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A review by mi__ela
Broken April by Ismail Kadare
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
A lot of mixed feelings about this one. Ismail Kadare is Albania's most known writer and the way he writes is certainly beautiful. However, can that compensate for the amount of times I found myself saying "Oh My Lord! just move on already" because he kept repeating himself for pages on end? Not really.
"Broken April" is about the culture of blood feuds among people of Northern Albania. In addition to that it's also about a wealthy amateur writer who takes his new bride on a honeymoon to observe them.
It describes a part of the world where tradition casts longs shadows and the lines between justice and revenge blur. The book crafts this cautionary message about the enduring harm and pain of normalized violence.
"Broken April" is about the culture of blood feuds among people of Northern Albania. In addition to that it's also about a wealthy amateur writer who takes his new bride on a honeymoon to observe them.
It describes a part of the world where tradition casts longs shadows and the lines between justice and revenge blur. The book crafts this cautionary message about the enduring harm and pain of normalized violence.
"You encourage a whole nation to perform in a bloody drama, while you yourselves and your ladies watch the spectacle from your loges.”
I always give the benefit of the doubt to books that are not written in English originally, because translations are an act of treason, they never fully offer the reader the complete experience of the original language. However, I got so annoyed about the amount of repetition Kadare engaged with. We get it, he's about to die in mid-April, you mentioned that like 6272 times before.
The side characters were definitely side charactering, okay. Bessian was such a self-absorbed man that it icked me to read his POV. Why would you think it would be a good idea to go on a honeymoon to witness blood-feuds?? And he just could not understand why Diana was not having it.... I wonder why...
The ending confused me at first, because I was like "what in the Tenet just happened?" but after I employed my critical thinking skills I came to the conclusion that it made perfect sense. Gjorj saying he heard his own footsteps and his own hands turning him face up, and it was the 17th of March again, adds a circular feel to the narrative.
He was a dead man the day he ended another's life.