... superb ... Statovci, in Hackston’s eloquent translation, evokes the affair with delicacy and precision ... Likewise, Statovci nails Arsim’s marriage to the tenacious, ultimately indomitable Ajshe, who practices a sort of conjugal aikido, calmly absorbing and assimilating transgressions that ought to estrange her, and are meant to ... surprise follows surprise; none feels willed or fanciful but rather received, as if Statovci is no longer the story’s author but its amanuensis. An occasional surfeit of similes is the prose’s one minor flaw. Bolla is a splendid achievement and Statovci a major talent.
Few authors today write about fear as vividly as Kosovan-born Pajtim Statovci ... Forced by society behind closed doors, their love finds space to breathe in Statovci’s sensitive prose. He writes beautifully about the ecstasy of early passion through surreal, painterly detail ... When Arsim finally decides to seek out Miloš after the war, we suspect there won’t be a storybook ending; Bolla shifts from being a dream-filled anticipation of the future to a taut negotiation of the past. Only in escaping the deadening circuitry of fantasy, suggests Statovci, can we begin to bear reality.
Winner of the Finlandia Prize, this novel by the Kosovo-born Finnish author Statovci...vividly describes the devastating effects of war. A harrowing and breathtaking book about abandonment, cruelty, and desire.
Miloš’ chapters are briefer and more impressionistic, suffused with horrific memories of war’s carnage ... Arsim’s chapters are more straightforward ... Statovci lets little sunlight into the narrative, the better to emphasize just how powerful homophobia and self-loathing can be, and Arsim is deeply unlikable ... But he comes undone in engrossing and complicated ways. Indeed, he’s so well drawn that Miloš’ portion of the narrative, however graceful, feels disproportionately thin. From either perspective, though, the mood is profoundly sorrowful. An unflinching consideration of the long aftereffects of an affair cut short.
Astounding writing distinguishes this portrait of love, loss, and war ... Statovci sustains a deeply somber tone as the characters struggle to endure while looking back on a sad past of missed opportunity, 'exhausted by that speck of freedom.' It’s an eloquent story of desire and displacement, a melancholy symphony in a heartbreaking minor key. Statovci is a master.
