Chronicle in Stone

A Novel

By: Ismail Kadare

Narrated by: Vikas Adam

Masterful in its simplicity, Chronicle in Stone is a touching coming-of-age story and a testament to the perseverance of the human spirit. Surrounded by the magic of beautiful women and literature, a boy must endure the deprivations of war as he suffers the hardships of growing up. His sleepy country has just thrown off centuries of tyranny, but new waves of domination inundate his city. Through the boy's eyes, we see the terrors of World War II as he witnesses fascist invasions, allied bombings, partisan infighting, and the many faces of human cruelty - as well as the simple pleasures of life. Evacuating to the countryside, he expects to find an ideal world full of extraordinary things, but discovers instead an archaic backwater where a severed arm becomes a talisman and deflowered girls mysteriously vanish. Woven between the chapters of the boy's story are tantalizing fragments of the city's history. As the devastation mounts, the fragments lose coherence, and we perceive firsthand how the violence of war destroys more than just buildings and bridges.

©1971, 2011 Ismail Kadare English-language translation copyright 1987, 2011 by Arshi Pipa Editing and introduction copyright 2007, 2011 by David Bellos (P)2014 Audible Inc.

The interesting way a history of that time WWII in Albania

So I liked this after figuring out the story is from the point of view t of view of a young teenager who is seeing things through a different lens than an adult. I really liked it a lot. Im an American living in Kosovo among ethnic Albanians.

This is great

I know little of Albania other than the writings of Kadare.
What a harsh childhood under these circumstances.

Read this book

A sad beautiful powerful coming of age novel set in war torn Albania- all should read this book!

dark, deep, and Lasting

this book is haunting and harrowing. the narrator is unreliable but the images he describes are powerful that point yet. I love how the narrator gives magical purpose to the horrors he sees, and how people are the stones that bear the Chronicles.

Lasting images

The book brings you through a journey of a kid living through WWii and how he deals with the macabre events of everyday life