Love Novel

NICK'S PICK

My head spun, caught in some of the most compelling paragraphs I've read. They recalled every argument I had with someone I've loved, or despised . . . but remained in a relationship with. At times it was hard to calm down. Reading this book was like being with someone you wanted to hug and not let go, all the while knowing that eventually you would have to. -NR

Translated by Mima Simić.

Love in late capitalism: Ivana Sajko takes us to the frontlines of a war waged between kitchen and bedroom.

Love in late capitalism: in an unnamed city, a husband and wife wage a silent war of rage and resentment. He, an out-of-work Dante scholar, is trying to change the world—and write a novel. She was once a passable actress, but now she’s failing at breastfeeding. They take on gigs and debts. He drinks cheap wine; she cleans obsessively. In their two-room flat the tension rises and turns exquisite: the rent is past due, their careers have stalled, the regime is crumbling, and there’s always the baby, the baby who won’t stop crying.

Intense and astutely ironic, devastating and darkly comic, Ivana Sajko’s Love Novel takes a scalpel to the heart of modern married life.

Paperback | 112 pages | 5.25" x 8.00"