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REVIEWS: "Bazhe has a vivid talent for powerhouse storytelling and Damages is a remarkable, compelling read." - SLV, White Crane Journal, NY "Bazhe is a skilled narrator, and Damages never dips into being a dull read." - RD, Instinct Magazine, CA "Bazhe?s life story is uniquely his own, but at the same time it is a story that we can all relate to. That alone makes Damages a good book worth reading." - JM, The Weekly News, FL "Bazhe has led what Leo Tolstoy or George Eliot might have called an epic life." JT, Lavender Magazine, MN "We can mirror traces of our life in Bazhe?s search for meaning, and be supported by his strength and creativity." LCL, Idea Museum Collective of Consciousness, CAN "The story is told skillfully via a number of flashbacks ...an enlightening read." Rainbow Network, UK "Bazhe knew a world that turned to violent ethnic strife after years of civil unrest, echoed by his own inner turmoil. Damages is the story of his inner and outer wars." SS, Recorder Newspapers, NJ "Bazhe reveals horribly realistic experiences that had to be lived. No one could have made this up. Damages is a remarkable read." Radical Faerie Digest, TN "Damages is an important book. My hope is that it can work a similar magic on you. Bazhe has a talent and Damages is a compelling read." Chicago Pride, IL "The concept rather reminds me of Michael Ondaatje?s The English Patient?again a retrospective commingling of love and history and tragedy that became a powerful Miramax film in 1996. The same opportunity obviously exists here." JB, Hppub Book Review, MN BOOK DESCRIPTION: Damages is a creative nonfiction, true story, that begins with the death of Bazhe's abusive father, a Communist official. His mother is diagnosed with cancer, and Bazhe immediately returns to Macedonia to take care of her. Meanwhile, his more than thirty-year search for his biological mother ends, and Bazhe tells her his life story, starting with his lonely childhood and adolescence. After finding his ?new mother? to be very understanding, Bazhe reveals to her his first gay experience in the army, his desire for self-realization that caused scandals in the College of National Security, his escape to Turkey where he transformed into a stunning transvestite after meeting a handsome wealthy man, and his return to Yugoslavia where he wandered in the underground world of a country that was falling apart. As Yugoslav nationalism and Islamic fundamentalism rose, Bazhe almost lost his life before he succeeded in immigrating to America. Although he finds his biological mother, Bazhe ultimately discovers that it is his adoptive mother?s devotion that is irreplaceable. ISBN: 0-595-29714-5 / Size: 6 x 9 / Pages: 324 / Original Price: $19.95 / e-Book $ 6 Published by iUniverse Star. (iUniverse, Inc) 2004; Phone: 1-877-823-9235 ABOUT the AUTHOR: Bazhe is a writer, poet, and artist. He is the author of Damages (creative nonfiction)--winner in the Writers Digest Awards 2005, and Identities (poetry book). He is published in Serbia, Bosnia, Macedonia, and Bulgaria. In America, his poems have appeared in: Poetic Voices Magazine, Winter's Gems Anthology, Bay Windows, Opus Literary Review, River Run, and Reader. His art is exhibited in New York City, Europe, NJ, and OH. He lives between NY, NJ, and MA.Read full review
In Damages, the poignant debut novel by author Bazhe, each and every reader will be able to, in some way (I hope), be able to relate to the pure human truth of life. Its not fair, its not just and so many things we are led to believe are not necessarily true. It is old in a most vivid and remarkably stimulating way. Aside from the fact that it is so excellently told, I loved (and hated) many of the characters. Few were the characters that you didn't feel strongly about, one way or the other. Several I would have loved to have known. Those whom I was thankful that they existed were Auntie Bisera, Granny Sandra, Jasmine, Auntie Maggie Thatcher and Fred. I wish I could have drop kicked (or worst) "Rambo", Genghis and the Psycho. Bazhe's parents evoked a wide range of feelings. Heart wrenching tragedies, moments when you laugh out loud. Some soul stirring emotions make one feel like a voyeur. It is like floating along watching events unfold, unseen as a person struggles to survive or die trying to live through the hand life dealt him. Damages opened the closet, lifted the rug and let all of the skeletons and secrets out. It must be so refreshing to just be who you are. No secrets, no lies. Few can live up to that standard. So many topics are exposed that are generally kept hidden. It would take me several pages to truly capture all of the stark realities covered. Damages bears witness to child abuse, elder abuse, abuse of the infirm ed and disabled, greed, jealousy, rape, sodomy, entomophobia marriage, religious bigotry, karma, caste systems in its various forms, gossip, rumor mongers, homophobia, hate crimes, perceptions, deceptions, war, love, hate, manipulation, corruption, extortion, death and dying, adoption, orphans, faith, friendship love, being true to oneself, forgiveness, art, history, music and nature. Bazhe examines homosexuality, being a transvestite, the horrors one can endure just for being different. You will visit the questions of what makes one fit to be a parent. what truly makes one a patriot to their country. The hypocrisy of so called " average" people. You know, those who put on a great show for the world looking in, which is in conflict with what truthfully goes on behind closed doors. Every aspect of world politics and immigration are broached. Included with the added gift of his eyes as an artiste is a written visualization of life in Macedonia and all of its surrounding nations. Remarkably you'll have read the 307 pages and still want to know more. Are we not each a product of how we are raised and how we were treated? I suspect that Bazhe survived it all due to a strength he had upon birth. I wished deeply that someone would at some point just treat him as they would want to be treated themselves. I cheered for him as he survived yet one more painful event in his life and simply longed for him to be safe from harm, free to be the generous, honest and caring person he wants so much to be. There is a childhood saying "people that live in glass houses should not throw stones", yet they do each and every day. I learned a lot while reading Damages. Even when I did not necessarily agree with a particular comment or position Bazhe took, I found myself fully understanding why he had every right to feel as he did. It is masterfully written and generous in every literary manner. Certainly is a Pulitzer material. His writing genius is breath taking, thought provoking, memorable and an educational delight.Read full review
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