The Siege

This is an easy read. It's a great story too. I'm pretty sure that, were I to be an intellectual, I would find a lot more in this book. I'm not- I just want to be entertained and this book did not disappoint.I read this in 3 days and that was only because I had to waste time going to work and sleeping.

On the surface this appears to be the story of the siege of a medieval Albanian fortress by the Ottoman Turks. In fact it is firmly about the contemporary concerns of the author.As others have said, Kadare uses the fifteenth century siege as a way of exploring issues occupying the Albanian of the 1970s. Although parts of the story do effectively capture something of the lost world of the Albanian resistance leader Skanderbeg and his Ottoman opponents (the mixture of Christianity and older beliefs of the Albanians is nicely portrayed), one is struck by anachronisms in the attitudes of the characters. Even more tellingly, however, the battle scenes, of which there are several, are told at a distance or reported by observers. We are never - even when the Turkish commander joins his troops in a final push - put into the heart of the action - the troops storming a breach, those scrambling over the parapets - as it happens. Kadare simply isn't interested.The mechanics of the siege are only touched on. Damage inflicted by cannon fire on the castle walls is mentioned, but the breaches caused are not ever discussed by the besieging war council, which seems a trifle odd, given their importance to getting in. Nor do we hear of the defenders trying to patch them up. A mine dug by the Ottomans manages to get under the castle walls yet, rather than try and bring the walls down with it, they dig on to get inside the castle - an odd and unexplained decision. The castle, and therefore the siege, exists in the story only as an implacable obstacle: a literal symbol that the lives of the Turkish soldiers and their commanders' ambitions can be dashed against, in a confused maelstrom, belying the Ottomans apparent meticulous planning.So what we have instead of a historical novel is a way that Kadare can discuss things that, presumably, communist Albania would not have let him talk about openly. The Turkish army, with its internal divisions, its secret intelligence on its own attitudes, its paranoid tendency to turn on its own, creating its own enemies, worse than those it really faces, its lightless labour camp and its strongman leader, whose main aim is to preserve his own position, is a pretty clear portrait of communist Albania. There are digressions about the nature of national identity, the progress of science and the durability of culture and language. For a short book there is a lot of intellectual ballast. Ideas are packed in.The problem - for me, at least - is that this is too much a novel of ideas. As well as the lack of interest in the surface story of the battle, there is a lack of interest in the characters that people it. The kind reviewer might call them archetypes, but more accurately, they are ciphers, whose characters often develop little beyond their job descriptions.Overall, good, but not great.

Excellent book, totally what you would want from an imagined historical novel. Gripping, well paced, great characters, good plot.

This book was chosen for the book group that I belong to, and to be honest, I wouldn't have chosen to read it otherwise, and if I hadn't been on a lazy holiday, with plenty of time to read uninterruptedly, I wouldn't have got into it and finished it. This is mainly because it's basically a war story, even though it's also a metaphor for Albania's plight in the late 20th century, after the invasion of Chechoslovakia by the Soviets in 1968. It's worth reading the 'Afterword' by the translator first, as this gives one an understanding of the historical background and context in which the author wrote it, which helped my appreciation of the book as I was reading it. I did enjoy the characteristions, and the insight which the book gave to the early history of the Ottoman Empire, and the use of the chronicler as a way of commenting on the story. If you find the Turkish/Ottoman element of the book interesting, you may enjoy even more Louis de Berniere's 'Birds without Wings' which chronicles in novel form the closing years of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the 19th/ beginning of the 20th century.

Following a recommendation from a work colleague i bought this and after a few pages I was gripped. It's a fascinating story and despite being set many years ago has a certain relevance to today's arenas of war. I knew nothing of this book before but truly enjoyed it and would certainly recommend if you are looking for something a little different.

