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roseleaf24's review
4.0
I appreciated this picture of life in Albania long ago, and the well-done depiction of the personal costs of war. The family and characters are warm and full.
tealmango's review
3.0
Read the full review here: http://newberyandbeyond.com/newbery-roundup-april/
triscuit807's review
3.0
This is the story of a young tribal girl, Pran (age 14) who lives in the mountains of NE Albania. There is a lot of detail about everyday life, customs, food, etc., but the story hinges on how the women and men interact. Pran and her family are Christian, uneducated farmers. She is the eldest child and has two younger twin brothers - who are valued more, although Pran is well-loved since she has been kept at home (rather than married off) a few years longer than many girls would be. There are hints of tensions between Christians and Muslims, although the Muslim doctor Pran visits is described as "white-faced", i.e. good. The major source of tension are the Slavs who are across the mountains (Kosovo to the E, Montenegro to the N - without a map in the book it's hard to tell which). The other source of tension are the eternal blood feuds between families/clans/tribes. My biggest problem with the book is the lack of historical/cultural background and linguistic definitions; the author has not info-dumped enough. Also I'm having difficulty placing this historical novel in time. Most analyses I've read say early 19th c., but I think it's early 1900s. Albania was part of the Ottoman Empire until 1912/13, but I did see a reference to a Kingdom of Albania in existence before 1912. I can state that Turks are never mentioned, and they would be since much of the drama in the book is between Pran's people (the Thethi) and their enemies (and Turks would be that). Even the concept of Albania as a state is absent in the books. It's Pran's people and their friends (the Merturi) vs. everyone else (esp. the Slavs). I read this for my 2018 Reading Challenge and Newbery challenge (Honor book 1930)
angielisle's review
1.0
I didn't care much for this 1930 Newbery Honor Book.
The story reinforces the idea that women are subservient to men and is built on the notion that girls exist to serve their fathers before growing into women who exist to serve their husbands. The only way these women could free themselves from this system is through religion - the Christian religion, of course. There's no mention of how much Christianity influenced and reinforced this ideal. Albania's pagan history might as well not exist.
And the only way that women could free themselves from this "social" system was through dedication to God; in exchange, the church legally declared these women to be "men" (but who were, in actuality, nuns afforded the legal rights of men).
Now, I'm not a fan of organized religion and I disliked seeing religion portrayed as liberating when, in fact, it helped to oppress women's rights for centuries. But this story fails to mention that. Religion is just another system of servitude that kept independent women from reproducing/passing on their independence, thus ensuring that this system of male domination remains firmly in place. This book almost makes light of that fact. The ending of this book reinforces the idea that Pran's attempt at independence is what star-crossed her love/life (as if women aren't capable of making good decisions). If Pran had just done as her father directed... everything would have worked out at the end. Bleh!
The story is slow and dull, filled with a lot of rural farm descriptions. While the book is reported to be thoroughly researched, I didn't come away with a clear concept of the Albania tribes and I don't feel like I learned much about Albanian history, not without extra-curricular research. This book told me that several tribes were allied together against several other tribes and these tribes fought over land and food. There's very little information about the situation or how much influence the church had on these wars (unregulated and unfair church taxes -tithes- go unmentioned). I expect historical-fiction to give me more history than this book provides; instead, this feels like the church's version of history - which I don't care for because I know the church lies (Doctrine of Discovery).
The only use I could find for this book is that the story illustrates how the world used to be and why it is important to keep moving forward with equal rights in a secular nation - but that's only if parents/teachers/mentors are willing to track down extra-curricular non-fiction reading materials to provide all the details that this book leaves out.
The story reinforces the idea that women are subservient to men and is built on the notion that girls exist to serve their fathers before growing into women who exist to serve their husbands. The only way these women could free themselves from this system is through religion - the Christian religion, of course. There's no mention of how much Christianity influenced and reinforced this ideal. Albania's pagan history might as well not exist.
And the only way that women could free themselves from this "social" system was through dedication to God; in exchange, the church legally declared these women to be "men" (but who were, in actuality, nuns afforded the legal rights of men).
Now, I'm not a fan of organized religion and I disliked seeing religion portrayed as liberating when, in fact, it helped to oppress women's rights for centuries. But this story fails to mention that. Religion is just another system of servitude that kept independent women from reproducing/passing on their independence, thus ensuring that this system of male domination remains firmly in place. This book almost makes light of that fact. The ending of this book reinforces the idea that Pran's attempt at independence is what star-crossed her love/life (as if women aren't capable of making good decisions). If Pran had just done as her father directed... everything would have worked out at the end. Bleh!
The story is slow and dull, filled with a lot of rural farm descriptions. While the book is reported to be thoroughly researched, I didn't come away with a clear concept of the Albania tribes and I don't feel like I learned much about Albanian history, not without extra-curricular research. This book told me that several tribes were allied together against several other tribes and these tribes fought over land and food. There's very little information about the situation or how much influence the church had on these wars (unregulated and unfair church taxes -tithes- go unmentioned). I expect historical-fiction to give me more history than this book provides; instead, this feels like the church's version of history - which I don't care for because I know the church lies (Doctrine of Discovery).
The only use I could find for this book is that the story illustrates how the world used to be and why it is important to keep moving forward with equal rights in a secular nation - but that's only if parents/teachers/mentors are willing to track down extra-curricular non-fiction reading materials to provide all the details that this book leaves out.
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