In Broken April, the author, Ismail Kadare, tells the intertwined stories of a young man (Gjorg), who is bound up in a blood feud, of a writer and his young wife, who spend their honeymoon in the countryside of Northern Albania, of the “tax collector,” who records the state of each blood feud in each district, and of the Kanun expert, who arbitrates disputes on land ownership and boundaries.
The following synopsis of the novel appears in Amazon web site:
From the moment that Gjorg's brother is killed by a neighbor, his own life is forfeit: for the code of Kanun requires Gjorg to kill his brother's murderer and then in turn be hunted down. After shooting his brother's killer, young Gjorg is entitled to thirty days' grace - not enough to see out the month of April. Then a visiting honeymoon couple cross the path of the fugitive. The bride's heart goes out to Gjorg, and even these 'civilized' strangers from the city risk becoming embroiled in the fatal mechanism of vendetta.
In 2002, I saw a film by the Brazilian director Walter Salles (Central Station, The Motorcycle Diaries) called Behind The Sun (Abril Despedacado). Credits of this film indicated that the film had been based on the novel Broken April by Ismail Kadare. The story/premise was intriguing; so, I had really longed to read the book. It was only last month that I finally got a copy of the book. I only read it two days ago and finished it only yesterday. And I liked it, though it’s tragic.
The only common thing about the book (Broken April) and the film (Behind The Sun) is the premise: a young man is bound by tradition to avenge the death of his older brother and, after
killing the murderer of his brother, he’ll be the haunted by the other family to be killed. It’s called the blood feud and it’s the Kanun. The novel is set in Northern Albania, the film in Brazil. The characters are very much different. The endings, too, are different. Despite these differences, I find both Broken April and Behind The Sun intriguing and wonderful as a book and as a film, respectively. Behind The Sun, for me, is one of my favorite films.
(October 10, 2009)
Comments