Pretty Birds

Scott Simon

ISBN 10: 0812973305 / ISBN 13: 9780812973303

Editore: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2006

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: En Pretty Birds, Scott Simon crea un retrato intenso, sorprendente y tragicómico de un personaje clásico: una joven en la ciudad asediada de Sarajevo a principios de la década de 1990. En la primavera de 1992, Irena Zaric es una estrella en su equipo de baloncesto de la escuela secundaria de Sarajevo, una adolescente dura y divertida que le ha enseñado a su loro, Pretty Bird, a hacer una imitación decente de una pelota golpeando un aro. Irena usa el pelo corto como k. d. lang, y ama a Madonna, Michael Jordan y Johnny Depp. Pero mientras Irena se divierte y lanza canastas con sus amigos, su amada ciudad se ha convertido en un campo de batalla. Cuando comienza la violencia y el terror de la "limpieza étnica" contra los musulmanes, Irena y su familia, brutalizados por soldados serbios, huyen para ponerse a salvo al otro lado del río que divide la ciudad. Si una vez Irena conoció la guerra solo por las películas y los libros de historia, ahora conoce su realidad. Roba a los muertos para comprar comida. Se escabulle debajo de las ventanas de su propia casa para esquivar las balas. Arriesga su vida para comunicarse con un viejo amigo y compañero de escuela serbio. Incluso Pretty Bird ha comenzado a imitar el chisporroteo del fuego de mortero. En una ciudad hambrienta de trabajo, un ex subdirector le ofrece a Irena un trabajo vago, "deberes según lo asignado", que ella acepta. Comienza barriendo pisos, pero pronto, bajo la tutela de un elenco de pícaros y héroes, aprende a ser una francotiradora, esperando su momento, sin regresar nunca a la misma percha y buscando en sus objetivos la "niebla" que marca un disparo exitoso. En última instancia, la nueva vocación de Irena conducirá a consecuencias complejas y cataclísmicas para ella y para aquellos a quienes ama. Como periodista, Scott Simon cubrió el sitio de Sarajevo. Aquí, en una novela tan llena de suspenso como un thriller de John le Carré, recrea la atmósfera de ese lugar y tiempo y el dolor y el humor negro de su gente. Pretty Birds es una partida audaz y el comienzo auspicioso de otra brillante carrera para su autor. EAN: 9780812973303 Tipo: Libros Categoría: Literatura y Ficción|Historia Título: Pretty Birds Autor: Scott Simon Editorial: Random House Trade Paperbacks Idioma: en Páginas: 368 Formato: tapa blanda.

Codice articolo Happ-2023-07-11-1655a532

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: Pretty Birds
• Editore: Random House Trade Paperbacks
• Data di pubblicazione: 2006
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0812973305
• ISBN 13: 9780812973303
• Rilegatura: Brossura
• Condizione: As New

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

The universally respected NPR journalist and bestselling memoirist Scott Simon makes a dazzling fiction debut. In Pretty Birds, Simon creates an intense, startling, and tragicomic portrait of a classic character–a young woman in the besieged city of Sarajevo in the early 1990s.

In the spring of 1992, Irena Zaric is a star on her Sarajevo high school basketball team, a tough, funny teenager who has taught her parrot, Pretty Bird, to do a decent imitation of a ball hitting a hoop. Irena wears her hair short like k. d. lang’s, and she loves Madonna, Michael Jordan, and Johnny Depp. But while Irena rocks out and shoots baskets with her friends, her beloved city has become a battleground. When the violence and terror of “ethnic cleansing” against Muslims begins, Irena and her family, brutalized by Serb soldiers, flee for safety across the river that divides the city.

If once Irena knew of war only from movies and history books, now she knows its reality. She steals from the dead to buy food. She scuttles under windows in her own home to dodge bullets. She risks her life to communicate with an old Serb school friend and teammate. Even Pretty Bird has started to mimic the sizzle of mortar fire.

In a city starved for work, a former assistant principal offers Irena a vague job, “duties as assigned,” which she accepts. She begins by sweeping floors, but soon, under the tutelage of a cast of rogues and heroes, she learns to be a sniper, biding her time, never returning to the same perch, and searching her targets for the “mist” that marks a successful shot. Ultimately, Irena’s new vocation will lead to complex and cataclysmic consequences for herself and those she loves.

As a journalist, Scott Simon covered the siege of Sarajevo. Here, in a novel as suspenseful as a John le Carré thriller, he re-creates the atmosphere of that place and time and the pain and dark humor of its people. Pretty Birds is a bold departure, and the auspicious beginning of yet another brilliant career for its author.

Informazioni sull'autore

SCOTT SIMON is the host of National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition with Scott Simon. He has covered ten wars, from El Salvador to Iraq, and has won every major award in broadcasting, including the Peabody and the Emmy. His memoir, Home and Away, rose to the top of the Los Angeles Times nonfiction bestseller list. His second book, Jackie Robinson and the Integration of Baseball, was named Barnes & Noble’s Sports Book of the Year. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and daughter.