CELEBRATION

A harrowing novel traces the evolution of a fascist soldier.

The Ustaša were a fascist organization that once governed Croatia. Today, they are best known for their ties to the Nazis and for their brutal actions during World War II. Early in Karakaš’ novel, we learn that its protagonist, first encountered in 1945 hiding in the woods, is wearing a Ustaša uniform. In fact, the reader learns this before learning the protagonist’s name, Mijo. Soon enough, Karakaš reveals more about Mijo, including his plans to eventually surrender to the authorities. “I’ll turn myself in within two or three months, not right away while the blood’s still boiling,” he tells his wife during one of his furtive visits to his old home. There’s something almost quotidian about these trips, which also includes cleaning out stables and worrying about the health of the cattle living there. From the glimpses we get of his thoughts, it seems that Mijo has a philosophical attitude: “The thought flashed through his mind of all the human bones that would be carried off by beasts for years after the war.” What, then, led this man to fight on the side of fascism? Gradually, the novel moves back in time to reveal more aspects of his character, including chapters set before the war and in 1941. It’s there, especially a scene in which Mijo hesitates when asked to butcher a rooster, that the awful contradictions of one man’s life come into focus. As this stark novel reaches its conclusion, it becomes apparent that this isn’t a book that abounds with easy answers; there’s no “a childhood trauma made Mijo fight for fascism.” Instead, the novel leaves Mijo suspended in an agonizing kind of narrative purgatory.

An unsettling look at one man’s moral drift.