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crina_toth's review against another edition
4.0
Broken April was the Albanian book that I picked for my "reading the world" journey. I absolutely loved the book and it definitely placed Kadaré very high on my list of favorite writers.
Read more: http://www.readingtheworld.me/2014/06/broken-april-by-ismail-kadare/
Read more: http://www.readingtheworld.me/2014/06/broken-april-by-ismail-kadare/
meghaha's review against another edition
4.0
"In no other country in the world can one see people on the road who bear the mark of death, like trees marked for felling."
Already I've forgotten much of Broken April -- I really should review books within a few days of finishing. I do have a vivid recollection of reading a few chapters of it in the botanical garden, under the most lovely tree which an art student -- who'd also noticed the tree's loveliness-- was sketching.
Not long before that day, I'd gotten sucked into a particularly deep wikipedia rabbit hole on feuds. The section on Albania's unique and still-kicking tradition of blood feuds reminded me that I fortuitously already had a book on my to-be-read shelf that dealt with the theme. As a bonus, it was by an author from a country whose literature I was as of yet unacquainted with.
The novel opens from the point of view of 26-year-old mountaineer Gjorg, already deeply entangled in his family's blood feud. After killing the man he was after, he has a month of relative peace to live until the truce expires and its open season once again. He realizes life as he knows it is over, and he'll either be killed or have to stay hidden and afraid for the rest of his existence. There's an inevitability to it all, a lack of choice. The feeling that he must do what he must do, regardless of what he wants or thinks personally. The blood feud is no longer about hot-blooded rage or vengeance-- it's passionless, preordained, a sequence of events that must be completed as part of a larger ritual or cycle. There's even a blood tax to pay.
I felt more spellbound when we inhabited Gjorg's world and perspective. The introduction of Bessian and Diana, newlyweds from the capital, jarred me a little. Bessian is a court writer who's fascinated by the mountaineers' way of life and adherence to the Kanun (traditional Albanian law that also encompasses the rules of the blood feud) and is inclined to think romantically and wax poetically about it all. To him, as to the readers, the mountaineers are an almost mythic people, inhabiting their stone kullas in a desolate landscape, bound unquestionably to the arcane strictures of the Kanun. Brushed as the couple is with the advance of 20th century modernity, this remote part of the country, still steeped in ancient ritual, is as foreign to them as it is to us.
The Kanun is unforgiving and cruel. It proclaims that a wedding must go on, even if if the bride is dying, and a "trousseau bullet" is to be given to the groom so he can kill his wife if she ever leaves him. It upholds the sacredness of hospitality, to the extreme extent that you are bound to avenge a guest, so that there's a risk of getting caught up in an intergenerational blood feud every time you give a stranger a place to sleep.
The harshness of this code, bewildering in a modern context but not so different from any ancient or medieval system, makes you wonder what it is about humans that has allowed and continues to allow us to collectively agree on and support laws that could backfire so spectacularly on any individual; to construct and then follow rules that constrain to the point of suffocation. Perhaps an aversion to disorder and lack of structure so deep that signing away certain freedoms becomes desirable, if only there is a rulebook to follow and hang onto through chaos and uncertainty? The belief it will most likely never be applied to you, while the group benefits as a whole from its formulation? I'm not sure Kadare has helped me understand it, but this book, pleasantly unusual and atmospheric, did raise the question in my mind.
Already I've forgotten much of Broken April -- I really should review books within a few days of finishing. I do have a vivid recollection of reading a few chapters of it in the botanical garden, under the most lovely tree which an art student -- who'd also noticed the tree's loveliness-- was sketching.
Not long before that day, I'd gotten sucked into a particularly deep wikipedia rabbit hole on feuds. The section on Albania's unique and still-kicking tradition of blood feuds reminded me that I fortuitously already had a book on my to-be-read shelf that dealt with the theme. As a bonus, it was by an author from a country whose literature I was as of yet unacquainted with.
The novel opens from the point of view of 26-year-old mountaineer Gjorg, already deeply entangled in his family's blood feud. After killing the man he was after, he has a month of relative peace to live until the truce expires and its open season once again. He realizes life as he knows it is over, and he'll either be killed or have to stay hidden and afraid for the rest of his existence. There's an inevitability to it all, a lack of choice. The feeling that he must do what he must do, regardless of what he wants or thinks personally. The blood feud is no longer about hot-blooded rage or vengeance-- it's passionless, preordained, a sequence of events that must be completed as part of a larger ritual or cycle. There's even a blood tax to pay.
I felt more spellbound when we inhabited Gjorg's world and perspective. The introduction of Bessian and Diana, newlyweds from the capital, jarred me a little. Bessian is a court writer who's fascinated by the mountaineers' way of life and adherence to the Kanun (traditional Albanian law that also encompasses the rules of the blood feud) and is inclined to think romantically and wax poetically about it all. To him, as to the readers, the mountaineers are an almost mythic people, inhabiting their stone kullas in a desolate landscape, bound unquestionably to the arcane strictures of the Kanun. Brushed as the couple is with the advance of 20th century modernity, this remote part of the country, still steeped in ancient ritual, is as foreign to them as it is to us.
The Kanun is unforgiving and cruel. It proclaims that a wedding must go on, even if if the bride is dying, and a "trousseau bullet" is to be given to the groom so he can kill his wife if she ever leaves him. It upholds the sacredness of hospitality, to the extreme extent that you are bound to avenge a guest, so that there's a risk of getting caught up in an intergenerational blood feud every time you give a stranger a place to sleep.
The harshness of this code, bewildering in a modern context but not so different from any ancient or medieval system, makes you wonder what it is about humans that has allowed and continues to allow us to collectively agree on and support laws that could backfire so spectacularly on any individual; to construct and then follow rules that constrain to the point of suffocation. Perhaps an aversion to disorder and lack of structure so deep that signing away certain freedoms becomes desirable, if only there is a rulebook to follow and hang onto through chaos and uncertainty? The belief it will most likely never be applied to you, while the group benefits as a whole from its formulation? I'm not sure Kadare has helped me understand it, but this book, pleasantly unusual and atmospheric, did raise the question in my mind.
agnesreadsbooksuk's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
lizsg's review
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
annari's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
tia1468's review against another edition
2.0
there are about five sentences that i liked in this entire book. make of that what you will.
dbarik's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
kcota22's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
alienstory's review against another edition
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.5