While windows are technically supposed to show a viewer the outer world, in Broken April they are used to give the reader a peek into the inner feelings of the main characters. When ‘Bessian put(s) his head close to the glass’ and ‘stay(s) a long...

Ismail Kadare’s Broken April features the tale of a region in rural Albania where members of rival families take turns killing each other in an endless cycle of blood and revenge. In this region, the High Plateau, the laws that dictate this...

Most people have a person, a set of rules, or a greater idea that suppresses them, leaving them with a feeling of entrapment. In Isamil Kadare’s Broken April this was the blood code, that left inhabitants of the High Plateau’s in Albania trapped...

The carriage is elegant, decadent, and a true symbol of luxury and privilege. The carriage blocks out its surroundings as it is the main focus, and things around it seem minute. It is elevated, allowing the passengers to peer through the windows,...