A review by misspalah
The Siege by Ismail Kadare, David Bellos

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

"Memory is not just a record of the past, it is also the guide to the future."

• The Siege by Ismael Kadare

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"The Siege" is a book written by Ismail Kadare, a famous writer from Albania narrating a story about a battle long ago, where the Ottoman army tried to take over a city that was rebelling. The author got some details from a real battle in 1450. Kadare often writes stories based on Albanian history and stories. This book is over 320 pages long and talks about how the Ottomans fought battles in those decades. The story is about a siege of a Christian fortress in Albania, but some similarities might be insinuated as purely coincidence. It's told in short chapters from the view of the Christian defenders and longer parts about the Turkish army. The book really gets into the struggles of the attackers and shows how they fought and felt during that time. It starts slow but gets more exciting halfway through. Although it's a made-up story about what many battles might have been like between the Turks and Albanians and depicted what the siege would have been like in those days, the author highlighting power and greed as the major motives of the story. There are lots of different people in the army attacking the fortress, like officers, soldiers, and even magicians and chroniclers. Some want more power, while others just have to do what has been instructed upon them. Kadare writes well and makes you feel the fear of a siege and the politics in an army. But it's not a story everyone might enjoy. And because it was translated from Albanian to French and then to English, some of the original feeling might be lost. This is the book that will be hit or miss depending on the person who’s read it.