Hays Travelogue

I can’t stand Scott Simon, the host of NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday. His nasally voice and goofy laugh are like fingernails on a blackboard. His sentimental tributes and insights make me want to throw up, but I pretty much liked his novel, Pretty Birds. During the early 1990s, Simon was a war correspondent in Sarejevo, and this novel is based on his experiences there. In Pretty Birds, we meet Irena Zaric, an unforgettable teenage heroine, who is engaged as a tough, smart, and capable sniper. Fighting back with the only means at her disposal, she is drawn deeper and deeper into the Muslim resistance efforts. Simon does a good job of describing the plight and heroism of the people of Sarejevo during a time when they were largely ignored by the rest of the world.