The Belgrade Five

What makes this book engaging is its setting: a country that the author describes in a preface as a place that no longer exists and belonged more to the East than to the West, but mostly to itself. The author captures beautifully what it meant to be a teenager in 1960s Belgrade, including minute details of daily life in the kafana (a type of bistro) - Kirkus Review Based on a diary, this collection of anecdotes and vignettes focuses on five high-school friends, and covers the two years they spent together. It brings to life their passion for football and girls, academic failures and triumphs, pranks and escapades, letdowns and amends. And their watershed period cemented a lifelong friendship. As it reveals the tone and spirit of the times music and fashion, books and movies, food and politics the memoir weaves in the countrys complex history, natural beauty, and cultural diversity. And it gives tribute to the First Belgrade Gymnasium, one of the oldest high schools in the Balkans, which played a pivotal role in the boys coming of age.