What do you think?
Rate this book
Shopping for a Better Country
A collection of narrative essays on family, history, and travel from Croation American Josip Novakovich, a Whiting Writers' Award winner and recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. Having fled his homeland of Yugoslavia, leaving behind kin and community, the author here captures significant portraits of what is lost, what is remembered, and what remains. Within those moments of fresh clarity of the past are the instances of repeated culture shock that never seem to lose their harsh edges.
- GenresEssaysNonfictionTravel
242 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 8, 2012
1 person is currently reading
33 people want to read
About the author
Josip Novakovich
36 books64 followersJosip Novakovich (Croatian: Novaković) is a Croatian-American writer. His grandparents had immigrated from the Croatia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to Cleveland, Ohio, and, after the First World War, his grandfather returned to what had become Yugoslavia. Josip Novakovich was born (in 1956) and grew up in the Central Croatian town of Daruvar, studied medicine in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad. At the age of 20 he left Yugoslavia, continuing his education at Vassar College (B.A.), Yale University (M.Div.), and the University of Texas, Austin (M.A.).
He has published a novel (April Fool's Day), three short story collections (Yolk, Salvation and Other Disasters, Infidelities: Stories of War and Lust), two collections of narrative essays (Apricots from Chernobyl, Plum Brandy: Croatian Journey) and a textbook (Fiction Writer's Workshop).
Novakovich has taught at Nebraska Indian Community College, Bard College, Moorhead State University, Antioch University in Los Angeles, the University of Cincinnati, and is now a professor at Pennsylvania State University.
Mr. Novakovich is the recipient of the Whiting Writer's Award, a Guggenheim fellowship, two fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts, an award from the Ingram Merrill Foundation, and an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation. He was anthologized in Best American Poetry, Pushcart Prize, and O.Henry Prize Stories.
He taught in the Master's of Fine Arts program at Pennsylvania State University, where he lived under the iron rule of Reed Moyer's Halfmoon Township autocracy. He is currently in Montreal, Quebec teaching at Concordia University.
He has published a novel (April Fool's Day), three short story collections (Yolk, Salvation and Other Disasters, Infidelities: Stories of War and Lust), two collections of narrative essays (Apricots from Chernobyl, Plum Brandy: Croatian Journey) and a textbook (Fiction Writer's Workshop).
Novakovich has taught at Nebraska Indian Community College, Bard College, Moorhead State University, Antioch University in Los Angeles, the University of Cincinnati, and is now a professor at Pennsylvania State University.
Mr. Novakovich is the recipient of the Whiting Writer's Award, a Guggenheim fellowship, two fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts, an award from the Ingram Merrill Foundation, and an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation. He was anthologized in Best American Poetry, Pushcart Prize, and O.Henry Prize Stories.
He taught in the Master's of Fine Arts program at Pennsylvania State University, where he lived under the iron rule of Reed Moyer's Halfmoon Township autocracy. He is currently in Montreal, Quebec teaching at Concordia University.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 7, 2014
The essays in this book are masterful in their approachability. The casual, seemingly effortless style gives the sometimes serious subjects in the book a levity that heightens their relatability to the reader: the narrator's voice is youthful and full of vitality, and this voice links the essays together even though some were written many years apart.
The essays range from discussions about dying parents and parenting children, travelogues through changing geo-political regions, and examinations of friendship. In all, Novakovich reveals his identity in his search for it; wrapped up in the search are other people's perceptions of his origins and choices. Though a sense of nostalgia is carried through the book, the writer seems slightly uncomfortable in every place he visits or lives: in the United States, where Americans' ideas of Yugoslavia or Croatia serve as a vessel for judgement; in Croatia, where he no longer belongs but maintains close ties; in Russia, where his "Slavic soul" has the potential to create a connection, but where absurdity and arbitrariness takes precedent over reason and expected standards.
The book maintains a good balance between heavy topics and lighter ones, and the writing is often funny. The first essay, for which the book is named, works as a nice hook: not only is the essay strong, but Novakovich introduces the m.o. that appears in the rest of the essays. Rather than sit in one place and write, he wants to be on the move, he wants to be stimulated by the environment he chooses and the situation that chance brings his way. He writes, "My coming to America took place too long ago; it has lost its freshness. I am tempted by the possibility or impossibility of another shift in identity." The desire for new experience, the youthful attitude towards life, the refusal to accept geography's hold over existence expressed in these essays will appeal to anyone who who doesn't sit around waiting for life to happen.
The essays range from discussions about dying parents and parenting children, travelogues through changing geo-political regions, and examinations of friendship. In all, Novakovich reveals his identity in his search for it; wrapped up in the search are other people's perceptions of his origins and choices. Though a sense of nostalgia is carried through the book, the writer seems slightly uncomfortable in every place he visits or lives: in the United States, where Americans' ideas of Yugoslavia or Croatia serve as a vessel for judgement; in Croatia, where he no longer belongs but maintains close ties; in Russia, where his "Slavic soul" has the potential to create a connection, but where absurdity and arbitrariness takes precedent over reason and expected standards.
The book maintains a good balance between heavy topics and lighter ones, and the writing is often funny. The first essay, for which the book is named, works as a nice hook: not only is the essay strong, but Novakovich introduces the m.o. that appears in the rest of the essays. Rather than sit in one place and write, he wants to be on the move, he wants to be stimulated by the environment he chooses and the situation that chance brings his way. He writes, "My coming to America took place too long ago; it has lost its freshness. I am tempted by the possibility or impossibility of another shift in identity." The desire for new experience, the youthful attitude towards life, the refusal to accept geography's hold over existence expressed in these essays will appeal to anyone who who doesn't sit around waiting for life to happen.
February 14, 2015
To be fair, I was expecting something different when I picked up this book.
Some sections were very interesting, descriptive and well written - like a travelogue with an interesting low level perspective of noticed behaviors of many cultures.
Other essays I found to be more like filler material. Many times I wondered if they were written by the same person, since they seemed more like a child recounting a conversation with little depth.
It was a easy approachable read though and the sections that were good made the book worth reading.
Some sections were very interesting, descriptive and well written - like a travelogue with an interesting low level perspective of noticed behaviors of many cultures.
Other essays I found to be more like filler material. Many times I wondered if they were written by the same person, since they seemed more like a child recounting a conversation with little depth.
It was a easy approachable read though and the sections that were good made the book worth reading.
November 2, 2016
Ovo sam citala ljetos, u vlaku, svaki dan malo, na putu do posla i s posla. A knjigu sam kupila jos za Bozic. "U potrazi za domovinom". Kako sam ja, i sama u potrazi i za domovinom i jos stosta toga, mogla odoljeti ovom naslovu? Naravno da nisam.
A komadic svoje knjizevne i jezicne domovine pronasla sam upravo tu...
A komadic svoje knjizevne i jezicne domovine pronasla sam upravo tu...
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews