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A review by koalamarch
Broken April by Ismail Kadare
3.0
After starting the novel with a literal bang, the immediate foundations of Broken April were indeed captivating, mixing the ambiguity of story’s context nicely with the thrill of the moment to draw in readers. However, despite the effectiveness of Ismail Kadare’s drip feeding, the almost obtrusive change of pace in the novel around halfway through seemed unfortunately to lessen my interest in the book.
Nonetheless, there were many individual elements of Kadare’s writing I enjoyed, for example I felt that of the two, the writing style was more deftly used than the novel’s use of plot, using the cold landscape to consistently reflect Gjorg’s (or Diana’s later on) mental turbulence. Furthermore within Kadare’s imagery, the use of sound such as with the “grating pebbles” or the farm animal cries again had the effect of not only creating tension, but of alerting the audience to Gjorg’s unease. Similairly, the stream of consciousness effect (in chapter 2) I thought was very effective, highlighting such key ideals as the commonplace essence of families without the blood feud having “no special signs of happiness”, or other erratic thoughts such as having an affair with a nun really reflecting Gjorg’s mental attempts to escape his unassailable predicament. Of course, I keep referring to elements within chapter 2 being that of the 7 chapters, I found that it illustrates the key themes of the book the most, as well as it perhaps being the most allegorical juncture in the novel (Gjorg’s solitary “journey” to pay his blood tax). In this chapter we can really witness Gjorg’s character’s state of complete loss reflected in the metaphors of his surroundings, for example when he deliriously mistakes a log for another traveller, Kadare promotes this imagery of an organic tree cut in its centre leaving only its roots as its last vestige and thus is showcasing Gjorg’s own perception of himself as a traveller next to a fire with “no warmth”. Overall, the themes of mortality, solitude and the questioning of moral valour is expertly put into view in this chapter.
However, it’s when we move into chapter 3 that I started to lose my grip with the novel. Although I love the stark contrast in Diana (and Bessian) and Gjorg’s colliding worlds (e.g. how even the raindrops on Diana’s carriage are “pearled’) I felt that Kadare seemed to want to focus more on the principles of the Kanun as opposed to the characterisation of Diana or Gjorg, and that indeed the characters suddenly felt cold and not relatable. I found therefore that I started to care less about the principles of the novel, which is why I gave a lower rating overall.
Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the novel (particularly loved the allusions to the Odyssey and the idea of guests being demi-gods) and genuinely admire Kadare for opening doors for readers to delve further into Albanian literature.
Nonetheless, there were many individual elements of Kadare’s writing I enjoyed, for example I felt that of the two, the writing style was more deftly used than the novel’s use of plot, using the cold landscape to consistently reflect Gjorg’s (or Diana’s later on) mental turbulence. Furthermore within Kadare’s imagery, the use of sound such as with the “grating pebbles” or the farm animal cries again had the effect of not only creating tension, but of alerting the audience to Gjorg’s unease. Similairly, the stream of consciousness effect (in chapter 2) I thought was very effective, highlighting such key ideals as the commonplace essence of families without the blood feud having “no special signs of happiness”, or other erratic thoughts such as having an affair with a nun really reflecting Gjorg’s mental attempts to escape his unassailable predicament. Of course, I keep referring to elements within chapter 2 being that of the 7 chapters, I found that it illustrates the key themes of the book the most, as well as it perhaps being the most allegorical juncture in the novel (Gjorg’s solitary “journey” to pay his blood tax). In this chapter we can really witness Gjorg’s character’s state of complete loss reflected in the metaphors of his surroundings, for example when he deliriously mistakes a log for another traveller, Kadare promotes this imagery of an organic tree cut in its centre leaving only its roots as its last vestige and thus is showcasing Gjorg’s own perception of himself as a traveller next to a fire with “no warmth”. Overall, the themes of mortality, solitude and the questioning of moral valour is expertly put into view in this chapter.
However, it’s when we move into chapter 3 that I started to lose my grip with the novel. Although I love the stark contrast in Diana (and Bessian) and Gjorg’s colliding worlds (e.g. how even the raindrops on Diana’s carriage are “pearled’) I felt that Kadare seemed to want to focus more on the principles of the Kanun as opposed to the characterisation of Diana or Gjorg, and that indeed the characters suddenly felt cold and not relatable. I found therefore that I started to care less about the principles of the novel, which is why I gave a lower rating overall.
Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the novel (particularly loved the allusions to the Odyssey and the idea of guests being demi-gods) and genuinely admire Kadare for opening doors for readers to delve further into Albanian literature.