The hardcover publication of "How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone" launched Stanisic as an exciting and important new voice in literary fiction and earned exuberant praise from readers and critics alike. Now in paperback, Stanisic s debut about a boy who experiences the Bosnian War and finds the secret to survival in language and stories is bound to dazzle a whole new readership.
For Aleksandar Krsmanovic, Grandpa Slavko s stories endow life in Vi egrad with a kaleidoscopic brilliance. Neighbors, friends, and family past and present take on a mythic quality; the River Drina courses...

When the civil war destroys his home in Bosnia in the 1990s, the young Alexandar flees with his parents to the West. Alexandar conquers the foreign land of Germany with his restless curiosity, and he enthusiastically tells fantastic stories about his large family in the small Visegrad. Through his story telling, Alexandar is able to assuage his anxieties as well as bring back the time when everything was good. Alexandar grows up in a small village in Bosnia. His great talent is telling stories, something he inherited from his grandfather. He repeatedly drives his teacher to distraction...