[REFUGE[E] by ADNAN MAHMUTOVIC

Printed in Sweden by Akessons Tryckeri (Published by A. Mahmutovic and A. Osmancevic)

A BOOK REVIEW
by KATHRYN MAGENDIE

Adnan Mahmutovic’s [REFUGE]E looks unassuming, with its plain black cover (designed by Armin Osmancevic) holding only the author’s name and the title, and within, there are but ninety-five pages from cover to cover. Yet, inside this small dark book bursts a kaleidoscope of characters, simmering emotions ranging from loss, fear, love, hate, revenge, displacement, regret, humor, and hope, and in the middle of it all the author’s life hidden.

Mahmutovic, a “Bosnian and a Swede” became a refugee in 1993. It would be eleven years before he traveled back to Bosnia. Once there, he is told, “You feel you’re coming back home and that everything is just hunky-dory. But you don’t get that you’re a foreigner now…You’re strangers,” and in hearing that, Mahmutovic recognizes that his feeling of “uprooted-ness cannot be erased.” In this way, Mahmutovic writes about “what has been preoccupying [his] mind” just before and then after the aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The stories are written from either a female point of view, or centered on female characters, with Almasa as the key character. Mahmutovic’s writing is beautiful, and without the use of artifice or complicated phrasing, he tells the stories with a deceptively easy hand, as if it all happened to someone else, long ago and far away, but with no less impact, for each story hammers at the pit of the stomach. The author steps out of the way and lets the voices of his characters take the lead, leaving this reader to turn the pages quickly. I read [REFUGE]E over to cover in one sitting, the only pauses were to appreciate a well-crafted phrase, or when I was taken aback by the harsh realities of the refugees, as in the very first story, “Une Femme déjà moins jeune”—a story stark and upsetting—I internalized Almasa’s rage, and understood (while catching up my breath in shock) the extremes she takes her rage to when she hisses, “What about rape?” and proceeds to attack the old woman who would joke about the sinister horrors of war.

Mahmutovic’s work does not wallow in self-pity, nor do his characters. Inside the plain cover holds stories and poetry that speaks truths, those that may cause one to feel discomfort, pity, and anger, yet Mahmutovic does not ask the reader to feel this way, does not use his words to soothe or affect some change, instead, he says, “[RUFUGE]E is not a comfort. It is not a real shelter […] whatever you, the reader, immerse yourself in here, whatever you find here to lift you up as being, be my guest.”

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Read Adnan Mahmutovic's short story, "Integration Under the Midnight Sun" in the Summer 2007 issue of The Rose and Thorn.

Kathryn Magendie left behind her beloved moss-filled grandfather oak trees in South Louisiana and escaped to her mountain fiction world in North Carolina where she spins tales, drinks Deep Creek Blend coffee, an occasional glass of wine, and even more occasional glass of vodka tonic with lime, and contemplates the glow of old Moon. She is the author of three novels, numerous short stories, and a few hopeful poems.


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