Forbidden Bread: A Memoir

In her memoir Forbidden Bread, Erica Johnson Debeljak mirrors in beautiful prose the lyricism of her husband, Slovenian poet Ales Debeljak. The author describes their meeting in New York City, falling in love, marriage, and first years together in her adopted country, the new, independent Slovenia. She chronicles their lives in the book's three parts - Singular, Dual, Plural - a clever reference to just one of the more daunting features of the complex Slovenian language. While the Balkan war rages just kilometers away, Johnson Debeljak wages her own battles as she confronts the idiosyncrasies of a new culture, language, and extended family, all with determination and wit. Her uncanny insight elicited from this reader more than a few nods of agreement, whether it was her take on the "inspection shelf" of Yugoslav toilets, the dire consequences of going "bosa," the deadly draft, the ubiquitous works of Joze Pleènik, or Tito and Jovanka in all their bombastic glory. Insightful, poignant, funny...the author's narrative rings true to anyone familiar with Slovenia. A pleasure to read.

This is a charming love story in which you can learn about what it is like to transition completely to another culture. Very nice story about a time that is very important in our global history.

I so enjoyed this book. I have been researching my husband's Slovenian roots, but had no idea what Slovenian has endured as a country. Although his grandparents immigrated to the USA long before the author, Erica, moved to Slovenia, her descriptions of what life was like there in the mid 1990's and into the 2000's was really interesting. But, the book is also a love story, between her and her husband and children, but also between her and Slovenia. Thank you Erica.

Good book, would recommend

This is an amusing and informative story of a young American who goes to Slovenia to marry an academic she met in New York. She learns to know and admire a country she has never heard of before. She also learns to laugh at the difficulties she faced such as learning the daunting language. With her we meet her inlaws, her new friends and customs which can be both puzzling and charming. The book is well structured and a pleasure to read.

This is one of the best memoirs that I have in a long time. Erica Johnson Debeljak's has written her story so beautifully. As a single New Yorker in my thirties (with parents from Slovenia) I found her story relatable, touching and full of courage!

I think anyone visiting Slovenia would find this story interesting. I found it particularly interesting as I visited there in 2004 and 2010 and saw many changes, between the two trips.

Announced as a memoir of a relationship a book turns out to be a remarkable insight into a Slovene culture and it's political and social context. The personal story is interwoven with the context of history and tradition that makes this book one of a kind. And a hat off to the author for her humor, a specific humor that I identify as NewYorkers humor. It's a great read.

This excellent book is done a disservice by it's title, which in reality should be something like "The Poet who Loved Me" or "Leaving NY...for Ljubljana": More than a memoir, this is a love story, a page-turner, a biography of a tenderly-loved, super-egotic Slovenian national poet; It's funny, and in its' own way, action-packed. There is a lot of (Philip) Roth/Zuckerman in this author (I married a Communist?), who also achieves quite a good (and somewhat - humour aside - chilling) description of life in the murky-but-small fishpond of a post-Communist Balkanic mini-state. It is also enjoyable to read an impeccably-edited and elegant text that intelligently uses a wide vocabulary and not the usual "Adjective, subject, verb, adjective object" Creative Writing 101 stuff. I loved it.

A valid, well written memoir of an immigration in reverse: from the United States to Slovenia. Anybody interested in customs, everyday life and tourism in Slovenia, first lady's Melania Tump homeland, should read this book. Emil Milos Zajc