Three Minutes and Fifty-Three Seconds

"3 Minutes and 53 Seconds-a bildungsnovella in 21 songs and collages-follows the life of an unnamed hero from boyhood to early fatherhood from 1984 to 2004. Uprooted from his home in Sarajevo following his parents' divorce, the hero is thrust into a new life in Skopje, where he grows up amid the unfolding political and social drama of the collapse of Yugoslavia. The story is an intimate account of rupture and displacement, but ultimately resilience. The title refers to the average hit song length-and the time it takes to read each chapter. Arranging the formative moments in the hero's life around songs of the period, Branko Prlja captures the zeitgeist of the time. With a playlist from the 80s, 90s, and 00s that ranges from heavy metal to punk rock, from grunge and drum and bass to trip hop and pop music, these are the tracks that have left behind a trace on a whole generation-not just in the Balkans, but worldwide"--