When she was twenty-three years old, Courtney Angela Brkic joined a UN-contracted forensic team in eastern Bosnia. Unlike many aid workers, Brkic ...
read full description
reviews
Dec 07, 2009
Charles
rated it: 
This review originally ran in the San Jose Mercury News on August 1, 2004:
Many years ago, three friends and I wedged ourselves into a VW Beetle and set out to drive through what was then Yugoslavia to the Adriatic. We didn't know how wild and beautiful and strange and lonely much of the country was, or that we would ride for hours, hairpinning through green hills and barren ones, and seldom see another car or come upon a village or farm.
And in the towns and cities, we naive A More...
Many years ago, three friends and I wedged ourselves into a VW Beetle and set out to drive through what was then Yugoslavia to the Adriatic. We didn't know how wild and beautiful and strange and lonely much of the country was, or that we would ride for hours, hairpinning through green hills and barren ones, and seldom see another car or come upon a village or farm.
And in the towns and cities, we naive A More...
Oct 19, 2010
Alison
rated it: 
Easily one of the best books I've ever read. The voice is open, vulnerable, and authentic. Brkic weaves family history, her own experiences, and history into a story that is heartbreaking, but also immeasurably important. So many know about the Holocaust, but so few know about other genocides. Brkic pinks the Holocaust and the Srebrinicia massacre in a very personal way, and makes it accessible to those who don't know. It also makes me want to read more about the Balkans. Despite a history class
More...
Feb 25, 2011
Kristi
rated it:
Very few books can leave such an impact. This book describes the author's journey into her ancestry and the modern conflicts that plagued the former Yugoslavian republics in the 1990s. Her prose is delicate and emotional and from the very first page it left me breathless. Three parts biography and one part anthropological study. This is a book I keep lending out and never get back!
Mar 21, 2008
Sarah
rated it: 
I enjoyed the book for Courtney's rawness and vulnerability. When it comes to war, well--war crimes-- it's always best to try to understand the atrocity from a subjective viewpoint. How can one do work to identify bodies from mass graves without deep affect? And how can one read about such work without being affected? This part of her story, as well as the parts about her Grandmother (historical context), were very well-written and moving.
The only "complaint" I would p More...
The only "complaint" I would p More...
Feb 28, 2011
Sonam
rated it:
I realized I had been completely unaware of the things happening in Herzegovina-Bosnia after I read the book. It was sad to learn what happened.
Dec 22, 2009
Shelley
rated it:
Beautifully written memoir of the author's search for family roots while exhuming mass graves in Bosnia.
Aug 11, 2011
Emily
rated it:
Fantastic. If the ending was a bit unexpected and out-of-sense with the rest, that was no matter: Brkic's language and deep empathy were emphatic and moving.
Sep 19, 2008
Chris
rated it:
A powerful account of Brkic's experiences - in part as a forensic archaeologist - in Bosnia. Brkic describes some of the same exhumations and incidents as does Clea Koff in "The Bone Woman," but her account is much more emotional, direct, and engaging.
Jun 01, 2007
Kristin
rated it:
This book is not for the faint-hearted. It's tough to get through at times and you will most likely get angry.
It's a story that had to be told though. And it's so interesting to see a conflict through the eyes of someone who grew up in it.
It's a story that had to be told though. And it's so interesting to see a conflict through the eyes of someone who grew up in it.
Dec 17, 2009
I've owned this book for over a year, I really need to bump it up on the priority list.
Feb 08, 2012
Jan 30, 2012
Jan 03, 2012
Jan 02, 2012
Nov 19, 2011
Dec 30, 2011
Oct 13, 2011
Oct 06, 2011
Sep 17, 2011
Sep 16, 2011
Sep 06, 2011
Sep 14, 2011
Sep 01, 2011
Aug 29, 2011
