Catherine the Great and the Small

 

Catherine The Great and The Small / Olja Knezevic
trans. from the Montenegrin by Ellen Elias-Bursac & Paula Gordon
London: Istros Books, 2020, c2019.
250 p.

This was a book that I first noticed in 2020 after its English publication. But I have only been able to get my hands on a copy recently. It was suggested to me as a novel from an unusual location, one I haven't read much about before -- Montenegro. So I was happy to have found it, in time for Wit Month! 

The book follows the life of Catherine (Katarina); as we begin she is in London, looking back at her past. This is the Catherine the Small section, starting with her childhood in the 70s when she has to cope with the death of her mother, and the changes it brings. She ends up living with her grandmother, since her father quickly remarries and has another family. Her grandmother is a powerful matriarch, however, and instills the iron core in Katarina that keeps her strong throughout the trials she faces in life. 

In this first half of the book we see her grow up in this dysfunctional society - she rescues her best friend Milica, and her little brother, when their family has problems, and always seems to believe that things can get better. When Milica heads to Belgrade to drama school, however, she quickly spirals down into addiction, despite Katarina's best attempts to save her. Kaci's boyfriend Sinisa, a slightly over-the-top handsome hero, saves Milica but involves himself in the Serbian underworld by doing so, and this affects their future dramatically. 

Part Two -- Catherine the Great -- a nickname some of her circle have given her. This is set much later on, when Kaci is 50, living in London with the husband who had taken her out of Montenegro, along with their three children. She's miserably unhappy, but is returning home for the first time in years, for her grandmother's funeral. Facing up to her past and all that's happened to her is difficult, although there is some joy in simply being home, amongst all the corruption and squalor that she knows too well. She ends up returning to London but things have changed in a way that can't be restored. 

The book approaches the war in Yugoslavia at a slant. It doesn't go into the events or details of it; Kaci leaves Montenegro as things are heating up, and only goes back much later. But the lead-up is clearly outlined, with Milosevic as a burgeoning politician, and the run-ins that Sinisa has with various criminal groups. And the aftermath is in strong evidence when she goes home; drugs, explosions, murders, all around her. It's an interesting way to develop the themes of how such conflict affects a population, mainly through the personal life of this one character. 

I thought it was a powerful read, with some strong statements on politics, misogyny, history and more. However, I found Katarina herself a bit of a cipher in many ways. She seems disengaged from her life, especially the latter half. It's as if she can't make anything happen by her own will, but rather just takes whatever is there; her husband is a boor and she isn't happy with him, but goes back to London to live in their apartment, not making a change until he leaves her. I didn't connect with her strongly, but I did find the stories of women's lives in Titograd/Podgorica strongly evocative. Overall, I thought this was an important read which gives a glimpse of what life was like in the late stages of Communist Yugoslavia. 

Interview with the author about this novel