Ismail Kadare, the author of Spring Flowers, Spring Frost is one of the few Albanian authors whose work is available in translation. Most of his writing has been first translated into French and then into English and this may be one of the reasons why I found this book muddled and confusing. It could also be that I just didn’t understand what the author was trying to say or what message he was trying to deliver.

Spring Flowers, Spring Frost begins by introducing Mark, a semi-successful artist who begins to notice that since the collapse of communism, violence is suddenly becoming commonplace in his neighbourhood. Old vendettas and blood feuds are returning and most dangerous of all the Kanun, an ancient mafia law of settling accounts of honour, has been resurrected. The story is delivered in a dreamlike sequence so I was never quite sure of what was real and what was only in Mark’s head. The best part of the book for me were that occasionally the author inserted counter-chapters that told of strange tales that seemed almost mythic. In particular I liked the story of the Young Women Who Married A Snake. I have no idea if these tales were created by the author or are actually parts of Albanian folk tales.

I have previously read and enjoyed Broken April by this author so I didn’t expect to dislike this book as much as I did. I found the lack of continuity and the bizarre images very off-putting. I am not in the mind-set right now to appreciate books that diffuse reality to this degree and so Spring Flowers, Spring Frost just didn’t work for me. ( )

To me, this novel is the Albanian version of "The more things change, the more they stay the same". Parallel storylines paint the picture of endless political corruption and life while accustomed to disappointment. I realised midway through this Kafkaesque tale, that I know nothing about Albania. So, I did some superficial research and it definitely gave me some elemental context from which I could glean minimal understanding of the references to historical figures and cultural myths. Overall, I think I missed to much to fully appreciate this novel. ( )

So I went looking for novels from countries I’d not read literature from before, and came up with this one. Kadare has won several international prizes, and been mooted as a Nobel laureate a number of times. Spring Flowers, Spring Frost is his eleventh book, and his entire oeuvre – of novels, at least – appears to have been translated into English. Mark Gurabardhi is an artist in the provincial town of B—– and, well, things happen. Beginning with a bank robbery. People also tell each other stories, and each chapter is followed by a counter-chapter which expands on that story, as if it were the plot of the novel (but the counter-chapters are not a single narrative). Some sections of the novel deal with the old Albanian mountain code of Kanun, blood vendettas that go back generations, so far no one remembers what they were actually about, and how they’re in danger of kicking off again now that Hoxha’s communist regime has collapsed. Much as I enjoyed Spring Flowers, Spring Frost, it didn’t blow me away. I’m glad I read it, but I doubt I’ll read anything else by Kadare. But at least I can cross Albania off the list. ( )

A gem of a novella that is very much enhanced by the use of Albanian folklore and shifting focus. The symbolism and structure are a bit heavy at times, but overall a thought provoking work. ( )

Spring in an Albanian town; this seems to be a masculine town, where women are hidden. Themes in the novel are male and female, public and private, new and old. These all appear to be tensions within contemporary Albania; the myths of the past and progress and modernism clashing. ( )