April Fool's Day: A Novel
3/5
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About this ebook
Ivan Dolinar is born in Tito's Yugoslavia on April Fool's Day, 1948 -- the auspicious beginning of a life that will be derailed by backfiring good intentions in a world of propaganda and paranoia. At age nineteen, an innocent prank cuts the young Croatian's budding medical career short and lands him in a notorious labor camp. Released on the eve of civil war, Ivan is drafted into the wrong army, becoming a pawn in an absurd conflict in which the rules and loyalties shift abruptly and without warning. But even in a world gone mad, one course of action remains eminently sane: survival.
Told with bitingly dark humor and a deep tenderness, April Fool's Day is both a devastating political satire and a razor-sharp parody of war.
Josip Novakovich
Josip Novakovich's stories have appeared in many publications, including The Paris Review, TriQuarterly, and Ploughshares. He teaches at Pennsylvania State University and lives near State College, Pennsylvania.
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Reviews for April Fool's Day
20 ratings1 review
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is a quirky story. As I read, there were times I wondered "What is it about?" "What is Novakovich trying to say?" which sometimes made me question why I was reading it. But then I'd read on because it is a compelling mix of pathos and absurdity. By the end it had come together for me, after a twist I wasn't expecting (because I didn't read or remember the blurbs). Ultimately it has left me with a few things to ponder when I'm in a philosophical mood.