
Što je muškarac bez brkova: humoristički roman
When it was first published in 2000, Tomić's novel What is a Man Without a Mustache instantly became a bestseller, and over the next few years it went through a series of new editions, dramatizations, and a film adaptation. First edition.
At the beginning of the novel, Tomić quotes Bohumil Hrabal, one of the greatest Czech (humorous) writers, and as the reading shows, this quote is not accidental. Tomić manages to remain at the height of his literary role model throughout the novel. Through twenty-one chapters and the epilogue that rounds off the story, the author very well depicts the typical rural environment of the Dalmatian hinterland - the village of Smiljevo.
Chapter titles such as "Chapter Sixty" ... where it is revealed that Nikola Tesla and Petar Preradović are actually Serbs ... or "Chapter Eleven" ... in which he doubts the quality of domestic haiku poetry, and the polemic is ended with a club ... or "Chapter Sixteen" ... which reveals that the state administration is full of homosexuals, but there are also the occasional straight guy, suitable for a son-in-law ... perfectly reflect the spirit of this rarely humorous and entertaining read.
Tomić describes the environment with a lot of warmth, but also with a considerable dose of irony, which he evidently knows very well. It presents us with a palette of exceptionally well-drawn characters, with Tatjana, a young widow, as the central character, whose remarriage ends everything, or rather closes one cycle of life in Smiljevo.
One copy is available