. Now it’s 1999 and, working as a journalist, she hears about a film festival in Sarajevo, where she knows Kosmos will be with his theatre company. She takes the assignment to investigate the fallout of the Bosnian war—and to reconnect with the love of her life. But when they are reunited, she finds a man, and a country, altered beyond recognition. Kosmos introduces Gota to Edina, the woman he has always loved. While Gota treads the precarious terrain of her evolving connection to Kosmos, she and Edina forge an unexpected bond. A lawyer and a force to be reckoned with, Edina exposes the sexual violence that she and thousands of others survived in the war. Before long, Gota finds her life entwined with the community of women and travels with them to The Hague to confront their abusers. The events she covers—and the stories she hears—will change herlife forever. Written in Kim Echlin’s masterfully luminescent prose, Speak, Silence weaves together the experiences of a resilient sisterhood and tells the story of the real-life trial that would come to shape history. In a heart-wrenching tale of suffering and loss and a beautiful illustration of power and love, Echlin explores what it means to speak out against the very people who would do anything to silence you.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published March 2, 2021
16 people are currently reading
977 people want to read
About the author
Kim Echlin
20 books112 followersAward-winning author Kim Echlin lives in Toronto. She is the author of Elephant Winter and Dagmar’s Daughter, and her third novel, The Disappeared, was short-listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and won the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award for Fiction. She has translated a collection of poetry about the goddess Inanna, the earliest written poetry in the world. Her new novel, Speak, Silence is coming out in March 2021.
Kim has lived and worked around the world. She has been a documentary producer at the CBC and currently teaches creative writing.
Kim has lived and worked around the world. She has been a documentary producer at the CBC and currently teaches creative writing.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
June 2, 2021
This beautifully crafted and deeply moving slim novel is one that CBC books recommended and I am definitely recommending it too.
Speak, Silence is about the women of the former Yugoslavia that were brutally raped as an act of ethnic cleansing during the war in Bosnia and those who prepared for the trial at the ICC five years later.
You will probably get angry about this book, but you will also come away with the understanding of how rape has been used in wartime and its devastating effects on generations of people.
Goodreads review published 02/06/21
Speak, Silence is about the women of the former Yugoslavia that were brutally raped as an act of ethnic cleansing during the war in Bosnia and those who prepared for the trial at the ICC five years later.
You will probably get angry about this book, but you will also come away with the understanding of how rape has been used in wartime and its devastating effects on generations of people.
Goodreads review published 02/06/21
November 22, 2021
Speak, Silence is a historical fiction written by Kim Echlin. It centers on journalist Gota Dobson who takes an assignment to find her former lover and to investigate the fallout of the Bosnian war and learns more about the attrocites that the former Yugoslavian government has committed – in particular to women. It has won the 2021 Toronto Book Awards.
Toronto journalist Gota Dobson becomes increasingly agitated by the violence in the former Yugoslavia, which she sees on the news and reads about in the paper. Gota convinces the editor of the travel magazine she frequently writes for that she should go to Sarajevo to cover a film festival that is improbably happening in the midst of ongoing fighting just outside the city.
Her purpose is twofold. She is restless and feels the need to do something in response to the conflicts. Alongside articles about the film festival, she chronicles the situation from within Sarajevo, posting dispatches that get slotted into the back of the travel magazine under a pseudonym. Though this desire to tell is one purpose, her other is to track down Kosmos, the father of her child, whom she has not seen since he left her after a brief affair when they were both in Paris eleven years ago.
Gota was then a young woman in search of adventure and purpose and he was a not-as-young man intent on writing plays rooted in his Bosnian heritage, who was in love not with Gota but with a married woman. That woman, Edina, becomes an elemental figure in Gota’s life when Kosmos turns up to meet her at a café with Edina.
She is a lawyer and survivor of sexual, psychological, and physical abuse at the hands of the Bosnian Serb militants who took over her town of Foča early in the conflicts, Edina is working with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to record statements from other women like her, who were brutalized in unspeakable ways, who watched their husbands, brothers, and fathers shot or shipped off to labor camps; who endured abuse at the hands of men who were once neighbors; and who survived to tell their stories.
Speak, Silence is written extremely well – it is far from perfect, but it comes rather close. The fictional accounts are based on the actual testimonies of victims who spoke to ICTY during the six years of preparation leading up to the 2000 trial at The Hague. Though Echlin insulates the reader from bearing the full force of these stories under the guise of fiction, she also makes it clear that these things really happened. Her writing is at its most powerful in these moments, her anger couched in terms of brutality.
All in all, Speak, Silence weaves together the experiences of a resilient sisterhood and tells the harrowing story of the real-life trial that would come to shape history. It is a heart-wrenching tale of suffering and loss and a beautiful illustration of power and love.
Toronto journalist Gota Dobson becomes increasingly agitated by the violence in the former Yugoslavia, which she sees on the news and reads about in the paper. Gota convinces the editor of the travel magazine she frequently writes for that she should go to Sarajevo to cover a film festival that is improbably happening in the midst of ongoing fighting just outside the city.
Her purpose is twofold. She is restless and feels the need to do something in response to the conflicts. Alongside articles about the film festival, she chronicles the situation from within Sarajevo, posting dispatches that get slotted into the back of the travel magazine under a pseudonym. Though this desire to tell is one purpose, her other is to track down Kosmos, the father of her child, whom she has not seen since he left her after a brief affair when they were both in Paris eleven years ago.
