Chapter 10: Our Little Stasi and Chapter 11: The Language of Soup Summary and Analysis

Slavenka rushes to the telephone bill payment office (the post office), only to find it closing up yet again. When the Berlin wall falls, democracy comes to Croatia. In 1990, the people are notified that paying their telephone bills can occur in private booths. The new president, a former general, remembers the frustrations he experienced at the post office and changes things. Private space becomes increasingly important. Other reforms occur in other new Democracies. Slavenka is stunned at the American telephone system—particularly with the fact that one can change phone companies. The system even works. For Croatia, the phone system is a spy system for state police and rarely works effectively.

Zsuzsa is making soup in a kitchen, where Slavenka is visiting...