Freelander takes the reader on a thrilling ride, much like the novel "Buick Rivera." Retired high school history teacher Karlo Adum receives a telegram summoning him to the reading of a will in his hometown of Sarajevo. Reluctantly, and armed with a pistol, he leaves Zagreb and embarks on an adventurous journey. The closer he gets to his destination in his trusty old Volvo, the more memories resurface: of his beautiful, cruel mother Cica, who enjoyed flirting with German and Italian officers; of his mentally unstable father; of the communists hanged by the Ustashe in front of the cathedral; of the bus ride to the sea with mentally disabled children; and of his own transgressions in a world filled with national animosities. Miljenko Jergović proves to be a masterful wordsmith of extraordinary caliber.