Gota was then a young woman in search of adventure and purpose and he was a not-as-young man intent on writing plays rooted in his Bosnian heritage, who was in love not with Gota but with a married woman. That woman, Edina, becomes an elemental figure in Gota’s life when Kosmos turns up to meet her at a café with Edina.
She is a lawyer and survivor of sexual, psychological, and physical abuse at the hands of the Bosnian Serb militants who took over her town of Foča early in the conflicts, Edina is working with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to record statements from other women like her, who were brutalized in unspeakable ways, who watched their husbands, brothers, and fathers shot or shipped off to labor camps; who endured abuse at the hands of men who were once neighbors; and who survived to tell their stories.
Speak, Silence is written extremely well – it is far from perfect, but it comes rather close. The fictional accounts are based on the actual testimonies of victims who spoke to ICTY during the six years of preparation leading up to the 2000 trial at The Hague. Though Echlin insulates the reader from bearing the full force of these stories under the guise of fiction, she also makes it clear that these things really happened. Her writing is at its most powerful in these moments, her anger couched in terms of brutality.
All in all, Speak, Silence weaves together the experiences of a resilient sisterhood and tells the harrowing story of the real-life trial that would come to shape history. It is a heart-wrenching tale of suffering and loss and a beautiful illustration of power and love.
February 10, 2021
Stunning, haunting, enraging, bewildering. Name a visceral emotional response, SPEAK, SILENCE will give it to you. It is also heartachingly beautiful. I picked up this book wondering if Kim Echlin could come close to matching her wonderful UNDER THE VISIBLE LIFE (2016). Astonishingly, she has surpassed herself.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 21, 2021
Speak, Silence is a brief but powerful novel based on the true events of the International Criminal Trial of the former Yugoslavia. Told from the point of view of a canadian journalist, Gota, it covers the trial concerning the systemic assault of generations of women by soldiers, which led to a change in international law that classified rape in these circumstances not as a crime against individual women, but instead a war crime, against all of humanity. Gota's own life inextricably falls into the narration; how she knew about the war in the first place, through her estranged lover; his current wife, and one of the witnesses and victims of the trial; and the people and places so ultimately tied to deep tragedy and change.
I had only really known about ICTY through girl scouts (oddly enough) as one of our campsites was named after Dorothy Thomas, a human rights advocate who researched and wrote academic papers on the exploitation of women in war. Outside of ICTY, I knew little of crimes against humanity apart from the holocaust and events of world war II. Reading this book (listening, rather) was a further insight into international history, human rights, and all through a well-constructed literary lens.
Audiobook accessed through the libro.fm bookseller program.
I had only really known about ICTY through girl scouts (oddly enough) as one of our campsites was named after Dorothy Thomas, a human rights advocate who researched and wrote academic papers on the exploitation of women in war. Outside of ICTY, I knew little of crimes against humanity apart from the holocaust and events of world war II. Reading this book (listening, rather) was a further insight into international history, human rights, and all through a well-constructed literary lens.
Audiobook accessed through the libro.fm bookseller program.
March 9, 2024
A very disturbing and timely topic — the mass rape of Croatian and Bosnian women in the Serbian War of the 1990’s. The story focuses primarily on one woman and her mother and daughter, as told through the eyes of an American woman writer. The first half develops the characters well. The second half of the book deals with the trauma through the emotionally neutralizing lens of a trial held at the Hague — in which the use of mass rape in war was legally established as a Crime Against Humanity. This portion of the book is rather dry and legalistic — but for reasons, I think, that are dictated by the need to deal seriously (and without the cheapening effect of melodrama) with the topic at hand. This, however, and unfortunately, somewhat weakens the effect of the book as a piece of fiction.
March 14, 2022
There were times I put this one down and wept. It's about the International Criminal Court Trials after the Yugoslavian wars where, for the first time, rape was prosecuted as a crime against humanity. Throughout, Echlin holds the reader's head to see the truth; "to know is not enough". it beautifully, tenderly written.
October 31, 2021
Heart-wrenching portrayal of the Bosnian war human rights trial and the sexual violence and death thousands of women encountered. Not an easy read but an essential one.
October 7, 2022
Simple, yet powerful. A beautiful way to give voice to those who all too often feel voiceless.
June 23, 2021
If you haven’t read a book by Kim Echlin yet, you really should. Her latest, Speak, Silence is a beautiful yet horrific meditation on women who are testifying at a trial at the Hague against the systemic rape they experienced during the Bosnian war. The topic is obviously a difficult one, and there were times I felt like putting the book down, but believe me when I say you are in good, tender hands with Echlin. She writes with the beauty of a poet, and the empathy of a family member. Although I never formally reviewed it, I recall having the same reaction to her book The Disappeared, which also centers on those who are war-torn and traumatized. But she never focuses on their pain alone, instead people’s pain becomes a part of the story that helps us view them as human first and foremost, those who would normally be labeled as victims only. I could read anything written by Echlin and love it, I’m sure of that, but I also feel confidant in recommending her to many different kinds of readers because her mastery of language is something no one should miss out on.
