TONI

Toni--a former Skopje rocker, television bureaucrat, bargain-bin seducer, unrepentant narcissist, and expert at never accepting blame--navigates his midlife crisis with all the arrogance of a man who still believes himself irresistible, even as the world has long since moved on without him. A disastrous vacation, a chain of mishaps, several losses, and a succession of minor domestic and emotional breakdowns gradually strip him of everything that propped up his vanity: his fantasy of virility, his nostalgia for his father, his romantic alibis, and the comfort of always being the center of attention. Narrated with a cruel intimacy, *Toni* delves into the consciousness of a man who is ridiculous, puerile, and yet painfully recognizable. With her signature blend of ruthless lucidity, hyperrealism, and caustic humor, Rumena Buzarovska dissects the intimate fragility of the contemporary male--a figure trapped between resentment, confusion, physical decay, and an absolute dependence on the very women he disparages.