Mein Mann/My Husband by Rumena Bužarovska, translated from Macedonian into German by Benjamin Langer is a portrait in 11 installments of everyday men. Some educated, some not, some lacking any empathy, some considering themselves the best gifted artists, who love to be surrounded by women other than their wives.
They are not aggressive towards their wives, not even think about murdering them as the crime novels may suggest sometimes. They are just themselves, used to be served, with a trophy wife or a wife they dedicated a poem or two to. Usually, their wived depend on them - because when should they have enough time to do anything with their lives than dedicate to their men. Therefore, when they may open the discussion of getting out of the relationship, the men overreact because even like to add women to their collection they pretend them to be submissive and very quiet about everything they do.
The women from Rumena Bužarovska´s stories are not alone though, as they enjoy the support and advice of other women, They may get entangled in grotesque episodes and do not give up. They even consider divorce and separation. But they don´t always take their men too seriously.
The writing is humorous, with unexpected endings. There is a lot of empathy - when it comes from women - and having a woman´s perspective although is a risk taken by narrowing the point of view - it is nevertheless ab assumed choice. Those stories are about women taking control of their lives from men and therefore, it is their voices which should be heard.
Rumena Bužarovska wrote another four collections of short stories and is one of the founders of the #MeToo movement in North Macedonia.
Rating: 4 stars
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