Koncert za tequilu i apaurin
A short novel by Edo Popović, one of the most important Croatian prose writers of the 1990s and 2000s. The book is part of Popović's "Zagreb Cycle" – a critique of transition without pathos, but through absurdity and grotesqueness.
The story is an absurd-comic and dark satire on transitional Croatia: the main character Folo (a pseudonym or nickname) is a writer or intellectual living in the chaos of post-socialist society. One day he receives a call from the secret services (or parapolitical structures) to write "something" - perhaps a script, a report or propaganda - with the promise of money and protection. Everything revolves around tequila (a symbol of escape, relaxation, the American dream) and apaurin (a sedative, a tranquilizer, Croatian everyday life full of stress and fear).
The novel deals with Croatian everyday life where "anything is possible": corruption, paranoia, lies, media circus, existential apathy and the impossibility of escape. Popović writes quickly, cynically, with black humor and irony - the characters are typified (secret agent, writer, women, friends), the situations are absurd, and the language is colloquial, Zagreb, full of slang and cynicism.
It is read in one breath, leaving a bitter taste and laughter – a masterful miniature about a society where the "concert" of life is played on tequila and apaurin. It is regarded as the pinnacle of Popović's short prose of the 2000s.
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