An excellent novel from one of my favourite Albanian writers. It takes you back in the dark times and it introduces you into the world of two opposing armies/cultures/civilizations. A must read.

wickedly witty allegorical tale of a prolonged siege at the time of the Ottoman Empire. Sometimes the language seems rather quaint, but overall an enjoyable book

Excellent

Once more, Ismail Kadare writes a fictional account set in pre-Ottoman Albania with the image of a military siege of a Catholic christian Fort in Albania along a major trade East-West trade route and portrayed a the threshold to Western Europe. The gory and not so gory details and elaborate mechanics of a sieging army are fascinating. The story begins with the arrival of the Ottomans, their encampment and preparations for the siege, building a munitions factory for their secret siege cannon, and the sprawling and international military encampment of men from various conquered people including the special Turkish figthing forces such as the Janissaries and Death battalions. The majority of the novel focuses on the Pasha and military council of officers of military specialties and of course the battles that begin to batter the walls and siege cannons fiiring into the city for physcological reasons in addition to damaging property, the scaling of the walls amid many efforts of the christians to battle the ladders and Ottoman forces with stones, fire and pitch. The casualties ar enormous on both sides but Kadare focuses on the Islamic and Ottoman side from beginning to the final thrust and end of the siege. The various stages of the siege are fascinating including the hunt for the fort's main water supply, attempts to negotiate with Christians, the raiding of neighboring villages for food and women, both desired so much by the male military forces, insights into the Pasha's harem of four wives chose to accompany him, and the final retreat of the defeated Ottoman forces rushing off to another siege of more importance, that is, the final half-century of sieges of Constantinople itself culminating in the collapse in 1453 of Byzantium and its capital under Mohammed the "Conqueror", of course. I found Kadare's dramatic story telling so compelling as he dwells tolstoy-like on the environment and surroundings as a context for the human drama and catastrophe of the siege for both the Christians and the Islamic Ottoman forces. It reads well and is a memorable tale recounted by Albania's master story teller.

As a teenager and young adult, I was fascinated by the country of Albania. Here was a European country that appeared to be something like North Korea with its' sealed borders, life-long dictator, and virtually no outside contact with the rest of the world. In the late 1970's or early 1980's, after the fall of Hoxha (I think I got that right), the country went through a period of anarchy with an economy fueled by Ponzi schemes. The problems persist in that area which has a unique history. About 5 years ago I discovered an Albanian author by the name of Ismail Kadare and I have enjoyed 5 or 6 books by him. It has helped me understand the Albanian mind and culture somewhat more than I had before."The Siege" doesn't actually focus on the Albanians. It focusses on a fictional siege in the Fifteenth Century that takes place in Albanian land. The image of the Albanians is subdued but it's an image that enhances the mystique of the enigmatic people. The Turks throw everything they've got at them but, well, I don't want to give away what happens. The outcome is a look at the futility of war, an inquiry into the nature of leadership, a fascinating portrait of Fifteenth Century weapons and tactics, and a mishmash of other interesting topics.I have found more profundity in most of the other Kadare books I've read but I could be missing the boat on "The Siege". I may have missed the subject of style vs substance, flamboyance vs survival. Perhaps beyond the glitz, the strategies, and the numbers lies the real story of the Albanians; a country that stuck with its' simplistic lifestyle, ignored the rest of the world and overcame ascending cultures with stubborn stoicism. Then again, "The Siege" might just be a somewhat deep, rather exciting tale about a 15th Century battle. Either way it's worth reading.

