Catch the Rabbit

A dark story of friendship, memory and war: and, for once, the blurb of Alice in Wonderland meets Elena Ferrante is spot on. Lots of other literary and cultural references here from the iconic Thelma and Louise to James Joyce - but, importantly, Bastasic claims her own voice, too. The road trip as a psychological journey is a well-used trope, of course, but it's rarer to see it embarked on by two women. This definitely joins the literature inspired by the Balkan wars and in places reminded me of 'Asylum Road' by Olivia Sudjic.

I'd just add that the cover looks sunnier than the story inside.

An absolute must for Ferrante fans, this is a stunning novel about the ties that bind childhood friends Lejla and Sara, 12 years after they last spoke. A visceral portrait of a complex female friendship set against the backdrop of the break-up of Yugoslavia told in an almost-fairytale style (it’s no coincidence that the epigraph comes from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland), this is a rich and lyrical novel that I couldn’t put down. It’s also extremely well translated (by the author) and doesn’t suffer from the slightly tin ear that some translations do. Highly recommended - thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This is one of the last books I read in 2020 and also one of the best. The writing itself is amazing (with the English translation done by the author herself); a book with hardly a wasted word makes quite an intense read.

The protagonist is Sara, a young woman born in Bosnia, now living in Dublin with her boyfriend. It becomes clear she has worked hard to disassociate and distance herself from all things Bosnia. Out of the blue, her best friend from childhood, Lejla, (who she hasn’t spoken to for 12 yrs) calls asking Sara to drive her from Mostar (southern Bosnia) to Vienna. Although they have not communicated for years, there is still a final link between them of childhood trauma – Lejla had an older brother who disappeared during the Bosnian war when the girls were 11/12yo. Lejla tells Sara her brother is in Vienna, and so she goes to her.

As they wind their way across the countries, each chapter is split in two - the first half tells the present, the second recounts an event from their shared past. It becomes clear they do not always remember things the same way – but who is remembering correctly and who is lying to themselves? It is hard to decide when both must be scarred from their experiences - Lejla belonged to the persecuted minority where they lived (Banja Luka, NW Bosnia) and the family had to change their names when it started, around the same time her brother went missing. Neither of them believed Lejla's brother was dead, even when one of his friends turned up floating in the river. Despite not having been in the minority, Sara is yet also damaged, in part from experiencing second hand Lejla’s misfortunes via their friendship. In addition, they both grew up in this toxic war environment, unimaginable for many of us. The text does not contain graphic war conflict, but rather an undercurrent of dread and threat, showing another side of the damage wrought on everyone, especially the young:

“I would lie to foreigners later on. I was too little, I would say, I wasn’t even aware of what was going on. But that’s not true. We knew, you and I. We knew it had started, that they had started it. We knew it would last. Soon it was a constant, like an extra chemical element in the air.”

As they drive through Bosnia, darkness falls almost as soon as it is afternoon. At first I was confused, double checking my map and wondering why it went dark there so early, before coming to the conclusion that it was figurative – Sara is so traumatised that the place is eternally dark for her:

“Not a big deal – Zagreb, Mostar, Vienna. Not the end of the world… Bosnia. Lejla. That’s not a two-week holiday after which you come home and go to bed with Michael. That’s like going back to heroin. I had already gotten myself dirty with my mother tongue.”
&
“Home was not Bosnia. Bosnia is something else. A rusty anchor in a sea full of piss. You keep getting tetanus shots, although it’s been years. Bosnia is not home.”

There are unexpected lighter touches though – like a book quote game they played together, which has provided me with a future read. For extra interest, I followed their journey on google maps as I read, and my geographic knowledge of that area is also now improved.
As well as within their 'book game' there are other literary mentions, but these references do not make the book inaccessible – I didn’t feel like it was (too far) over my head - and if you are not familiar with them it makes no difference to the story that's being told.

The writing itself, as I mentioned already, is beautiful. The imagery can be quite unexpected and original:

“…behind you the church is shining like a freshly polished coffee grinder…”

I highlighted many sentences in this book that I found striking.
Due to life getting in the way I read this slowly over a couple of weeks, but when I wasn't reading, I was thinking about it - Sara and Lejla's relationship is unusual; they were very different to each other back then, and their lives are starkly different now. I felt I got to know the characters more reading at this pace - the book got under my skin so will stay with me longer. Obviously there is a melancholic undercurrent throughout, which is to be expected considering the subjects, but although unsettling it is a necessary and worthwhile read. I had an inkling how it would pan out, and I wasn’t a million miles away, but for me the journey through the book was just as important as the ending.

