Surviving Peace: A Political Memoir (Olivera Simić, Spinifex)

Law academic Olivera Simić has penned this absorbing yet troubling account of the effects of the war in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. She writes of the life journey that has taken her from Bosnia to exile in Serbia, to the US, Costa Rica and Brisbane, in a narrative voice that is likeable and reasoned. Do not expect a retelling of war experiences; instead Simić gives an intellectual consideration to issues surrounding war, its atrocities, and more specifically, the hardships encountered in living after the war. What happens after the violence has ended and economies are broken, when people have been removed from their homelands, when there are no jobs? What happens when your cultural identity comes from a nation that no longer exists? Are you entitled to talk on the war if you have not suffered as much as others? These are just some of the issues covered. Peppered with quotes from diverse sources, this volume unusually combines academic-type discussion with personal reflections. It also gives a first-hand account of post-traumatic stress. Surviving Peace provides greater understanding of the Balkan Wars to those who don’t know much about the Bosniak, Serb and Croatian ethnicities, and some possible new perspectives to those who do. It makes a valuable contribution to ensuring we don’t forget the horrors and enduring impact of war.

Joanne Shiells is a former editor of Books+Publishing