The Balkans in the early 1990s were a place of tremendous political, social, and cultural upheaval--and terrible bloodshed. This autobiographical novel emotionally and lucidly captures the tumult of that terrible time, narrating the story of a young Bosnian writer converted into a soldier and sent into hell. The book take an unflinching look at both sides of the conflict and their similarities and differences and powerfully describes devastated cities and the countless dead. It also, however, offers some respite: small moments of generosity, of tenderness, and of kindness in the midst of the chaos. Readers will be profoundly affected by this moving portrait of the pain, shame, and incomprehensibility of war.