"Ugresic's recent work [is] veery Central European in form, a collage of essays, sketches, feuilletons, numbered aperçus, reminiscent of the best non-fiction of Danilo Kis or György Konrád. She is brave in denouncing the perversions of political and cultural life in Croatia, but also wonderfully ironical about the quasi-heroic roles in which she find herself now unwillingly cast. The book is subtle, funny, and clear-eyed."--Timothy Garton-Ash, International Books of the Year, Times Literary Supplement