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(More customer reviews)In the early 1990's Yugoslavia began to battle itself as Serbs, Croats, Muslims and others attempted to create cities that reflected their chosen religion by exterminating those who did not fit. Dorros' work is the story of Ehmet, a Bosnian boy who is forced to leave his hometown of Sarajevo and make his way to his grandparents who live in Croatia 400 miles away. Never has a story shown a child so young who seemed at the same time profoundly aged by the events around him. Within a few chapters the change in Ehmet is staggering as he transitions from tree climber to a serious young man who sleeps during the day and pretends to be Muslim because it's safer. Throughout the work the effects of illogic and bureaucracy are boggling; Ehmet's attempts to be united with family are stymied by paperwork and technicalities. In one heart-wrenching scene, Ehmet has found his best friend Milan in a camp but when the family is moved to another camp they cannot take Ehmet along because they aren't really his family. A brilliant protagonist, Ehmet adapts to the situation around him with balanced and intensely accurate emotional outbursts and repressions. As complex as the war itself, Ehmet's thought processes work constantly to make sense of what is going and are particularly telling when he meets up with childhood bully Darko at a children's camp. Disturbingly realistic, this book will be an eye-opening history lesson for those who watched these events unfold on the news. Readers will be disappointed in themselves when they realize how easily most of us can forget what happened just a few short years ago. Logical but not moralizing, Under The Sun has classroom potential.
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