Bait

Bait by David Albahari

A young man tries to record his mother’s memories before she is lost to him forever. They are both haunted by the collapse of the former Yugoslavia, the devastation that was their home in Serbia before they left for the safety of Calgary, Canada. The narrator of this story listens to his mother’s voice describe a life she has left behind but carries in her heart.

"Some people simplicity calms and others it upsets, in that lies the whole truth. I don’t know whether I can associate that with my mother, but if I compare her with my father, then Father, perhaps like all fathers, becomes hopelessly complicated always at the furthest remove from the best path, while Mother pauses through the labyrinth like a knife through a head of cabbage, without resistance, until it reaches the heart."

This book, though densely written, pours emotions through a sieve of loss, exile, language and love. It is a reflection of a time, a place, and a mother who never stood still, who never gave up, who loved until she took her last breath.