Plot Summary
Gota is a young Canadian visiting Paris when she falls in love with a man named Kosmos. After a few passionate weeks he abruptly leaves her to travel back home, not knowing that Gota is pregnant. She returns to Canada to raise their child and works as a journalist to make ends meet while living a quiet life with her mother to help her. Later, she decides to travel to Sarajevo for work with the assumption that Kosmos will be there, and he is. They are happily reunited, but Gota is also taken with Kosmos’s old lover and friend Edina who is helping other women prepare their witness statements for the upcoming trial in the Hague. These women were held against their will in camps, repeatedly raped by soldiers and sold amongst them during the Bosnian war. Now, one man is being brought to justice in the first ever attempt i to prove rape as an assault against human dignity, which would be considered a war crime. Gota and Edina form a deep friendship while Gota observes the trial which Edina, her mother, and her daughter all testify in, all having been victims of the human trafficking that happened during the conflict. Gota wants to write about these women and support Edina, but she also misses her own daughter and mother back in Canada. Through the bravery of the women who have come to give witness statements against the ex-soldier, Gota learns of the incredible power it has taken them to continue living their life while nursing a broken soul from their experiences in the past.
My Thoughts
If I have to read about a difficult subject, I want Echlin to be the writer of the words on the page. This book is about rape, war, trauma, violence, and the everlasting power it has to crumble even the strongest of us. But there is nothing sensational, or explicit in this novel. Instead, it is a tender meditation on female strength, our willpower, and our motivation to simply keep going. Although not the main character, Edina’s life is the most fleshed out, and she captures both Gota and the reader’s fascination as soon as she introduced to us as Kosmos’s old lover. The relationship that she builds with Gota is a tenuous one, built upon abrupt confessions and long-distance chess games played over the phone. The story of the death of Edina’s husband acts as a sort of climax to the plot, and although this is hardly a plot-centric novel, her timeline shaped the narrative more than Gota ever did. Gota is a well-developed character too, but I viewed her as more of a conduit to the other characters and their own pain. Although Kosmos’s departure left her upset, her emotions were always muted in comparison to the larger story of the Bosnian war and its victims.
This may come as a shock, but the book is a pleasure to read other than the few, sparse sections that detail the physical violence the women experienced. Echlin’s words are like poetry, in fact there are many pages where italicized words are included in the middle of a paragraph or conversation, acting as (I assumed) Gota’s internal thoughts, or the combined thoughts of the female witnesses:
“The women witnesses had spoken. I feel dead but I am condemned to live. I feel destroyed” (p. 169).
These italicized words feature throughout the book, and it’s not always clear who is speaking or thinking them, but they come with a tone of finality and authority that I appreciated, especially as a female voice. Although these women had their power and autonomy taken away by men and the war, they are given back a sense of independence and authority with the chance to testify, which both emboldens and breaks them. Echlin gives us a glimpse into this unexplainable dichotomy in a memorable novel that is sure to hit the prize lists this Fall.
To read the rest of my reviews, please visit my blog:
https://ivereadthis.com/
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Plot Summary
Gota is a young Canadian visiting Paris when she falls in love with a man named Kosmos. After a few passionate weeks he abruptly leaves her to travel back home, not knowing that Gota is pregnant. She returns to Canada to raise their child and works as a journalist to make ends meet while living a quiet life with her mother to help her. Later, she decides to travel to Sarajevo for work with the assumption that Kosmos will be there, and he is. They are happily reunited, but Gota is also taken with Kosmos’s old lover and friend Edina who is helping other women prepare their witness statements for the upcoming trial in the Hague. These women were held against their will in camps, repeatedly raped by soldiers and sold amongst them during the Bosnian war. Now, one man is being brought to justice in the first ever attempt i to prove rape as an assault against human dignity, which would be considered a war crime. Gota and Edina form a deep friendship while Gota observes the trial which Edina, her mother, and her daughter all testify in, all having been victims of the human trafficking that happened during the conflict. Gota wants to write about these women and support Edina, but she also misses her own daughter and mother back in Canada. Through the bravery of the women who have come to give witness statements against the ex-soldier, Gota learns of the incredible power it has taken them to continue living their life while nursing a broken soul from their experiences in the past.
My Thoughts
If I have to read about a difficult subject, I want Echlin to be the writer of the words on the page. This book is about rape, war, trauma, violence, and the everlasting power it has to crumble even the strongest of us. But there is nothing sensational, or explicit in this novel. Instead, it is a tender meditation on female strength, our willpower, and our motivation to simply keep going. Although not the main character, Edina’s life is the most fleshed out, and she captures both Gota and the reader’s fascination as soon as she introduced to us as Kosmos’s old lover. The relationship that she builds with Gota is a tenuous one, built upon abrupt confessions and long-distance chess games played over the phone. The story of the death of Edina’s husband acts as a sort of climax to the plot, and although this is hardly a plot-centric novel, her timeline shaped the narrative more than Gota ever did. Gota is a well-developed character too, but I viewed her as more of a conduit to the other characters and their own pain. Although Kosmos’s departure left her upset, her emotions were always muted in comparison to the larger story of the Bosnian war and its victims.
This may come as a shock, but the book is a pleasure to read other than the few, sparse sections that detail the physical violence the women experienced. Echlin’s words are like poetry, in fact there are many pages where italicized words are included in the middle of a paragraph or conversation, acting as (I assumed) Gota’s internal thoughts, or the combined thoughts of the female witnesses:
“The women witnesses had spoken. I feel dead but I am condemned to live. I feel destroyed” (p. 169).