I will definitely be reading Lana Bastašić’s next book.

A quick and easy read that I found myself picking up after a long day to unwind. The characters are beautifully written and I came to love them within the first few pages and was rooting for them all the way to the end. At times I wanted to stop reading because I just wanted the experience to go on for longer. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Sara, a Bosnian writer and poet, has settled down in Dublin, and has more or less succeeded in forgetting her past, her country of origin and the uncomfortable memories of a fractured, post-war state.  One day, however, Sara receives an unexpected phone call from Lejla, the best friend with whom she shared her childhood and coming of age. Even though they have not spoken for twelve years, the voice of Lejla, the special friend with whom Sara shared her childhood and coming of age, draws her back to the Balkans. Lejla’s brother Armin, who disappeared during the atrocities of the Bosnian war, has reappeared in Vienna and Lejla wants her friend to drive her from Bosnia to the Austrian capital to track him down.  But what exactly are the two friends looking for? Is it Armin, or is it, perhaps, a better understanding of their shared past?

Lana Bastašić’s debut novel, winner of the European Union Prize for Literature 2020, is being published in an English translation by the author herself. The novel’s title  – Catch the Rabbit – is an homage to Lewis Carroll and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Like Alice’s surreal adventure underground, Bastašić creates a world which, although rooted in reality, is peopled by figures who are larger than life. Chief amongst these is Lejla, the real protagonist of this novel despite the fact that the narrator is Sara.  The story does feature a real rabbit, which is a key element in Sara and Lejla’s shared memories.  But it also serves as one of several narrative connections between Catch the Rabbit and Alice.  Don’t expect, however, an entertaining children’s book.  Like Carroll, Bastašić plays around with narrative logic but her themes and aims are dead serious.  This is a novel around friendship along the divisive lines created by war, about adults rethinking and reinterpreting their childhood memories (and not necessarily liking what they find there).  It is a book which can be uplifting, but which is equally painful in the realities it brings home to the narrator and, implicitly, the reader.   

Indeed, if I have a reservation about this English edition, it is the cover. While it brings out nicely the novel’s more fantastical, psychedelic elements, its garish colours also hint at a light-hearted female buddy road novel.   Catch the Rabbit is much darker than that.

Excellent novel about female friendship.  Sara will have to confront her past on a road trip with a long lost friend and a trip down memory lane.
Five stars.

I found myself thinking of this book long after I finished it. The imagery and poetry of the prose were astonishing and turned the plot, otherwise sad, into an emotional journey where the main point was human connection. Intelligent and well-crafted, this book is one of the best ones I've read this year. 
Even the only downside of the book feels adequate with the themes and the tones: at parts, it feels translated from other ways of talking, other ways of phrasing; and there are glimpses to cliches and what I interpreted for trying too hard to sound nice. However, taking into account the story itself, I feel it couldn't be any other way and it didn't stop me from enjoying the characters and their journey.

Essentially a poignant tale of loss, oblivion and friendship, we see how two women go on a life changing road trip intended to find someone whom they had lost, and also uncovering a lot of lies regarding who they are and where they came from. Lana Bastašic tells the tale in the Catch the Rabbit of how we put those we love on the moral high horse, how losses are forever etched causing us to fall, and how war-trauma echoes over the years.

Here our protagonist is Sara, who is Bosnian by birth, but is now is leading a life in Dublin. She tried really hard to safeguard herself from Bosnia and everything related to it, but a sudden call from her childhood friend Lejla changes everything. She had called Sara, to take her on a trip in pursuit of her brother Armin who had gone missing during the Bosnian war. Though the women hadn't been in touch with each other for years, this renewal of communication opens up all the old wounds and we see that the painful childhood is very much fresh in their minds. Both were raised within that hazardous, unthinkable war climate coupled with societal differences, which is simply beyond any of our imaginations. Though there is no mention of any graphic violence or triggering scenes but I think that is the beauty of this book and the command that the author has over her narration.

