Memorial Hall Library

Miss ex-Yugoslavia, a memoir, Sofija Stefanovic

eng

autobiography

maps

no index present

non fiction

Miss ex-Yugoslavia

993691319

Sofija Stefanovic

a memoir

"Sofija Stefanovic makes the first of many awkward entrances in 1982, when she is born in Belgrade, the capital of socialist Yugoslavia. The circumstances of her birth (a blackout, gasoline shortages, bickering parents) don't exactly get her off to a running start. While around her, ethnic tensions are stoked by totalitarian leaders with violent agendas, Stefanovic's early life is filled with Yugo rock, inadvisable crushes, and the quirky ups and downs of life in a socialist state. As the political situation grows more dire, the Stefanovics travel back and forth between faraway, peaceful Australia, where they can't seem to fit in, and their turbulent homeland, which they can't seem to shake. Meanwhile, Yugoslavia collapses into the bloodiest European conflict in recent history. Featuring warlords and beauty queens, tiger cubs and Baby-Sitters Clubs, Sofija Stefanovic's memoir is a window to a complicated culture that she both cherishes and resents. Revealing war and immigration from the crucial viewpoint of women and children, Stefanovic chronicles her own coming-of-age, both as a woman and as an artist who yearns to take control of her own story. Refreshingly candid, poignant, and illuminating, Miss Ex-Yugoslavia introduces a vital new voice to the immigrant narrative"--From book jacket

Prologue: Princess of disaster -- Hello, collapsing world -- The fuzzy worm of capitalism -- Asshole of the world -- Politics for preteens -- The asshole's asshole -- The tempest -- The tragedy competition -- A honeymoon for mourners -- Sex, bombs, and rock and roll -- Welcome not-home -- The school of life -- Epilogue: Miss Ex-Yugoslavia