These italicized words feature throughout the book, and it’s not always clear who is speaking or thinking them, but they come with a tone of finality and authority that I appreciated, especially as a female voice. Although these women had their power and autonomy taken away by men and the war, they are given back a sense of independence and authority with the chance to testify, which both emboldens and breaks them. Echlin gives us a glimpse into this unexplainable dichotomy in a memorable novel that is sure to hit the prize lists this Fall.
To read the rest of my reviews, please visit my blog:
https://ivereadthis.com/
Sign up for my newsletter here: https://ivereadthis.com/subscribe/
Or follow me on social media!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ivereadthis/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ivereadthisblog
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD6E...
July 31, 2023
What a powerful book. I was left grateful for having read this book and also now fully aware that I hold stories of horrific things that took place during the war and act as a burial ground for these women. Beautifully written and such a powerful read.
February 3, 2023
3.5 stars
August 4, 2024
My god.
That's all I've got.
5/5 stars.
That's all I've got.
5/5 stars.
March 20, 2021
Wowwww!!!
It’s so so damn good!!
It’s so so damn good!!
May 19, 2024
Excellent book despite the story of rape as ethnic cleansing and the barbarities of the Bosnian war.
March 12, 2021
Very insightful. I never knew much about Bosnian war or the role of The Hague
December 27, 2025
Speak, Silence is about the women who were brutally raped as an act of ethnic cleansing during the Bosnian War. Our narrator is Gota, a journalist travels to Savajero partially to cover the story of the war, and partially to be reunited with Kosmos, her first love. When she she finally sees Kosmos again after over a decade, he is with Edina, the woman Gota has known he was in love with from the beginning. Edina is a lawyer who has been interviewing hundreds of women who were tortured and sexually assaulted during the war; these interviews are ultimately helping to build the case against one of the war generals who facilitated and participated in the mass rapes. The novel takes place over the span of a few years, from when Gota and Edina meet, to when the trial finally ends. Interwoven within this story are the additional stories of Gota's mother, her daughter, Kosmos, Edina's husband Ivan, and Edina's daughter and mother.
Ultimately, this is a story of women, womanhood, and the fight for justice.
Firstly, I learned so much about the Bosnian war through this book. The war and the mass rapes happened before I was born, and I never knew that rape as an act of war was still happening 30 years ago. Why did we never learn about this in school? This was also my first time hearing about the international courts and the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia). I am glad I read this book, because I already know I will be seeking out more books to learn about this part of history.
Secondly, Kim Echlin's writing is incredible. It was brutal and striking to read about these events, and they left a mark on me. It was a lot to think about. The relationships she wrote about also felt so real. The love that Gota had for Kosmos, and Kosmos had for Edina. The friendship between Gota and Edina. The relationships between mothers and daughters. Wives and husbands. I loved all the side characters too.
Lastly, the most essential part of this book for me was the trial, and the importance of choosing to remember. What it means for us, for the victims, for justice, and for the world. Above all, we must remember what these women went through. They re-lived their worst memories and allowed themselves to be scrutinized and questioned for this justice to be served. But in the end, only one man (or a few men) were punished. These few men stood in place of the hundreds (thousands?) who committed these crimes; some of them still roam free. These women had to re-build their lives, go through their trauma. They put themselves in danger in order to testify. In the end, was the trial enough? I don't think it was. We're still not doing enough. Mass rapes are still happening, and women are still being targeted to break communities around the world. If anything, this event should teach the world to take notice of such violence and act sooner. The world only reacted to these mass rapes after they had already happened. For the women who lives through this, no one came. And that, I think, is what needs to change. When alarm bells go off, we need to react immediately.
I listened to the audiobook version of this book, and I'd just like to say that Athena Karkanis did a truly exemplary job. Every character had such a distinct voice! And gosh, how did she do all the accents?! Incredible.
Ultimately, this is a story of women, womanhood, and the fight for justice.
Firstly, I learned so much about the Bosnian war through this book. The war and the mass rapes happened before I was born, and I never knew that rape as an act of war was still happening 30 years ago. Why did we never learn about this in school? This was also my first time hearing about the international courts and the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia). I am glad I read this book, because I already know I will be seeking out more books to learn about this part of history.
Secondly, Kim Echlin's writing is incredible. It was brutal and striking to read about these events, and they left a mark on me. It was a lot to think about. The relationships she wrote about also felt so real. The love that Gota had for Kosmos, and Kosmos had for Edina. The friendship between Gota and Edina. The relationships between mothers and daughters. Wives and husbands. I loved all the side characters too.
Lastly, the most essential part of this book for me was the trial, and the importance of choosing to remember. What it means for us, for the victims, for justice, and for the world. Above all, we must remember what these women went through. They re-lived their worst memories and allowed themselves to be scrutinized and questioned for this justice to be served. But in the end, only one man (or a few men) were punished. These few men stood in place of the hundreds (thousands?) who committed these crimes; some of them still roam free. These women had to re-build their lives, go through their trauma. They put themselves in danger in order to testify. In the end, was the trial enough? I don't think it was. We're still not doing enough. Mass rapes are still happening, and women are still being targeted to break communities around the world. If anything, this event should teach the world to take notice of such violence and act sooner. The world only reacted to these mass rapes after they had already happened. For the women who lives through this, no one came. And that, I think, is what needs to change. When alarm bells go off, we need to react immediately.
