„Reality show“
Čigoja Štampa, Beograd, 2021. 294 pages
T he main character of the novel "REALITY SHOW" is the same Ljupče who made us happy with his youthful adventures in the novel "Goldberg and Rosalinda". The action of the "REALITY SHOW" takes place in Belgrade, on one August Saturday 2003, on the day Ljupče’s mother died.
Ljupce is now a lively seventy-year-old, who has come to Belgrade from Africa for the first time since Yugoslavia broke up.
Overwhelmed by the loss of his mother, whose spectrum is pressing on his conscience and stunned by the changes in the way of thinking of his friends that changed so much over the years he lived in Africa, Ljupče runs through his memories in order to regain a sense of reality.
Author's selfie, 1983.
Author's mother as a girl.
A visit of the Prime Minister to the Federal Customs.
Jomo the fiserman.
The undercurrent of the novel are the words of Ljupče's African friend the fisherman Jomo: "The first night after my mother's death, I dreamed all my life! But in that dream, everything was different than I remembered it! We Africans believe that the spirit of a dead mother, before moving to the other world, comes to disclose everything she failed to tell us during her lifetime. Only after that all what was blurred suddenly becomes clear! "
"REALITY SHOW" is somewhat reminiscent of Kurosawa's cult film "Rashomon". It also shows the subjectivity and relativity of truth. However, while "Rashomon" is burdened with pathos, "REALITY SHOW" is a titillating story where erotic memories run as counterbalance to more serious topics about aberrant phenomena that were characteristic of the period of disintegration of Yugoslavia!
As the story progresses, and as fatigue breaks Ljupče – dream and reality begin to mix, and personalities acquire new, much more dramatic features. The plot of the novel is transferred to a new reality that takes place at the rehearsal for a reality television show.