You know when you are talking about any war, you don't talk about the destruction or violence. You talk about the impact, the threads that are snapped and the deafening silence that follows. You talk about the sock that had gone missing, or the dirt that refused to get off from your face, or the home that you are not able to recall and you doubt whether it ever existed. I found exactly this type of narration here. As a reader I had no option but I was simply able to feel what Sara or Lejla was feeling, I could sense their struggles and yes the journey was tough but indeed it was much needed. The author has done a wonderful translation and every word conveys volumes of emotions.

This was extremely touching and beautiful, reminiscent of Elena Ferrante's well known works. The author had an amazing ability to put to words so many feelings I have experiences, and likely so many others. It was a bit slow moving for me but I do think that is part of the build up of the story - I could see this title becoming many, many people's favorites and it will definitely stay in my thoughts

In this “Yugoslavian” novel translated by the author we are given a seemingly simple “road trip” story overlain and underlain too by so much more. Narrator Sara – a writer and poet – now lives in Dublin with her partner of some years, Michael. Out of the blue she is contacted by her best childhood friend Lejla – someone she he has not spoken to for over twelve years after a falling out on a simple beach holiday. Lejla asks if she will fly out to meet her in Mostar and drive her to Vienna to meet with her brother Armin who has been “missing” for decades.
The name Mostar might immediately ring bells with readers of a certain age. Because in the 1980s the republic of Yugoslavia fell apart in a vicious civil war, bombing of civilian areas, genocidal activities, with increasing reports of rape camps of young women and children, men and boys were separated to camps and then mass graves, and civilians in outer villages being rounded up and burnt alive in churches and other buildings. Mostar was renowned for a medieval bridge that spanned the river and its diverse communities. The bridge was deliberately bombed.  
So we have two estranged friends living entirely different lives meeting again for a joint purpose. Lejla in a moment of irritation challenges writer Sara to write a story about her – this might be that story. We are told of their early friendship from the first day of school. Their different families are recounted initially through the remembered perspective of Sara as a child and then as a teenager and young adult. As the story develops the complexity of the community life around then – and its risks as the country lurches towards war – unfolds. Sara’s father is a senior policeman, Lejla’s father is dead and her brother Armin will “disappear” one of a growing group, some of whom will be found dead. Lejla as she grows, changes her name and identity, unsuspected by Sara at the time, but in retrospect seen as protection against risks. The girls mix, grow, diverge in interests and finally fall out. 
So this unexpected request means they meet again and at the same time – as recounted by Sara - fall back into their old ways of closeness, squabbles, misunderstandings, but later resentments.  This will generate quarrels in which their differing views of incidents in the past (and their importance) can be aired. But overlain with this discussion of a seemingly heavily conflicted time is the fact that they are together again. In twelve years they have moved not just physically apart but have built different lifestyles. Sara is safe in the European “west” with a work and life style that she has chosen. Lejla it will become clear is living in poverty, in a loveless marriage unable to have children and working at tiring low paid jobs. Although Sara saw her as more powerful, as the “leader” and one who will achieve, the circumstances of her life have drawn her to a much less satisfactory place. But Lejla has had the vision nonetheless to draw Sara to Vienna not just to search for something important – in different ways to each – from their past. But has also sent out a cry for help as she tries to rekindle their old friendship offering a special moment.
This is a novel about friendship, family and memory and how the old feeds into the present. But are what might be false memories having a damaging impact on a person’s behaviour and choices into later life. But as well as the two main characters we also have the reader. Are the stories filtered through your experience true, misinformed or even valid nonetheless? It is unclear whether the two characters will stay in contact, or if their relationship will finally fade under their recent meeting. But the universal issue is that friendship through actions and (inevitably different) memories are created and maintained for better or worse. So the timeless questions how and why are not just applicable to this story’s particular time and place.

“’Hello, you.’
After twelve years of complete silence, I hear her voice again.”

Here’s where the adventure begins in Lana Bastašić’s melancholic and brilliant book “Catch the Rabbit.” Sara and Lejla used to be close friends all through school. Until Lejla suddenly goes off the radar all those years ago. And then, out of the blue, Lejla reaches out to Sara, interrupting the rhythm she has established for herself. Lejla coaxes Sara to accompany her to meet Lejla’s brother, Armin in Vienna. Armin was one of the many who ‘disappeared’ during the Bosnian war and it appears that he has resurfaced. As always, Sara cannot refuse Lejla, and they meet in their hometown in Bosnia before setting off on a road trip. 