I listened to the audiobook version of this book, and I'd just like to say that Athena Karkanis did a truly exemplary job. Every character had such a distinct voice! And gosh, how did she do all the accents?! Incredible.
March 25, 2021
The central dilemma in this profound story is how to persuade women who have been gang-raped to testify at the Hague’s International Tribunal in 2000. The women have to relive their horror in order to testify, while their rapists walk the streets. “Between 1991 and 1995, an estimated 60,000 women were raped in wars in the former Yugoslavia.”
This is a very important book. It shows how three generations of women in multiple families deal with unspeakable abuse. This is not about the Bosnian war; it is about the use of women’s bodies to destroy the future; rape as a strategy in ethnic cleansing - a tool to commit what amounts to genocide.
Kim Echlin creates a tight weave of characters, including Gota Dobson who travels from Toronto to Sarajevo and gets involved as a journalist. Gota reunites with her former lover Kosmos after eleven years, and tells him that they have a daughter. She plays chess with the fiercely wounded Edina – a Bosnian lawyer who is organizing her fellow witnesses to testify at the trial.
This is a brave book laced with the unspeakable horrors that can be committed on this earth. It speaks of the amputation of the soul, and about people who “go on living in all kinds of conditions.” Echlin’s novel skillfully maneuvers language to capture the things that we say are unspeakable. Stretch yourself. Read this book. It will reward you deeply.
This is a very important book. It shows how three generations of women in multiple families deal with unspeakable abuse. This is not about the Bosnian war; it is about the use of women’s bodies to destroy the future; rape as a strategy in ethnic cleansing - a tool to commit what amounts to genocide.
Kim Echlin creates a tight weave of characters, including Gota Dobson who travels from Toronto to Sarajevo and gets involved as a journalist. Gota reunites with her former lover Kosmos after eleven years, and tells him that they have a daughter. She plays chess with the fiercely wounded Edina – a Bosnian lawyer who is organizing her fellow witnesses to testify at the trial.
This is a brave book laced with the unspeakable horrors that can be committed on this earth. It speaks of the amputation of the soul, and about people who “go on living in all kinds of conditions.” Echlin’s novel skillfully maneuvers language to capture the things that we say are unspeakable. Stretch yourself. Read this book. It will reward you deeply.
July 11, 2024
Kim Echlin creates a protagonist who can navigate, in fiction, real events during and after the Yugoslav Wars in Speak, Silence. An old love of travel journalist Gota Dobson connects her to a group of remarkable women who are trying to get justice for the women of Foča, located in a still disputed part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The women of Foča were kidnapped and subjected to repeated rape and torture during the war. Now, years later, some of these women will testify against the man who ordered their victimization as part of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.
May 6, 2021
The subject matter of this book is very powerful, poignant and sad. I had problems getting into the book. I wasn't really a fan of the "poetic narrative" and I thought it distracted from what was really the focus of the text. A few segments read more like essays which didn't leave much space for storytelling. Maybe that was the point? Either way, I think I wanted to like this book more than I actually did.
August 24, 2021
The war did not abate and the news remained clear and constant and the world struggle to rouse itself. People knew. Still it went on.
Speak, Silence is a fictional book about the female survivors of the Bosnian War that took place from 1992-1995. It elegantly weaves the witnesses fear, heartbreak, and fortitude without sensationalising their pain. Narrated through the perspective of a Canadian journalist, Gota, we bear witness to the trial that changed international law. We see for the first time how these assaults aren't viewed as crimes against individual women but war crimes, crimes against all humanity.
Simply put, I cried. A lot. I started reading this book in the evening, which was a fools choice. I ended up staying up until early in the morning to finish it. The subject matter was that of nightmares. Trigger warnings: . At times, it was very difficult to read.
The author's writing style was unusual, very prosaic, and at first I found it challenging to submerge myself into the story because of it. I must admit, however, that it worked very well with the subject matter. Softening the edges as if the author was trying to prevent misleading people into believing that through this book they'll understand the horrors endured. No one, who has not lived it, can. We are solely here to listen to their testimony.
I know nothing of what it is to be in a war. But you do. If I do not listen to you, who am I?
Between the women and the horrors there's a subplot/ romance between Gota and her long lost lover Kosmos which I felt was insubstantial and didn't care for personally. I understand he was the main reason why Gota got involved in the trial in the first place, therefore kick-starting the story, but I couldn't say I enjoyed reading about them. It's the main reason why I rated this book 4* instead of 5.
Overall, an emotional read about a war that isn't talked about and the survivors that are often shamed into silence. I would recommend this book to anyone that's interested in the ICTY/ Bosnian War or fans of Cilka's Journey.
Speak, Silence is a fictional book about the female survivors of the Bosnian War that took place from 1992-1995. It elegantly weaves the witnesses fear, heartbreak, and fortitude without sensationalising their pain. Narrated through the perspective of a Canadian journalist, Gota, we bear witness to the trial that changed international law. We see for the first time how these assaults aren't viewed as crimes against individual women but war crimes, crimes against all humanity.
