In Europe, there is no other book dealing with this topic. Intertwining destinies of the main characters on the background of historic and political events – that is exciting, fascinating, sometimes almost unbelievable and above all, it is not fiction, but reality! And that´s what made your book a true reading adventure.
Lenka Sieber, translator, Solingen, Germany

After having read Zone of Jubilation I want to know more about the author. Why? Because Banáš is perfectly eye-opening, frank, he speaks from the heart. He is not sentimental, but describes events of Prague spring in 1968, times of normalization as well as of the Velvet revolution with factual thoroughness.
Marta Weronika, Poland

This novel is written in the style of The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. People in Slovakia as well in Europe will read this book at one time. Especially young people should read it in order to learn how their parents lived in times of totalitarian regimes.
Franz Eder, journalist Der Kurier, Austria

After reading the first chapters of the novel, it was clear to me that this book, which in a captivating and dramatic manner describes the events in Middle Europe from the Soviet invasion in Czechoslovakia in 1968 till the fall of the communist regime in 1989 / 1990, would be interesting for readers in India.
Amrit Mehta, translator, New Delhi

For the first time, I learned from the book how Willy Brandt fell on his knees in front of the Polish people and Jews in Warsaw and how a drunken Brezhnev conducted an orchestra in Poland…
Milosz Martynowicz, publisher, Poland

Banáš’ gripping in-depth stories of agony of the communist regime show impressively that the then existing socialism had no future at all. I would recommend this book to the young generation as its authenticity cannot be exceeded.
Peter Toscano, teacher, Zurich, Switzerland

The dramatically intensified lives of the main characters, embedded in more recent history of Middle and Eastern Europe, enable mainly young readers to comprehend rationally and emotionally what happened from the late sixties among Moscow, Kiev, Bratislava, Prague and Berlin till the fall of the iron curtain.
Peter Pragal, writer, journalist, Germany

Despite the fact that the novel begins with the Soviet invasion in 1968, which interrupts the friendship between two young men – one Slovak, the other German, as well as the love relationship between a Slovak man and a Ukrainian woman, the book has evoked positive emotions in me. The author rubs salt into wounds with unusual honesty… into wounds which probably still have not healed.
Irina Skolnikowa, teacher, Russia

This is the story of Europe; a story which unites us.
Thomas Angermann, Germany

Fascinating reading in which we meet key personalities of real politics – Brezhnew, Gromyko, Dobrynin, Andropow, Husák, Dubcek, Honecker, Gorbachew, Yeltsin, Lyndon B. Johnson, Brandt, Dutschke, Reagan, Havel, Yushchenko, Kohl, Ustinow as well as descriptions of real events – Soviet invasion to Czechoslovakia in 1968, Afghanistan in 1979, the fall of the Berlin wall or the Velvet revolution in Prague in 1989. Banáš, former Vice-President of the NATO Parliament, European Council and Slovak MP, met many of the novel’s characters personally. I would not be surprised if Slovakia and its five million inhabitants received the Nobel Prize in Literature earlier than the Ukrainian literature.
Serhyj Fedaka, Ukraine, literary critic

The novel of my Slovak colleague Mr. J.Banas “Zona Nadsenia” which I have read with great satisfaction is very exciting, interesting and true story about dramatic destiny 1960‐2000 years’ generation – characters from Ukraine, Slovakia, GDR, FRG, Russia, etc. against of historical events and changes in Central and Eastern Europe. Action of the novel is very live, characters are describing skillfully with great sentiment.
Yuri Scherbak, writer, Ukraine

Awards:
•    Book of the Year 2008, readers’ poll of the magazine Knižná revue (Book Revue), Slovakia
•    Finalist of the Johann Gottfried Seume literary award 2011, Germany