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| April Fool's Day: A Novel (P.S.) | 
 enlarge | Author: Josip Novakovich
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $3.83
You Save: $10.12 (73%)
New (24) Used (20) from $0.06
Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 722019
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.7
ISBN: 0060583983
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780060583989
ASIN: 0060583983
Publication Date: March 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New, unread, publisher over-stock copies. Ships out by NEXT Business Day. We have shipped TWO MILLION+ Amazon orders to-date. 100% Satisfaction Guarantee!
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Product Description
Ivan Dolinar is born in Tito's Yugoslavia on April Fool's Day, 1948 -- the auspicious beginning of a life that will be derailed by backfiring good intentions in a world of propaganda and paranoia. At age nineteen, an innocent prank cuts the young Croatian's budding medical career short and lands him in a notorious labor camp. Released on the eve of civil war, Ivan is drafted into the wrong army, becoming a pawn in an absurd conflict in which the rules and loyalties shift abruptly and without warning. But even in a world gone mad, one course of action remains eminently sane: survival. Told with bitingly dark humor and a deep tenderness, April Fool's Day is both a devastating political satire and a razor-sharp parody of war.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Vivid June 23, 2008
I read this book because I attended a writing workshop Josip Novakovich gave in Denver. The day was inspiring. Novakovich works and thinks at a high level and that comes through in "April Fool's Day." I happened to attend the workshop before I knew Novakovich was from Croatia. Coincidentally, I was heading to Croatia for a family vacation (first trip there) just a few weeks after the workshop. Since this book is set in the area, I waited until I was en route to begin reading it. In any setting, this book is a classic. Every page comes alive. There is terrific imagery and writing throughout. Ivan Dolinar is a bit of ping-pong ball of a character. He is bounced around by other's and doesn't take charge of himself until the end. But he is an endearing, thoughtful and entirely human character who grows and learns at every turn. Sample of prose: "The clouds grumbled, cleared their throats, but did not spit out a drop of rain. They gathered low, furrowed, like Stalin's eyebrows, trapping heat and moisture, making the air musty. In the morning Ivan sweated profusely, salt from his forehead sliding into his eyes and biting them as though they were open wounds, and that they were, with dust specks, gnats, sand, grating them almost as much as did the sight of his colleagues collapsing, with Chetniks crushing their heads with the wood of rifles, brains flowing out like borscht." The ending is a brilliant riff on life, death, God and ghosts, among the best 10 or 15 pages I've ever read. I'll keep this book handy as inspiration for a long, long time. By the way, my wife read it on the Croatia trip and loved it, too.
 Well written, funny and absurd - in a good way June 17, 2008
Novakovich has done a nice job with his first novel. It follows the life of Ivan Dolinar born on April Fool's Day, 1948. Through following the protagonist's life in the former Yugoslavia and later Croatia, readers will learn about communism, the war that divided the country and life in that part of the world. It is an entertaining and funny odyssey. Novakovich's writing reminded me of Vonnegut's. I highly recommend this one especially if you have any interest in that region.
 Irony of life November 29, 2005
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I wanted to read this book because it is written by the eastern european writer about eastern Europe - former Yugoslavia in particular. Although many readers unfamiliar with the reality of life there would find this book to be a satire about the fallen regime, bizarre consequences following main character in the form of the sixth degree of separation and irony of philosopher seeking meaning of life as life seems to be slipping out of his own hands -- I have personally found it to be real. Perhaps because I used to live in the world of such absurdities until it became unbearable and I have decided to leave it behind and move as far away from it as possible. This is an interesting and compelling story. I do not believe it will reach realms of immortality for its creator, though. However, it is a book worth reading. Many eastern europeans will be able to relate to it.
Witty and heart-warming October 12, 2005
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Josip Novakovich's recent novel is a witty, heart-warming tale of a fictional flawed hero-a kind of modern Croatian version of picaresque novels like Candide. Is it too much to compare Novakovich to Voltaire? Not really. April Fool's Day is as engaging, artful, and ultimately satisfying as Candide. Strongly recommended to anyone who loves a well-written novel.
A Classic October 3, 2005
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
April Fool's Day is a unique and poignant tale about a man encountering mind-altering obstacles in his pursuit of high-minded ideals. Told with the bold and evocative imagery of Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita" and the character arch of Coelho's "The Alchemist," it's as deserving to be deemed a classic. Novakovich starts with this idealistic man's birth; his name is Ivan Dolinar, and his journey moves with the speed of an artfully shot skipping stone, touching down on his experiences in love and politics and not stopping until, with some luck, he crawls out of his own coffin.
Throughout each phase in life, Novakovich juxtaposes Ivan's wants with what he gets, and he does it with a sense of humor that is seeped in truth. Ivan is a man's man with a hero's will to survive and live honorably - most of the time. He has his share of fears and 'cronic' shame. In his later years an esophoric case of hypochondria leaves him paralyzed, or just really lazy. You love Ivan the way you might love your husband or old man on the crapper staring dumbly off into space. You put the book down, dry your eyes from laughing, and see the sadness in it all and realize you're deeply moved. April Fool's Day is a profoundly touching read.
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