Simply put, I cried. A lot. I started reading this book in the evening, which was a fools choice. I ended up staying up until early in the morning to finish it. The subject matter was that of nightmares. Trigger warnings: . At times, it was very difficult to read.
The author's writing style was unusual, very prosaic, and at first I found it challenging to submerge myself into the story because of it. I must admit, however, that it worked very well with the subject matter. Softening the edges as if the author was trying to prevent misleading people into believing that through this book they'll understand the horrors endured. No one, who has not lived it, can. We are solely here to listen to their testimony.
I know nothing of what it is to be in a war. But you do. If I do not listen to you, who am I?
Between the women and the horrors there's a subplot/ romance between Gota and her long lost lover Kosmos which I felt was insubstantial and didn't care for personally. I understand he was the main reason why Gota got involved in the trial in the first place, therefore kick-starting the story, but I couldn't say I enjoyed reading about them. It's the main reason why I rated this book 4* instead of 5.
Overall, an emotional read about a war that isn't talked about and the survivors that are often shamed into silence. I would recommend this book to anyone that's interested in the ICTY/ Bosnian War or fans of Cilka's Journey.
April 19, 2021
Just read this book! Be prepared to be disturbed.
This is not an easy read, however, it is a short read. Having said that, it took me three days to read the book as the subject is so unimaginably atrocious.
During the Bosnian war many women and children were kidnapped, torchured, and, raped multiple times. It is heart wrenching to imagine what women went through. I truly hope there is a place in the hubs of hell for these monsters. They do not only live in Bosnia.
Finally a perpetrator has been brought to trial.
Gota is a Canadian journalist who is in the Hague to write about the trial.
Edina is a wonder character who Gota befriends. Edina is one of the 16 woman who bravely testify as witnesses at the trial.
I have a niece who was lucky enough to sit in on two trials in the Hauge, one being the genocide in Rowand. This was an eye opening expeience that she will not forget.
PAGE 96: Once you have heard, you can not unhear.
The women have to begin their forgetting all over again.
PAGE 112: I had no control, I was like a machine in their hands.
PAGE 155: The women’s stories were denied.You don’t want to listen? Listen anyhow.
PAGE 172: It was the women witnesses who won this case. They refused to back down and they refused to remain silent and they refused to hide. They transmuted the word victim into hero. I am in awe of their strength. They spoke. For themselves, and for us. The whole world can not stand trial. But we can all be responsible. A human is human through others.
This is not an easy read, however, it is a short read. Having said that, it took me three days to read the book as the subject is so unimaginably atrocious.
During the Bosnian war many women and children were kidnapped, torchured, and, raped multiple times. It is heart wrenching to imagine what women went through. I truly hope there is a place in the hubs of hell for these monsters. They do not only live in Bosnia.
Finally a perpetrator has been brought to trial.
Gota is a Canadian journalist who is in the Hague to write about the trial.
Edina is a wonder character who Gota befriends. Edina is one of the 16 woman who bravely testify as witnesses at the trial.
I have a niece who was lucky enough to sit in on two trials in the Hauge, one being the genocide in Rowand. This was an eye opening expeience that she will not forget.
PAGE 96: Once you have heard, you can not unhear.
The women have to begin their forgetting all over again.
PAGE 112: I had no control, I was like a machine in their hands.
PAGE 155: The women’s stories were denied.You don’t want to listen? Listen anyhow.
PAGE 172: It was the women witnesses who won this case. They refused to back down and they refused to remain silent and they refused to hide. They transmuted the word victim into hero. I am in awe of their strength. They spoke. For themselves, and for us. The whole world can not stand trial. But we can all be responsible. A human is human through others.
Read
April 17, 2022It looks like I missed posting about this title at the time… I’ll catch up now…
Wow! Wow!! Wow!!!
Disclosure: I am predisposed to like this since The Cellist of Sarajevo is still one of my all time favourite novels - notwithstanding the personal controversy around Steven Galloway - said title having been on the reading list for my World Issues classes way back when (yes we read books in Geography class) when I taught about the war in (the former) Yugoslavia, and the NATO bombing campaigns, and about rape being used a tool of war there (and elsewhere, most notably in the DRC).
This is an incredibly powerful - and empowering - piece of writing… and she handles incredibly complex and difficult content with a deftness - an empathy - that few can manage on the page, no matter how deeply they feel it themselves.
The author deftly explores the marginalisation, indeed the persecution of women, at the hands of men… and the ways in which families and communities were/are torn apart… and the role of history and its relationship to consciousness.
I also enjoyed the way that this explores ‘the law’ and more importantly… in the way in which new law was created as a result of the trials referred to in the book… and also in the way in which it so clearly evidences how ‘(t)he conscience of humanity is the foundation of all law.’ (p115).
Wow! Wow!! Wow!!!
Disclosure: I am predisposed to like this since The Cellist of Sarajevo is still one of my all time favourite novels - notwithstanding the personal controversy around Steven Galloway - said title having been on the reading list for my World Issues classes way back when (yes we read books in Geography class) when I taught about the war in (the former) Yugoslavia, and the NATO bombing campaigns, and about rape being used a tool of war there (and elsewhere, most notably in the DRC).
This is an incredibly powerful - and empowering - piece of writing… and she handles incredibly complex and difficult content with a deftness - an empathy - that few can manage on the page, no matter how deeply they feel it themselves.
