Sara Nović

When her happy life in 1991 Croatia is shattered by civil war, 10-year-old Ana Juric is embroiled in a world of guerilla warfare and child soldiers before making a daring escape to America, where years later she struggles to hide her past. A first novel.

A Novel

Girl at War

Very readable. I learned a lot about this slice of history. But it never quite packed the emotional punch that I suspect the plot could've delivered.

elizabeth

indri

i enjoyed the first part, but the rest of the book felt flat. it’s as if i’m watching Ana from far away and not given the opportunity to understand how she’s feeling as a war survivor. all of her actions and words ended up looking like she’s just a grumpy person with no respect to the people around her who’s been trying to understand her more. 

in a way, i get that she has an extremely traumatic past but i just hoped to see more of her emotions and feelings. also felt like some issues weren’t really solved like what will happen to brian and her’s relationship? what’s the closure? how about rachel and her foster parents? feels like there’s still a lot of things to explore but fell short

When her happy life in 1991 Croatia is shattered by civil war, ten-year-old Ana Juric is embroiled in a world of guerilla warfare and child soldiers before making a daring escape to America, where years later she struggles to hide her past.

Book Group Discussion Kit

Melissa Palmer

Book #74 Read in 2016
Girl at War by Sara Novic

This was a good historical fiction read. Ana grew up during the war in Crotia. Loss and devastation was part of her childhood. Fast forward ten years and Ana is a college student in New York City. She is drawn back to her homeland. Will it give her closure to return there? This was a well written read with interesting characters. The ending was a little abrupt for me and left me wanting more.

Rohini Anandamurugan

It's been so long since I finished a book in one sitting: the book was riveting. It's been just a few minutes since I finished this book and yet, I already know for a fact that I will mull over it for the next few weeks. 

I highly recommend this book.

Brooklyn Swanson

When I set off reading this book, I thought I was getting a story about a young girl and her life amidst war. I was interested in the story but, when I found that there was much more to it than that, I became invested. It was a great story of hiding your past and rediscovering it. I will definitely read this book more than this one time.

madina

my only complaint was YOU CAN'T END IT LIKE THAT WHt NO I WANTED MORE

Amanda Wells

4.5/5 from me. 
Really moving book, with understated and respectful treatment of really terrible events. I knew very little about the Croatian War before reading this, and found it really shocking to recognize that this character who went through war and genocide is my age. It made me rethink how I've been imagining people who are currently experiencing such horrible realities, and why I was not relating to them as much as I did with Ana. It is probably part context (Ana's described life before the war is not so different to my life in the early 90s), and part personal bias (much as I hate to admit it). 

I didn't need this book to tell me how horrendous and senseless war is - but it really gave me another perspective, one that was very close to home. The book also made me solidify my thoughts on war, violence, etc., and made me feel uncomfortable with how comfortable we've become with renditions and portrayal of war in modern pop culture.

All in all - I recommend this book. It isn't light hearted. But it is really worth the read.

Arwa El

I don't even know where to start with this book. 
Do you know the feeling when a book is an easy read? This book is definitely not one of them. It was so hard to read, I had to stop multiple times because I just couldn't handle it. 
This story broke my heart on so many levels. First of all, the author did not hide the atrocities of the war. The way she writes this story is incredibly amazing and you can see the amazing talent Nović has.

Meagan Fowler

Pia Sophia

[read in Dutch]

I really wanted to read this book, because it’s the first novel I’ve come across that seems accessible to me about the war in my motherland. I think my high expectations spoiled it a little bit. 

The first part of this book is very good. It shows exactly how young Ana Jurić feels at the beginning of the war. But from the part where she’s a 20-year old English student in Manhattan, that feeling got lost for me. I don’t really know what it is. When I finished this book I wasn’t nearly as satisfied as I hoped to be. Yes, Nović is a good storyteller. But it seems like that’s all that’s good about this book. 

Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy reading it and I did like the story. But it didn’t go deep enough for me. I wished to learn more about what was going on inside Ana’s head, explore her feelings more. If only this book wasn’t that rushed...

On the other hand, the writing is fine. It explains a little about the war (not enough, but good enough for readers who know nothing about it) and it reads easily and quickly. 

It feels like Nović used her own memories and thoughts to write this book, WHICH IS GOOD, but like it was too painful to dig a little deeper.

Girl at War A Novel

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