Book Review
Oct. 31st, 2012 04:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariThe Three-Arched Bridge
by Ismail Kadare
This short, atmospheric novel is narrated by a fourteenth-century Albanian monk as he observes the construction of a bridge across a river. The construction arouses curiosity, skepticism, and even fear in the inhabitants of the nearby village, especially once the construction process takes an unexpected turn that echoes an old, sinister legend. This all occurs across a backdrop of bickering nobles, a weakening Byzantine Empire, the encroachment of the rising Ottomans, and rumors of war and plague in Western Europe.
The Three-Arched Bridge is a very spare novel, giving few details about the bridge builders, the villagers, or even the monk who narrates the tale. Kadare instead concentrates on atmosphere and the thoughts of his narrator. For all this minimalism, Kadare still manages to be very evocative, conjuring up a foreboding sens of gloom, and a vivid sense of a small, simple place adrift in the larger world. It's very effective and haunting.
by Ismail Kadare
This short, atmospheric novel is narrated by a fourteenth-century Albanian monk as he observes the construction of a bridge across a river. The construction arouses curiosity, skepticism, and even fear in the inhabitants of the nearby village, especially once the construction process takes an unexpected turn that echoes an old, sinister legend. This all occurs across a backdrop of bickering nobles, a weakening Byzantine Empire, the encroachment of the rising Ottomans, and rumors of war and plague in Western Europe.
The Three-Arched Bridge is a very spare novel, giving few details about the bridge builders, the villagers, or even the monk who narrates the tale. Kadare instead concentrates on atmosphere and the thoughts of his narrator. For all this minimalism, Kadare still manages to be very evocative, conjuring up a foreboding sens of gloom, and a vivid sense of a small, simple place adrift in the larger world. It's very effective and haunting.
