Broken April by Ismail Kadare
‘Broken April’ is the other book by celebrated Albanian author Ismail Kadare recommended as ‘approachable’ by my guidebook to Albania (‘Chronicle in Stone’ is the other). Set in the 1920s or 1930s it describes the way of life in the rural mountainous north of the country where national laws have no sway and every aspect of life is governed by the prescriptions of the Kanun. As well as prescribing family life, hospitality, farming and land ownership and how to settle disputes the Kanun sets out the ‘rules’ for the blood feuds that were – and some claim still are – prevalent in that society.
The picture Kadare paints is both bleak and fascinating. The consequences and inevitability of the blood feud, and the way it is institutionalised as a source of revenue for the local ruler are described from the point of view of a young man caught up in the system. In contrast, a young couple from more cosmopolitan Tirana – he being a writer who has researched the blood feuds – give a more detached perspective.
Regrettably the story itself doesn’t do justice to the weight of its subject. Maybe it’s the translation, but I doubt it. Apart from the young man himself the other characters are hardly more than cardboard cutouts used to illustrate Kadare’s thesis, and the ending is unsatisfyingly obscure and unresolved.
Although the subject matter is interesting, Kadare’s reputation must be built on better books than this.
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