Forbidden Bread: A Memoir

Name: Forbidden Bread: A Memoir
Author: Erica J. Debeljak
ISBN: 1556437404

by Erica J. Debeljak

Debeljak was living in New York when she met a handsome Slovene man at a cocktail party. She ended up moving to Slovenia with him, living in the capital, Ljubljana. She faces the classic struggles that foreigners take on when moving to a new country; the language, the bureaucracy, the differences in culture – and she writes very entertainingly, with great humour and honesty. It’s a revealing and often poignant account of her relationship with her husband, her husband’s family, and Slovenia in general, and later, her experience of raising a family in a country that does some things quite differently to her American homeland. Most of the story takes place in the mid-nineties, when Slovenia was newly independent and transitioning from its socialist past to its democratic and capitalist present after the ten-day war in 1991. (Compared to the rest of the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia escaped largely unscathed with very little damage to people or property). So the book provides a very interesting insight into this period of Slovenia’s history and what life was like during this time. I think Slovenia has changed quite a lot in the twenty years since but much remains the same and the book continues to make insightful and enjoyable reading for anyone curious about the country.

Recommended by

Sam Baldwin

"Debeljak was living in New York when she met a handsome Slovene man at a cocktail party. She ended up moving to Slovenia with him, living in the capital, Ljubljana. She faces the classic struggles that foreigners take on when moving to a new country; the language, the bureaucracy, the differences in culture – and she writes very entertainingly, with great humour and honesty. It’s a revealing and often poignant account of her relationship with her husband, her husband’s family, and Slovenia in general, and later, her experience of raising a family in a country that does some things quite differently to her American homeland. Most of the story takes place in the mid-nineties, when Slovenia was newly independent and transitioning from its socialist past to its democratic and capitalist present after the ten-day war in 1991. (Compared to the rest of the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia escaped largely unscathed with very little damage to people or property). So the book provides a very interesting insight into this period of Slovenia’s history and what life was like during this time. I think Slovenia has changed quite a lot in the twenty years since but much remains the same and the book continues to make insightful and enjoyable reading for anyone curious about the country."

Slovenia · fivebooks.com