How to Tie Your Shoes is a confessional narrative that deals with the relationship between a father and son—more precisely it narrates its absence into existence. The novel begins when the narrator learns that his father is terminally ill and decides to return home to arrange his therapy. Mixing the most private fragments of their familial saga with the turbulent recent history of post-Yugoslav transition, the book connects seemingly divided fields of private and public suggesting a strong link between the two facets of trauma: individual and collective.