The author deftly explores the marginalisation, indeed the persecution of women, at the hands of men… and the ways in which families and communities were/are torn apart… and the role of history and its relationship to consciousness.
I also enjoyed the way that this explores ‘the law’ and more importantly… in the way in which new law was created as a result of the trials referred to in the book… and also in the way in which it so clearly evidences how ‘(t)he conscience of humanity is the foundation of all law.’ (p115).
Read
November 20, 2024• Really appreciated the opening authors note
• Some really powerful lines and writing
• Less interested in the background of Gota, Kosmos, and Edina. A big portion is spent on their relationships and I didn’t really care. She says love but I didn’t feel it
• It shines when it talks about the war, that’s when the words are evocative gut punches
• I don’t get why Kosmos was included- for such a short book, it took away from the women’s stories
• And I wanted more about the women. Not even more about the horrific trauma they were subjected to (I think the amount provided was enough to make you rightly sick). But even if fictional, I want to feel like I know them as people. I wanted more about their life outside of the trauma, while trauma impacts every facet of life, it is not the only important thing about them. They are more than what they went through
• All that aside, I didn’t know about the widespread rape in Yugoslavia during the Yugoslav wars, used as a weapon of war to further ethnic cleansing, and the resulting Foča trial held by the International Criminal Tribunal. So I’m glad to have learned about it because those women deserve to have their stories told and listened to. When we turn our back on war because it is happening in another country, we relinquish our humanity. I can’t help but be think of Sudan, Gaza, and Ukraine.
• Some really powerful lines and writing
• Less interested in the background of Gota, Kosmos, and Edina. A big portion is spent on their relationships and I didn’t really care. She says love but I didn’t feel it
• It shines when it talks about the war, that’s when the words are evocative gut punches
• I don’t get why Kosmos was included- for such a short book, it took away from the women’s stories
• And I wanted more about the women. Not even more about the horrific trauma they were subjected to (I think the amount provided was enough to make you rightly sick). But even if fictional, I want to feel like I know them as people. I wanted more about their life outside of the trauma, while trauma impacts every facet of life, it is not the only important thing about them. They are more than what they went through
• All that aside, I didn’t know about the widespread rape in Yugoslavia during the Yugoslav wars, used as a weapon of war to further ethnic cleansing, and the resulting Foča trial held by the International Criminal Tribunal. So I’m glad to have learned about it because those women deserve to have their stories told and listened to. When we turn our back on war because it is happening in another country, we relinquish our humanity. I can’t help but be think of Sudan, Gaza, and Ukraine.
April 5, 2021
well written book about the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the beginning of the changes in international humanitarian law as it determined those who bear the atrocities committed during armed conflicts can be called to account.
Lines I am still thinking about:“What is powerful for one is not even remembered by another.” (p. 36)
“Hope is irrational but we endlessly hope.” (p. 37)
“Learning not to need you. But I still need you. I know, I need you too. This is the strangeness of love.” (p. 56)
“eyes continue to communicate intention, concern, confusion, determination” (p. 125)
“The rhythm of emotion is uneven. Rage and indignation can be told from a tightened throat or in open sobbing...Breath, like the eyes, cannot be rendered emotionless" (p. 150)
“I had learned that we revolt when something threatens our inner meaning. That watching this…had touched something inviolable in me, and I could no longer turn away.” I said, I know nothing of what is it is to …. But you do. If I do not listen to you, who am I?” (p. 168) "We can all be responsible. A human is human through others." (p. 172)
"Can a soul be amputated?" (p 188)
“Do you think anything makes a difference? As opposed to nothing? (p. 189)
Lines I am still thinking about:“What is powerful for one is not even remembered by another.” (p. 36)
“Hope is irrational but we endlessly hope.” (p. 37)
“Learning not to need you. But I still need you. I know, I need you too. This is the strangeness of love.” (p. 56)
“eyes continue to communicate intention, concern, confusion, determination” (p. 125)
“The rhythm of emotion is uneven. Rage and indignation can be told from a tightened throat or in open sobbing...Breath, like the eyes, cannot be rendered emotionless" (p. 150)
“I had learned that we revolt when something threatens our inner meaning. That watching this…had touched something inviolable in me, and I could no longer turn away.” I said, I know nothing of what is it is to …. But you do. If I do not listen to you, who am I?” (p. 168) "We can all be responsible. A human is human through others." (p. 172)
"Can a soul be amputated?" (p 188)
“Do you think anything makes a difference? As opposed to nothing? (p. 189)
August 2, 2025
This wonderful but disturbing novel tells a fictional story based on the Foča trial of 2000 at The Hague. Gota Dobson is a journalist who goes to Sarajevo to write about a film festival and to look for an old lover, Kosmos, who is also the father of her child Biddy. Kosmos is from Sarajevo and he has always been in love with Edina, who was one of the rape victims held hostage during the war. Edina would become a witness in the trial, along with many other women who were repeatedly raped, beaten, tortured and held captive during the war. Edina was in love with Ivan; she, Kosmos and Ivan had been childhood friends. Gota becomes captivated by the trial and decides to stay in Sarajevo and then go to The Hague to write about the horrendous story. She befriends Edina and together they navigate the suffering that the war inflicted, particularly on the women, as well as the legalities of the trial. She listens to the witnesses who come forward reluctantly, unwilling to relive the abuse they suffered, in the public eye.
