Në romanin "Kështjella" Ismail Kadare kthen sytë nga mesjeta shqiptare. Në dukje i distancuar dhe i paanshëm, ai rrok veprimet për rrethimin e një kështjelle shqiptare nga një ushtri turke prej shtatëdhjetë mijë vetash në formën e një romani historik. Rrëfimi bëhet nga perspektiva e rrethuesve osmanë, çadrat e bardha të të cilëve e kanë kthyer mjedisin përreth kështjellës në një peizazh dimëror.

Sometime in the fifteenth century, an unnamed Albanian citadel is under siege by the Ottoman army. Among the besiegers is Mevla Celebi, the chronicler or historian. He will record the events for posterity. His job is to compose the story of the Ottoman’s campaign. He is the reader’s main viewpoint, among others, including two or three pages in between in each chapter from the point of view of the Albanians besieged in their castle.

And I have to say, that from the start I was not all that taken with the invading captain. His treatment of his wives did not endear him to me. Nor did any subsequent action, thought, or deed, that we see from him.

In fact none of the characters were all that relatable.

But in reading this book you need to be aware of the situation in which is was written. Albania in the 1970s, under the threat of the USSR, and under paranoia and tyrannical rule from within. It had a siege mentality all of its own.

And writing at the time Kadare was probably sensible to write of the brave Albanians in defence of their homeland, even if the actions of the Ottoman general with his secret police and scapegoat-trials are more like what was actually going on.

It is an interesting read but I don’t think this is a book I particularly enjoyed. The political power struggle within the besieging army is really what is at the heart of the book, and there is a sort of depressing inevitable to it all that I found a little wearing. And yet I still read it all and had a lot of interest in it. I think that it would probably work better if I knew more about the history of Albania. Both the mythological withstanding-the-Muslim-invaders history and the 1960/70s secret police type history. ( )

Well written and interesting but seemed to lack depth. Ending seemed too brief and left me feeling it needed more closure. ( )

I really enjoyed The Siege. This novel was about a Turkish siege of an unnamed Albanian citadel. It was told mainly from the point of view of the Turks - each chapter had a short (~page and a half) piece on what it was like for Albanians, but the bulk of the book told the story of the Turkish army laying siege. We hear from the commander-in-chief, his quartermaster general, the chronicler, the architect, the engineer, some of the soldiers, even some of the wives that the commander-in-chief brought along. I'm not exactly into war books, but I really liked the descriptions of the different military units and how the siege was executed. I may need to expand my reading horizons into this area! ( )

Ismail Kadare's 'The Siege', first written in Albania in 1969ish under the Enver Hoxha dictatorship and later revised in France in the 1990s, is an incredible work of fiction that blurs the lines between reality and the imagination. An Albanian citadel is under siege, the Turkish forces throwing everything they have at the walls surrounding the city within. Will the aggressors succeed? And what will it mean if they do not? Brilliant, from start to finish. ( )