Rumena Bužarovska, writer: “Women have been taught to accept unpleasant sex.”

A marriage goes into crisis after visiting friends who have a bigger, nicer house, better food and clothes, and who therefore seem happier. A woman married to an American and living in the United States returns to Macedonia to visit her ailing father and takes the opportunity to meet a man with whom she has been corresponding and whom she has idealized. “Many Macedonians emigrate convinced that their life abroad will be like something out of 'Sex and the City'” A teacher believes she's risen through the ranks when she's invited to the U.S. Embassy in Skopje, but the invitation turns out to be a trap... The stories of Macedonian writer Rumena Bužarovska are as tragic as they are funny. They are filled with broken dreams, disappointment, and unhappiness with relationships, parents, and money. Bužarovska's stories, which recently published I'm Not Going Anywhere (Impedimenta), are like life itself. Read also 'The Blue Hour' or the mystery of the work of art sculpted with human bones Leonor Mayor Ortega "Literature doesn't deal with happy things, as writing revolves around people's problems and circumstances that are difficult to face. That's why I write about the things we pretend aren't happening in our lives and about that facade of happiness we try to present, but which is actually unhappiness," explains Macedonia's most successful writer in an interview with La Vanguardia . The characters in Bužarovska's stories are Macedonian and often women because "to write a good book, you have to be honest and talk about where you are and what you know." And the author knows (and writes) about her country, what it means to be a woman, immigration, poverty, and sex—the major themes that run through her literature. Read also Joyce Carol Oates: “Reporting rape is a losing option for many women.” Leonor Mayor Ortega "When I write about sex, I do so in a grotesque way and show the sexual abuse that is very common in relationships, because women have been taught to accept unpleasant sex, to pretend that abuse is love, and to romanticize it. Sex, which traditional narratives present as something beautiful and romantic, is deception," she explains. Here and in Macedonia, a small Balkan country of 1.8 million people, a perennial candidate for European Union membership, where the sun shines and salads are loved. “Macedonia is a vibrant country at a crossroads where a lot is happening. It's not a bad place to live, but a narrative of despair has taken hold, pushing many young people to want to leave for Western Europe or the United States,” he explains. Read also Lisa Jewell: “Your husband could be a serial rapist” Leonor Mayor Ortega And he adds, "It's often a mistake, which I reflect in my stories, because people in the Balkans depend on their community, family, and friends, and in those places, they feel isolated. They leave convinced that their life will be like in Sex and the City or Fraiser , and when they arrive, they discover that reality doesn't exist." Despite this criticism, Bužarovska has lived in the United States. Now, back in Macedonia and a renowned author, she has decided to broaden her scope: “Short stories are my favorite genre, but I realize they generate as little interest as, say, Estonian poetry. So I decided to write a novel. This time, the protagonist is a man. His name is Tony, a middle-aged ex-rocker who believes life owes him something and sows disaster wherever he goes. It’s a funny novel, but also very tragic,” like all of Bužarovska’s work.