This is a slim but powerful novel about the atrocities human beings commit against one another, and the slivers of love, as well as the will to live, found among the ruins.
This is a slim but powerful novel about the atrocities human beings commit against one another, and the slivers of love, as well as the will to live, found among the ruins.
January 15, 2022
This winner of the 2021 Toronto Book Award is a gut wrenching exploration of the use of rape as a weapon of war and attempts to bring the perpetrators to justice. It is a novel based on real events in the Bosnian war, 1992-1995, and real legal victory later in The Hague of prosecuting rape as a war crime.
The story, though, is of a Toronto journalist who had a child with a Yugoslav playwright whom she hasn’t seen in over a decade (and whom their daughter has never seen) returning to Europe and confronting the consequences of a horrifically violent era.
The story of the journalist becomes a cipher for the stories of the women raped during the war, who are in The Hague to speak at a war crimes trial. Rape had previously never been successfully prosecuted as a war crime. This time it is. The stories they tell are graphic and gut-wrenching.
The journalist hooks up with her old flame, and others, but does not convince him to return with her to Toronto to see their daughter, who is desperate to meet him. Spoiler: The book ends with this loop still open, setting up a possible sequel? Relationships are complicated. Oi.
The story, though, is of a Toronto journalist who had a child with a Yugoslav playwright whom she hasn’t seen in over a decade (and whom their daughter has never seen) returning to Europe and confronting the consequences of a horrifically violent era.
The story of the journalist becomes a cipher for the stories of the women raped during the war, who are in The Hague to speak at a war crimes trial. Rape had previously never been successfully prosecuted as a war crime. This time it is. The stories they tell are graphic and gut-wrenching.
The journalist hooks up with her old flame, and others, but does not convince him to return with her to Toronto to see their daughter, who is desperate to meet him. Spoiler: The book ends with this loop still open, setting up a possible sequel? Relationships are complicated. Oi.
September 9, 2021
4.5 stars. At first, I didn't understand this book from the context the cover flap provided. The main character, a journalist, fell in love with a man years ago and she's finally reuniting with him? What's this about women who were victims of horrific crimes in the name of war? How do these two realities collide? That, coupled with the author's unique and artistic writing style, left me baffled for the first 40 some odd pages. Once I realized the story of the main character, Gota, and the stories of the women victimized during the war in the former Yugoslavia intertwine because of Gota's empathy and desire to learn, I loved and appreciated the book. The pain Gota allows herself to listen to and absorb is the book's greatest strength. She is the windowpane we as readers look through to see the pain of women who were treated horrifically. This book is short but immensely powerful. It is less a love story and more a listening story. Worth a second read.
July 18, 2021
A very powerful and gripping book that reveals the crimes against humanity that were committed during the Bosnian War. To be fair, these atrocious acts have been committed is most all wars but until this legal precedent setting case, rape was seen as "spoils of war" and now the crimes are judged as crimes against humanity, thanks to the bravery and strength of these women.
I urge you to read this "novel', which is based on the proceedings from The International Court in Den Haag. To the men who read this, why, why is always men that do these things? What message did we get that this is ok? I am ashamed for my gender after reading this book. It outlines again how we erase women through history and fail to value them fully.
I urge you to read this "novel', which is based on the proceedings from The International Court in Den Haag. To the men who read this, why, why is always men that do these things? What message did we get that this is ok? I am ashamed for my gender after reading this book. It outlines again how we erase women through history and fail to value them fully.
April 18, 2022
Powerful, haunting, and moving.
Speak, Silence focuses on the war crimes trial for the mass rapes in Foča in the Balkan wars. It’s only historical fiction in the sense that each of the women who testified are protected witnesses. Echlin bases the novel off of the publicly available transcripts of the trial and gives faces to the women. She makes them no different than ourselves, our mothers, our grandmothers.
Speak, Silence takes a deep look at asking trauma survivors to recount their experiences in court. It also highlights the time, care, and effort required to put together an international criminal hearing. Knowing about these cases and these women’s lives is important for all of us, as we remember that rape is a crime against humanity.
Speak, Silence focuses on the war crimes trial for the mass rapes in Foča in the Balkan wars. It’s only historical fiction in the sense that each of the women who testified are protected witnesses. Echlin bases the novel off of the publicly available transcripts of the trial and gives faces to the women. She makes them no different than ourselves, our mothers, our grandmothers.
Speak, Silence takes a deep look at asking trauma survivors to recount their experiences in court. It also highlights the time, care, and effort required to put together an international criminal hearing. Knowing about these cases and these women’s lives is important for all of us, as we remember that rape is a crime against humanity.
March 28, 2021
Beautiful and haunting! This book is a fictionalized account of a real life trial from the women raped and sexually abused during the Bosnian wars. The atrocities these women endured were heartbreaking to listen to but the courage and strength shown as they confront their abusers and undergo a nine month trial at the Hague in 2000 was beyond brave. A powerful story about the resiliency of women to stand up and fight for their rights! I cannot recommend this book enough. It’s a hard listen at times but Kim Echlin’s prose is so transporting!
“Rape is an attack on human dignity...[and] an attack on our shared human condition. A crime against humanity.”
“Rape is an attack on human dignity...[and] an attack on our shared human condition. A crime against humanity.”
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