Sarajevo Marlboro

"Miljenko Jergovic's is a child of Sarajevo who remained in the city throughout the long years war. A dazzling storyteller, he brings an ironic understanding of the city's tragedy and the fate of its young people--Muslims, Croats, and Serbs-- to unexpectedly offbeat scenes from the killing zone. The eponymous cigarettes, a cactus, a lovesick saxophone player, a burning library, Tito's Lego-bricks symbolizing the former Yugoslavia, all take on a magical reality in a book whose humour is as subterranean as its other effects. Sarajevo Marlboro is a ... début by a young writer who mixes Bosnian lowlife and knife-sharp political satire in the manner of Borges or Kundera to create his own version of a nightmare world"--From back cover.