The premise barely touches the surface of this incredibly textured novel about female friendship, growing up, and living with a war raging in the background. The road trip is an allegory on multiple levels. It’s a synchronous journey simultaneously into the past and into the future as they chase down the hope of seeing Armin again. It’s a trip exploring the maze of their complicated friendship, as memories resurface. It’s a trip they each take into their own as well as shared selves tackling their demons, unravelling knots. As we go deeper into their stories, we see the different paths Lejla and Sara have taken, and their vastly dissimilar lives now.

This rabbit hole of a story is wrought in the tradition of Alice in Wonderland, which is referenced right at the beginning. It’s a rabbit hole where you do get lost, especially since Sara and Lejla remember things differently many times. So, even though you feel a little more sympathetic towards Sara, at first, you start questioning the things you read. Who’s telling the truth here? We don’t know for sure.

Bastašić has done a fantastic translation of her own work, which won the European Union Prize for Literature last year. I would love to read more of her works.

An impressive winner of the European Prize for Literature, now translated into English by the author, a female Bosnian writer in her early thirties. I highlight her gender because there are hardly any published young female Bosnian authors translated into English and Lana Bastašić’s novel deserves wider attention. 

Catch the Rabbit takes place over a road trip taken by two school friends who haven’t seen or spoken to each other in 12 years. The narrator, Sara receives a surprise call from Lejla asking for help in locating her brother, who disappeared during the civil war in Bosnia and is thought to be in Vienna. Their friendship had broken down while both were studying at university and after completing her degree, Sara moved to Dublin where she now lives but agrees to help Lejla despite not being comfortable with returning home. For her, the trip is both temporal and mental as she remembers key events of her friendship with Lejla. The shadow of war and its long-lasting effects is ever present – literally as darkness that descends as Sara and Lejla drive closer to their hometown and only clears after they leave Bosnia. At times, Sara’s narration implies that their friendship was somewhat toxic but gradually we learn that Lejla remembers things differently and that Sara is an unreliable narrator. Sara’s relationship with her mother also raises questions.

Bastašić has been called Balkan’s Elena Ferante and while I’m one of the 5 people remaining who haven’t read Ferante, her book title Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay frequently came to mind. For those who left Bosnia during or, in the aftermath of the war often have complicated and complex relationships with their home country, not least the trauma caused by the war or the sense of guilt for leaving. Lejla stayed and has not had an easy life or the opportunities. Sara’s leaving may have opened up opportunities but she is unmoored. I thought Bastašić handled this exploration of friendship under the trauma of war very well.  

Overall, Catch the Rabbit is a very good book. Bastašić is a clever, ambitious writer and I’m really looking forward to reading more of her books even though I found this one unsettling at times. Bastašić grew up in my home town, where literally the darkest part of the novel is set and while I thought some of the symbolism she uses a bit heavy handed, it was fascinating, yes unsettling but also really fascinating to read. 

My thanks to Pan Macmillan, Picador and Netgalley for the opportunity to read Catch the Rabbit.

There was no chance I wouldn't pick up something from an author from the Balkans. I grew up there, and up until three years ago I lived there, so I was excited to first of all, experience a familiar setting, hear the familiar words and truly enjoy the settings that I know all too well. 

What would you if a friends who you haven't spoken to in years, and who you thought treated you poorly, all of a sudden calls you to pick her up? Sara and Lejla go on this trip together, which ends up being a trip to the past as well, through the memories about their lives and relationships, and because they have a lot of baggage (excuse the pun), this is so much more than just a favour to a long lost friend in need, or just a road trip. 

This book covers a lot of topics, but it was very masterfully put together. The writing is amazing, and it's easy to go through the book. Sit down, pick it up and don't get up until you're done. The author manages to use phrases and words carefully to demonstrate all the feelings and thoughts, and she packs such a powerful punch in each and every sentence. The language is sharp and on point, and I truly liked it. 

I will be recommending this to my friends and everyone I know. Great job to the author!