Petar & Liza is a massive, oversize, full color, hardcover graphic novel that distills a particular essence of the former-Yugoslavia. The nexus of the particularity is Petar, who we meet first during his service in the army and then follow through a long, largely – but not entirely – urban existence of which the central and most important section is its intersection with the lifeline of Liza, who equally shares the stage during their time together. Petar's experiences push his psyche to the wall, and then some; there is many a moment spent in extremis.
Petar & Liza is a fully painted work, representing an astonishing labor that delivers a fully fleshed out portrait of a dense, multi-faceted culture that fully embodies all the criteria of the novel, replete with an epic sweep that simultaneously provides up close and very personal looks at a large cast of characters and their relations to and with its protagonist – which run the gamut from intimate to antagonistic – and will fully immerse readers the experience of the dissolution of Yugoslavia.
Peter & Liza is a fully engrossing work both on the narrative and æsthetic planes. It is – like life – both beautiful and emotionally exhausting.
"Unpredictable and as strange as life itself, Petar & Liza is an exquisite and poetically written portrait of an artist, a love story and, finally a whole generation. I was stunned by it. His work, and this book, feel like a miracle to me." – Chris Ware
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