Water, Spiderweb

“The climax at the end, with several exceptionally powerful scenes depicting the destruction of a persons frantic and frail humanity, can be compared, when it comes to the amount of suffering, callousness, and humiliation of oneself and others, to the films of Lars von Trier.” Croatian National Radio With Water, Spiderweb, Nada Gašić cements her reputation as both a spellbinding author and a remarkable chronicler of the city she calls home: Zagreb, Croatia. This literary noir is set in motion by the historic 1964 Sava River flood that runs through the lives, and generations, of an eccentric cast of marginalized characters, from a mentally ill man who channels the Virgin Mary to three sisters cast from a disfigured version of the Cinderella fairy tale. This novel is not so much about crimes committed but rather the questions around why these crimes are committed, on an individual level and on a societal level. In piecing together the clues that may or may not answer these questions, Gašić makes clear that we are the ones responsible for the circumstances