Alone and On My Own

“Ivana Tomić Blečić’s debut novel Alone and On My Own opens the curtain on the contemporary stage of the absurd. Awaiting us behind Ivana’s small door are the keys to a series of questions as to why each of us today, somewhere behind the curtain (or the generally accepted mask), feels alone and on one’s own. Are we alone or lonely? In order to get to the answer, Ivana Tomić Blečić opens Pandora’s box of questions through her twelve chapters, in her and our wonderland. Given that the absurd is the initial capsule of the intellectual revolt, all the manifestations of evil and calamities of the modern age can be seen here as circles opened by wonder, which the author closes, one by one, with the perseverance of goodness. And always – with a poem, because only a poem knows the path of the ascent of the human soul.­­­­­

It is unusually interesting that the first chapter of Alone and On My Own, ‘Childhood’, begins precisely at the moment when the author is twelve years old. It begins with the first poem she wrote. Sounds like a paradox, doesn’t it? Why would anyone, in their first book, want to publish their first verses? Don’t we want to present ourselves to the world in the most beautiful light? Not anymore. Ivana puts a poetic stop on posing, acting, cleverly arranged angles. She boldly stands before the world with her first verses: ‘Life before me is just beginning to write novels…’.

This poem, as well as the following ones, at the beginning of each of the twelve chapters of the book, is preceded by short meditative notes, partly experiential, partly derived from the study of modern psychological literature. However, the way in which the author integrates them in relation to content testifies to her literary breakthrough in terms of what she has experienced and learned. These prose writings are sometimes short stories, sometimes reflections on the world around us, and, what is very important, they are given not as answers, but as an incentive to ask ourselves anew about the little things that mean life.­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­” (Gordana Jež Lazić­­­)