Reading the World discussion

Chronicle in Stone is a novel by Ismail Kadare. First published in Albanian in 1971, and 16 years later in English translation, it describes life in a small Albanian city during World War II.

Each chapter is followed by an alternate chapter, a short "Fragment of a Chronicle" written by the town's official chronicler. The regular chapters are written in the first person, in the voice of a child, an alter ego of the young Kadare. He is fascinated with words, and reads Macbeth, as Kadare himself did when he was eleven. He applies human drama, imagining blood and crime everywhere. In Kadare's home town, ravaged by history, we see characters walking down the street with severed heads under their arms; the Italian fascists hang several young Albanian rebels, the Greek occupants kill "enemies" chosen according to the whims of their spies, and the Germans indulge in the killing of hundred-year-old women.

Toward the end of the novel, the absurdity of the political situation culminates in a whirlwind-like scenario, in which within two weeks or so, the town changes hands several times: from the Italians to the Greeks, back to the Italians, back to the Greeks, the Italians, the Greeks, until finally no one is in control. Each time the Italians come, they bring along two groups of women, one of nuns and one of prostitutes. Each time the town changes hands, another proclamation by another garrison commander is posted and another flag is raised. Each time another flag is raised, the Albanian Gjergj Pula changes his name to Giorgio (when the Italians come), to Yiorgos (for the Greeks) and to Jürgen Pulen with the arrival of the Germans, a name he never gets a chance to use because the Germans kill him as soon as they enter the town, nor does he get to use "Yogura," which he prepared in case of a Japanese invasion.

I read and enjoyed this a couple of years ago. I liked that it was from the viewpoint of a young boy who is growing up during those troubled time.

Rosemarie wrote: "I read and enjoyed this a couple of years ago. I liked that it was from the viewpoint of a young boy who is growing up during those troubled time."

Thank you Rosemarie.

I'll be reading this soon, just got my copy & it sounds good. I'm sure I'll learn more about Albania than I do now, which is next to nothing!

I learned a lot about Albania while reading it, plus it has a good story-line.

Yes, I just finished and thought this story of a young Albanian boy growing up in an old historical town that had seen both the Roman and Ottoman invasions, was so well done. The history of the Italian and Greek border fighting and finally the German invasion along with the various partisan faction struggles with the invaders and each other is seen through the eyes of the young boy with a great balance of horror and warm hearted humor. Also the stone roads, cisterns and slate roofs of the buildings in the town were as alive to our narrator as his friends were. The inhumanity of man toward his fellow man was as inexplicable to the boy as was why his favorite airplane suddenly turned against the town to bomb it, or why his grandmother was slowly turning into a crone.
Great reading suggestion Celia. I had read Broken April and that was excellent but not as heart warming or as easy to read as this one.

I thought this was a really good book. As others have said, it is an imaginative take on reality. A good story,interesting characters ("It's the end of the world"!----every day) and I learned some history.Gonna read some more from Mr. Kadare.