A review by merrilywereadalong777
Bolla, by Pajtim Statovci
5.0
4.5
Breaking me out of an almost 2 week (an eternity for a book person) reading slump was Pajtim Statovci's shattering BOLLA. I picked this up knowing almost nothing other than it was a gay love (?) story and touched on Kosovo in the 90's and the war. And while that was true...this tiny book in it's less than 250 pages reached a Little Life level of brutality and bleakness.
But you wouldn't know it from the first fifty pages or so which encapsulate better than almost any book I've read this (or in the past few years) the euphoria and thrill of new love. Particularly between two young men. You can feel their worlds collide and click everything into place for them and the bliss and exhilaration from these two pours out of those opening chapters and 100% intoxicates the fuck out of the reader (or it sure did for this reader, at least) It was giving me heavy Call Me By Your Name vibes and I was absolutely here for it.
and then....oh jesus...and then...the reality of the world that these two inhabit comes crashing in abruptly on them and on us and it's so incredibly jarring and upsetting on a level that I haven't experienced for a whiiile in a book. You can feel the main narrator and protagonist, Arsim transform as his innocence and love are annihilated and he's forced to step into the role of someone he never wanted to be and as ABSOLUTLEY awful and unbearable as he can be, to his new wife and family, to seemingly everyone he comes across and to us, the reader as he repeatedly refuses to justify or apologize for any of his selfish, abusive actions...as awful as that shit was to read, I couldn't hate Arsim. I think this is one of the most impressive feats of this novel is that you have such a deeply unlikeable, unrelenting and uncaring narrator that you can't help but, maybe not sympathize but certainly empathize with. I never judged him. The fear and trauma that ripple throughout this book, passed from character to character leaves no room for anything other than just immense sorrow and heartbreak. A really powerful testament to the aftereffects of war and terror and how it resonates for years to come and manifests itself in so many ways into our relationships over time. It asks really hard questions (and purposefully refuses to answer them) about who is worth saving?
This book will haunt you. The writing is luminous and gripping and I think saves this book from being unbearably morbid or dismal. I have to say I was utterly gripped, consuming this tale in a single sorrowful sitting. I don't think I've ever had such a short book leave such a powerful impact on me.
Breaking me out of an almost 2 week (an eternity for a book person) reading slump was Pajtim Statovci's shattering BOLLA. I picked this up knowing almost nothing other than it was a gay love (?) story and touched on Kosovo in the 90's and the war. And while that was true...this tiny book in it's less than 250 pages reached a Little Life level of brutality and bleakness.
But you wouldn't know it from the first fifty pages or so which encapsulate better than almost any book I've read this (or in the past few years) the euphoria and thrill of new love. Particularly between two young men. You can feel their worlds collide and click everything into place for them and the bliss and exhilaration from these two pours out of those opening chapters and 100% intoxicates the fuck out of the reader (or it sure did for this reader, at least) It was giving me heavy Call Me By Your Name vibes and I was absolutely here for it.
and then....oh jesus...and then...the reality of the world that these two inhabit comes crashing in abruptly on them and on us and it's so incredibly jarring and upsetting on a level that I haven't experienced for a whiiile in a book. You can feel the main narrator and protagonist, Arsim transform as his innocence and love are annihilated and he's forced to step into the role of someone he never wanted to be and as ABSOLUTLEY awful and unbearable as he can be, to his new wife and family, to seemingly everyone he comes across and to us, the reader as he repeatedly refuses to justify or apologize for any of his selfish, abusive actions...as awful as that shit was to read, I couldn't hate Arsim. I think this is one of the most impressive feats of this novel is that you have such a deeply unlikeable, unrelenting and uncaring narrator that you can't help but, maybe not sympathize but certainly empathize with. I never judged him. The fear and trauma that ripple throughout this book, passed from character to character leaves no room for anything other than just immense sorrow and heartbreak. A really powerful testament to the aftereffects of war and terror and how it resonates for years to come and manifests itself in so many ways into our relationships over time. It asks really hard questions (and purposefully refuses to answer them) about who is worth saving?
This book will haunt you. The writing is luminous and gripping and I think saves this book from being unbearably morbid or dismal. I have to say I was utterly gripped, consuming this tale in a single sorrowful sitting. I don't think I've ever had such a short book leave such a powerful impact on me.