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Black Balloon Publishing
April 2013
On Sale: April 2, 2013
208 pages
ISBN: 1936787059
EAN: 9781936787050
Paperback
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Fiction Family Life
Saddam is a young villager from the outskirts of Basra, named after the president. What can he do? He spreads his hands wide like a scarecrow, and I spread mine too, and we chat like two scarecrows in the field, except there are no crops, no grass, and no birds for us to scare away, only sand and scrap iron, and his village, said Saddam, is in a bad place. So he stuck all his goats in a pickup truck and took to the road like Kerouac, except thereβs no literature here, and no shade.
2003: As Croatia lurches from socialism into globalized capitalism, Toni, a cocky journalist in Zagreb, struggles to balance his fragile career, pushy family, and hotheaded girlfriend. But in a moment of vulnerability he makes a mistake: volunteering his unhinged Arabic-speaking cousin Boris to report on the Iraq War. Boris begins filing Gonzo missives from the conflict zone and Toni decides it is better to secretly rewrite his cousinβs increasingly incoherent ramblings than face up to the truth. But when Boris goes missing, Toniβs own sense of realityβand reliabilityβbegins to unravel.
Our Man In Iraq, the first of Robert Perisicβs novels to be translated into English, serves as an unforgettable introduction to a vibrant voice from Croatia. With his characteristic humor and insight, Perisic gets to the heart of life made and remade by war.
 Media BuzzAll Things Considered - May 9, 2013
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