“Whites wash at ninety” is Bronja Žakelj’s debut novel in which she tells us about her childhood and years that followed her growing up. She writes about life and death, facing loss and illness, overcoming fear but also learning to live with it until you gather the strength to overcome it. Bronja put into words what many have felt and didn’t know how to relate to the rest of the world.
Beautiful and heartbreaking read.
about the book
Title: “Whites wash at ninety”
Author: Bronja Žakelj
Original Language: Slovenian
Country of Origin: Slovenia
Nationality of the Author: Slovenian
Genre: novel
Publication Year: 2018
about the author
Bronja Žakelj is a Slovenian writer, born in 1969 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. She studied journalism and currently has a career in finance.
Her debut novel, “Whites wash at ninety”, won the 29th Kresnik Award in 2019 and has become a bestseller in Slovenia.
In 2025., the book got a cinematographic tribute with the “Whites wash at ninety” movie by Marko Naberšnik.
historical and cultural context
Bronja was born in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. When she was a child, Slovenia was a part of Yugoslavia, and she talks about it in the first part of the book. In the later parts we also see a bit of her life in Slovenia after it left fought for independence. The book only briefly mentions political events; however, it paints a detailed picture of the day-to-day life in the 70’s and 80’s Yugoslavia.
For most of the book, the events are happening in various cities in Yugoslavia, except for a brief part when she was living in London.
Some of the historical events mentioned: Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (1984), The Ten-Day War (1991);
quotes
The following quotes are in Slovenian, the original language of the book.
“Težko poslušam te stavke brez vsebine. Vem, da me hočejo tolažiti, ampak kaj pomenijo te besede brez pomena? Kaj pomeni biti močan? Kaj je sploh to? In kaj bo, če jaz te njihove moči nimam dovolj? Mar tudi to, da se bojim, pomeni, da sem brez moči?“ [page 159, “Belo se pere na devetdeset“, Bronja Žakelj, Beletrina 2019]
“A tako kakor mi nekoč iz strahu niso dovolili mojega strahu, me zdaj spet iz strahu ne upajo pustiti v moji bolečini. Ko rečejo, da moram živeti naprej, hočejo da grem na morje, da berem, da si kupim novo krilo. Ker edino to bi pomenilo, da so mi dali sebe dovolj, da me niso zapustili, ker edino to bi pomenilo, da niso ostali razoroženi v skrbi zame. A to rečejo tudi, ker vem, da je žalost, tako kot bolezen, moteča, in da je ni primerno brez kontrole preglasno in predolgo kazati naokrog; malo da, malo, ravno prav, tiho, umaknjeno, preveč pa ne. Vsaj ne tam, kjer jo lahko vidijo vsi. Vsaj ne tam, kjer pomeni poraz.“ [page 221, “Belo se pere na devetdeset“, Bronja Žakelj, Beletrina 2019]
“Bojim se, kako bom brez njega, ker brez njega sem sama. Ampak drugače ne gre, saj se razhajava že leta, že vse odkar sem zdrava, pravzaprav. Razpadava počasi, ker vez med nama je bila ves čas pretesna za konec, v njej pa čisto preveč prevelikih stvari. Bil je hrup, bila je živa glasnost let, bili so strahovi, upanja in brezmejna hrepenenja. Bilo je vse to, a vse to za ljubezen vseeno ni dovolj. Ker ljubezen je več kot preprosti seštevek reči. Je več kot seznam. Je nekaj, kar je, kar enostavno samo je, in je nekaj, za kaj lahko rečeš le »zato«, ko te vprašajo, »zakaj«. “ [page 235, “Belo se pere na devetdeset“, Bronja Žakelj, Beletrina 2019]
“In tako se vse, kar se nekoč v tišini začne, nekoč v tišini tudi konča.” [page 250, “Belo se pere na devetdeset“, Bronja Žakelj, Beletrina 2019]
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