Ivana is a Croatian poet and writer whose work delves into the core of human experience. Her writing, informed by her studies in philosophy and Croatian language and literature, often explores themes of coming-of-age and loss. With a refined style, she captures the complexities of familial bonds and the impact of conflict on individual lives. Her literary contribution lies in her poignant examination of life's fragility and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity.
Nora is a journalist assigned to do a puff piece on the perpetrator of a crime of passion - a Croatian high school teacher who fell in love with one of her students, a Serb, and is now in prison for having murdered her husband. But Nora herself is the daughter of a man who was murdered years earlier under mysterious circumstances. And she wants, if not to avenge her father, at least to bring to justice whoever committed the crime.
This is a story of hidden gay and trans relationships, the effects of a near-fatal accident, and an oppressed childhood, where Ivana Bodrozic tackles the issues addressed in her previous works - issues of otherness, identity and gender, pain and guilt, injustice and violence. A daughter is paralyzed after a car crash, left without the ability to speak, trapped in a hospital bed, unable to move anything but her eyes. Although she is immobilized, her mind reels, moving through time, her memories a salve and a burden. A son is stuck in a body that he doesn't feel is his own. He endures misperceptions and abuse on the way to becoming who he truly is. A mother who grew up being told she was never good enough, in a world with no place for the desires and choices of women. She carries with her the burden of generations. These three stories run parallel and intertwine. Three voices deepen and give perspective to one another's truth, pain, and struggle to survive.
Ivana Bodrožic's In a Sentimental Mood is emotional, but never woeful, deliberate, yet playful poetry capable of reaching both the highest and deepest registers of expression. From abstract jazz-inspired musings to bedroom intimacies, these poems converse with the idea that being alone is not the worst thing that can happen to a person. To lose your dignity and the dignity of your words—that is the worst thing.
Roman