'Not My Turn to Die: Memoirs of a Broken Childhood in Bosnia'

Not My Turn to Die: Memoirs of a Broken Childhood in Bosnia by Savo Heleta

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you find this book, read it. Heleta's Serbian family was so, so lucky to survive the civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They came shockingly close to death many times, but their bodies and spirits couldn't be broken.

Two favorite quotes, one serious and one basketball:

"I realize that what happened in Bosnia could happen anywhere in the world, particularly in places that are diverse and have a history of conflict. It only takes bad leadership for a country to go up in flames, for people of different ethnicity, color, or religion to kill each other as if they had nothing in common whatsoever. Having a democratic constitution, laws that secure human rights, police that maintain order, a judicial system, and freedom of speech don't ultimately guarantee long lasting peace. If greedy or bloodthirsty leaders come to power, it can all go down. It happened to us. It can happen to you."

We Americans should probably be heeding that warning right now.

Now the just-for-fun quote:

"We had watched the Sacramento Kings, my favorite NBA team, playing the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers had won but it was still fun, especially since we had tickets for the third row. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Vlade Divac and Predrag Stojakovic, two Serbs playing in the Kings, waving at me and saying hello. They recognized the jersey of Divac's former team from Belgrade that I had been wearing."

This memoir has been on my to-be-read list forever, seemingly. I found out about it from a now-defunct social networking site called Gather.com. It was like my Tumblr before I discovered Tumblr. I'm glad I finally tracked down a copy and read it.

I purchased this book from Half Price Books (non-affiliate link). I was under no obligation to read and review it.