Compared to [bc:The Pyramid 17899 The Pyramid Ismail Kadare https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348763532s/17899.jpg 19391] this one is much better. I have always been a sucker for Ottoman history and while this is a semi-historical novel at best, it does base itself in a larger than life myth of Skanderberg and the Ottoman - Albania conflict which both were very real. Like in the “pyramid” the behind the lines critique of the soviet system becomes evident, but in the siege the story comes closer to a universal reader. The characters, the horror and the headlessness of people especially in a devine mob are much more intrestingly portrayed as in the “pyramid”. Ps. Only read this because of laziness of transferring books to my kindle. Otherwise i might never have known that Kadare can do better.
Only slightly off the magnificent standards set by the first book. This time the main action takes place at sea and is great entertainment even so. There are pirates, love, cunning and rivaling power hungry peeps. Definately word a recommendation in case you have been living under a rock and dont already know.
Jean from the [b:The Debacle 19216733 The Debacle (Classics) Émile Zola https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386278798s/19216733.jpg 3522286] is in this book between the war in italy and the campaign described in the “debacle”.So vivid, so many characters... so much bitter realism..The earth is a huge work in quality, even considered by Zola his best. Jean after the War comes with his army buddy Buteau to the country side and in the next 10 years there is a whole lot of going on in the Family of Fouan in which Jean ultimately marries in to and gets bitterly disappointed. I am giving this 4.5 stars, I would have given it five if it would have had a happy ending. Now i am bitterly confused and disgusted with humankind. Adding to that is the fact that i already know that Jean is not going to have the happiest of times in the “Debacle” either.
Yet another book of Dostoyevsky where the main character is a young man who is a little bit out of balance mentally. The difference to the “Idiot” and the “Double” is that the underground man knows that his thinking patterns should be different but at the same time he loathes the conventional. And by doing so he appears to make himself unstable. It is hard to be the one who swims against the stream. In it extremes you have it as a new “normal”, poisoning everything. I would advice reading the second chapter first and first chapter second. In this particular vintage classics edition the foreword of Pevear offer further insight.
