Na zeleno vejo
(The Green Branch) Book not yet available in English
Summary:
The green branch is a metaphor for an orderly life of prosperity and fulfilment. In the novel, it represents an ideal dependent on the ebb and flow of life, so that the novel’s protagonists can never reach it, let alone climb onto it. While the adults are concerned with expanding their businesses and organising societal matters, the teens are preoccupied with completely different issues. Where to go on Friday night? Why is it bad to get your right ear pierced? What is Slovenia’s second largest island? Why should you practice acrobatic rock’n’roll? Why do girls say no when they mean yes? The novel is set in the first years after Slovenia’s independence from Yugoslavia. It depicts the stories from the streets, the highs and lows of growing up, first loves and first fights as well as first victories and defeats. It is also a tale of the city of Maribor, perhaps depicting it as it is to this day. (source: publisher)
Edited by: Mestna knjižnica Ljubljana
Comment:
This is the author’s debut novel. In it, he takes the reader back to the time just after Slovenia’s independence into a destitute industrial city of Maribor. There we find little people scrambling to reach the green branch after the shift in the political-economic system. One of them is Luka, a schoolboy attending primary school who lives with his brother and single mother. Worried about how the family is going to survive, the latter ventures with her new partner into various transition-period activities promising a quick rise to riches; an under-the-counter operation to market spirituality, for example. Through the eyes of Luka, the protagonist, we follow a “typically” male series of events: time-wasting, partying, hanging out with peers, a street fight, first sexual experiences and so on which all reveal a “vagabond” philosophy of the teenager. He has a charmingly naive way of exploring the world, almost as if he thinks of it as a fun game. Reading about Luka’s life in terms of episodes following one another in a seemingly random order, the reader is convinced that they are reading a light-hearted story until they reach the bitter end, an episode depicting the cruel death of the girl Luka used to fancy, instantly shocking one into the adult world. The style of the novel is easy to read, “airy”, following no predetermined plot, fun, fresh, and impactful, not least because the author spiced his writing with a bit of slang and city jargon from Maribor. The book is targeted at the age range 14+, but it is also suitable for younger readers who are capable of critical independent reading.