The Siege by Ismail Kadare is an allegory for our time of the pressures of empire to expand and the affect on proximate lands that are the object of expansion. To cut straight to the chase, Kadare raises three important questions in this text that is most memorable because of the thought invested in it: 1) is it possible to wipe out a nation? 2) how? and 3) is it desirable?The story of the siege of an Albanian fortress by an Ottoman army is set in the 15th century, but readers will recognize many of the themes as relevant to today's world especially, more than 40 years after the book was originally published.In answer to the first question, Kadare develops a beautiful metaphor of a nation that creates a heaven as a repository for all that it holds dear while it is under siege. In this safe place, no invader can reach it, especially as long as the host language survives. This especially resonates as the number of languages on Spaceship Earth shrinks. But Kadare takes it a step further by examining how the Christian Albanian takes his resistance a step further by crucifying his country to lend it immortality.In examining the second question, Kadare examines the creation of new armaments and strategies and the virutes associated with those in addition to the creation of a mythology that superior technologies guarantee victory in the minds of the invaders. The first illusion to spring from these delusions is that war against an enemy with inferior arms is bound to be short and punctuated with victory and parade home. Too bad Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Bush didn't read this, no?And, the third question is answered not on the grounds of morality, but on effectiveness. In the end, as with all wars, we are left with fields of destruction, and an endless cycle of wars to come. I particularly thought of the delusion of those who think of missles as peace keepers.One warning: This is a novel to be read for its thought. I suspect that since the text is twice removed from the original Albanian (this edition was translated into English from French), some things got garbled along the way. For instance, at one point a character plans to pass some time visiting with a colleague. This is referred to as "hanging out." There are one or two other unfortunate translations that frankly jar. But given the thought Kadare has invested in the text, these are quibbles.I'll remember this book for a long time.

Realizing that 3 stars for Ismail Kadare’s The Siege is counted as a negative, the short version is that it is not a bad book, it is not that great. This is a 320+ page book about how siege warfare was conducted by the Ottoman Empire in the 1500s. By coincidence the siege is against a Christian citadel in Albania. Some describe this as a Muslim versus Christian thing but there is virtually no discussion of either religion in anything close to a comparative way. The religion of the beseiged and the location of the siege are incidental.The location is generally important in that this is not about desert warfare and so the novel has to be located in a climate than not generally found in North Africa. It could just as easily been set in Spain or large parts of the swath from the edges of the Levantine to the low lands of India.After that we get a decent lesson plan for siege warfare in the time when gunpowder and cannon are still new. The assault is by the numbers with the important plot reveals being the addition of new (to the reader) techniques for taking a walled city. A few external constraints are added in to limit how low the attackers have to complete their assignment.A lot of humans are wasted, but warfare then as now tends to be rather heedless of humans. The Ottomans do not intend to be wasteful, this army does not get reinforcements, but too many are pre-pledged to death and too many are intended to die or get burned or mangled just by being first in.What is best in the book are the observations and insights into the leaders of this Ottoman Army. Some of this is politics. Mostly personal politics. We have for example the unintended freedom given to Tursom Pasha, the Army’s commander. He has that much more power to make decisions, because failure means his death. On him is all the responsibility and he has everything to lose and therefore is free to risk everything. The interplay between the technicians, The Architect and The Quartermaster and the religious and magical arts -the practitioners of predictions and spell casting gives us more understanding of both the leadership dynamics and realities of war and warriors.There is much good in The Siege. It is well paced and much of the writing is good. Credit to translators Jusuf Vrioni and David Bedloe. It might be said that having a Muslim, or more exactly Ottoman point of view is something new, but mostly this is a how to, by the numbers and not much of an addition to the library of war related fiction. I will be looking for other books by this author, but without urgency.

It is hard to put down this book once you start it. I was made aware of many details of a medieval siege I did not know about before, the logistics of setting up camp, the politics involved, the constant lookout for spies, the different ethnic people groups of the army... It is a gripping story while being partly based on true facts, thereby trying to display the reality of the many sieges carried out by the Ottoman army in the 15th-19th century.Honestly, it was hard not to skip ahead and see how the story ends, great tension builds and stays up until the very last pages. The author accomplishes this - among other techniques - by inserting the thoughts of a military leader on the inside of the city. This makes one side with the victims while being marveled with the ingenuity in warfare of the invaders.I liked the book, however I will give it 4 stars, due to its explicit description of sexual scenes involving the pasha and his harem. In my opinion, this part and the somewhat lengthy conversations of the pasha's wives were given too much weight and were not essential to the story while making the book unfit for young readers. The description of what passed through the soldiers' minds - rape - when the captivated women were brought into camp was explicit and surely disturbing for 21st century readers. Kadare does show the reality of war but could have described this in less detail while still making his point.