Such a beautiful book.

Dora and Luka are children together, best friends, soul mates. And then, Dora's family moves away. Years later, after they have both forgotten each other, but not forgotten the connection they shared, they meet again and everything is beautiful and perfect and the world is right.

But, of course, it doesn't stay that way.

For me, this book was about choices. Luka and Dora are pulled apart by choices they have no control over, but their own choices keep them apart and affect all the people around them. It's a beautiful exploration of love and the way it can bring us to life or bury us in misery, but it's also an exploration of how that life or misery is a choice and not out of our control.

I was impressed with the direction the author took this story in. She could have left her characters in utter, beautiful misery. But instead, she seems to choose to embrace the beauty in those imperfect lives, in those lives full of disconnect and desperate love.

I wonder what it would be like in its original language. This is a translation, and, as far as I can tell, a well-done translation, so I have no complaints, but I'm curious - is it even more beautiful in its original German? ( )

This is beautifully written that just made me love love. I loved the author's writing style and just how easily and distinguishable it is when she goes through different POVs. ( )

Every Day, Every Hour by Natasa Dragnic is a hyperbolic romance in a small town called Makarska in Croatia that begins from childhood between a shy boy named Luka whose own anxiety causes him to have fainting spells and an extroverted, exuberant girl named Dora whose beauty and demands cause both drama and awe.

The narrative begins in a juvenile tone most probably because the voices speak as young children. But, even as the story progresses and the children grow into young men and women, the language remains for the most part, juvenile. It is difficult to decipher whether this is a hindrance on behalf of the author’s inability to write better, if omissions were made in context by its translation, or if it was indeed intentional in order to emphasize the over-sweeping indulgences of romance?

While the story is centred around the two characters, Luka and Dora, they are surrounded by a cast of characters who are mildly amused, if not curious or adamantly vehement and bewildered by their passion and connection to one another.

Zoran, Luka’s father understands the weight of love and the burden of responsibility. Ana, Luka’s sister, whose impatience with the fluttering of romance far outweighs the need to support it due to her firm belief in responsibility and obligation. And Klara, whose blinding love and desperation moves her to succumb to a cold and lifeless marriage.

While the premise of the story is an admirable one—an overpowering love that surpasses other forms of passion, even time itself—the writing fails itself in its over-simplification and cliché, which, rather than fully evoke the empathy of its readers towards the passion of the characters’ romance, may indeed deter them from it due to the tone of its exaggerated melodrama.

The characters themselves are deeply flawed, Luka, more than Dora, in his inability to fester courage to speak, stand for, and affirm his professions of love through a simple act that would undoubtedly free him to do so.

As for Dora, though a much braver spirit than Luka in her ability to go after what she wants with a voracity and fervour, does not, in her desire to claim the love that rightfully belongs to her, ever directly face the obstacle that hinders her freedom from being with her lover.

To read the rest of this review, please visit my blog, The Bibliotaphe's Closet: http://zaraalexis.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/every-day-every-hour-a-review/

Thanks,
Zara ( )

Rakkaustarina, joka alka päiväkodissa Kroatian Makarskassa ja päättyy...
Kirjailija kertoo Doran ja Lukan tarinaa käyttämällä toistoja. Merkittävät kohtaamiset kuvataan samoilla sanoilla useamman kerran romaanissa. Välillä se toimii, mutta toisinaan tuntuu teennäiseltä. Saavuttamattoman rakkauden pettymystä ja jälleentapaamisten intohimoa. ( )

The first chapter of Every day, every hour by Natasa Dragnic reads like poetry...I'm only 3 chapters in and this book has already taken my breath away....I am in love with the story, with two main characters and with her writing style...can't put it down.... ( )