A local journalist sends a distant relative to report on the war in Iraq, while he stays at home to sort out his love life and his professional career - all to varying degrees of success. As time goes on, things begin to unravel and he ends up having to fake his missing cousin's reports while struggling to hold on to his actress girlfriend. Our Man in Iraq is a take on the Iraqi conflict from the other side of Europe, where politics and nepotism collide and the confusing aftereffects of the recent Yugoslav wars mix with the joys and trials of modern life.
With an introduction by Tim Judah of The Economist.
'Robert Perisic is a light bright with intelligence and twinkling with irony, flashing us the news that postwar Croatia not only endures but matters.' Jonathan Franzen
'Robert Perisic depicts, with acerbic wit, a class of urban elites who are trying to reconcile their nineties rebellion with the reality of present-day Croatia. . . . The characters' snide remarks could easily sound cynical but the novel has a levity informed by the sense of social fluidity that comes with democracy.' The New Yorker
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A journalist, whose marriage is at the point of collapse, sends his cousin out to report on the war in Iraq in his absence. It's not long before things begin to unravel. While he struggles to hold on to his actress girlfriend, his cousin goes missing. Marriage, job and family are all at stake in Our Man In Iraq this comic take on the conflict in Iraq, told from the Balkans, where politics, nepotism and journalism seem inextricably linked.
''In general terms, there are only a few tests of a good book. The first and really big one, however, is whether you want to know what happens next. The second, which obviously does not apply if you are reading science fiction or a historical romance, say, is whether you think, "Yes, exactly!" about descriptions of people and places. I am not Croatian, but I am a journalist and I know lots of the people in this book - not literally, of course, but I recognise their characters. All the way through, not only did want to know what happened next, but I kept thinking, "Yes, exactly!"' -- Tim Judah, Balkans correspondent for The Economist
