This is a story about the Kosovo war. This was an unsettling read in places. The writing is utterly bleak and this makes the book so intriguing. A difficult read

Statovci knows how to deliver really grimy and depressing stories exploring sexual and romantic dynamics that feel several shades of wrong and problematic. occasionally reminiscent of giovanni's room...

Reading Bolla was, for me, like going online and actively seeking out information you know is going to destroy you. It was physically painful to read, left me completely devoid of hope and happiness, and is definitely one of my favourite books of 2022 so far.

Opening in Kosovo during the summer of 1995, we watch as Arsim, a married Albanian who is soon to become a father, meets Miloš, a Serbian medical student, in Pristina. The two men immediately start brief and intense love affair which ends abruptly with the outbreak of war. Arsim and his family flee Kosovo as refugees while Miloš stays behind to ultimately end up fighting on the frontline.

Narrated primarily as a dual perspective, the novel is also interspersed with the myth of the eponymous Bolla, a demonic, snake-like monster from Albanian folklore. Reflecting the two very different ways each man is a victim of war, Arsim’s perspective is narrated linearly in a traditional prose style reflecting his return to a life resembling normality away from the fighting, while Miloš’s perspective is more chaotic, abstract and reminiscent of the act of war itself, told through a series of notes and letters. Epistolary styles generally aren’t my favourite so unsurpisingly I enjoyed reading Arsim’s perspective more, but I did enjoy the mythical elements of the bolla through a sapphic short story created by Arsim. The creature befriends a blind girl and the pair agree to meet on the same path in the forest every year at the bloom of spring, a metaphor for the misplaced hope of the two young men.

The love, fear and grief of the two men is palpable but neither is depicted as an innocent bystander, with Statovci showing that everyone ultimately becomes embroiled in and - to differing extents - complicit - in war. Both Arsim and Miloš are victims and perpetrators of persecution and violence, Miloš describing in uncomfortable detail the horrors he inflicted on others as a soldier, and Arsim abusing his wife and children physically and psychologically, deflecting his own fear, grief and generational trauma onto them.

In the years following the war Arsim is exiled back to Kosovo when he is convicted of a crime, and begins a quest to bring Miloš back to him to reconcile what they once had, though it is evident early on that this will not be a simple or happy ending.

Bolla is a richly complex novel that seems to be alive with sadness, fear and longing. It is a biting commentary on the futility and devastation of war, and how, ultimately, love simply cannot conquer all.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This striking, often harrowing, novel from Kosovan author Pajtim Statovci deftly deploys metaphor, myth and history to construct a haunting variation on a queer love story set against the background of war and conflict. Statovci’s story centres on Albanian Arsim and Serbian Miloš who meet in Kosovo in the mid-90s. From the beginning the relationship between recently-married Arnim and Miloš is troubled and turbulent but then they find themselves further separated by wartime divisions and ancient rifts. A vivid, memorable, exploration of trauma, homophobia and self-doubt, impressively constructed and consistently well written. Translated here by David Hackston.

Thanks to Netgalley and to publisher Faber & Faber for an ARC

It is 1995, and war is on the verge of breaking out in Pristina, Kosovo.

Arsim is twenty-two, an Albanian trying to keep his head down and finish his studies in an atmosphere of encroaching threat, is fighting his own personal wars. Newly married to his devoted wife Ajshe, whom he doesn’t love. To make matters worse, he is a father-to-be, a future that fills him with dread. He is overwhelmed with fear. Until that is, he encounters Milos, a Serb, and begins a life in secret. War eventually tears them apart. Arsim and his family are forced into exile, while Milos enlists as a soldier.

Bolla is a dark story of what happens when passion and history collide – when a relationship, already forbidden and laced with danger, is ripped apart by war and migration, separated by nations and fate. What happens when you are forced to live a life that is not yours, so far from your desires?

Cultural alienation, enforced separation and the persistence of trauma are the predominant themes of Statovci’s writing. Bolla’s narrative alternates between Arsim’s account, written as though he is in emotional retreat, and more intimate, impressionistic chapters from Milos, which are suffused with horrific memories of the carnage of war. Through Statovci’s sensitive prose, their love finds space to breathe, but the mood is profoundly sorrowful.

Catastrophe after catastrophe threatens to erode the humanity of these men, but their acute perception prevents them from sinking, and Statovci keenly observes the impact of this.

Statovci lets little joy into the narrative, all the better for emphasising just how powerful homophobia and self-loathing can be. Arsim is deeply unlikeable; “may the Devil eat you,” Ajshe spits at him, and oh, how he deserves that world-class insult.

Throughout, Statovci interweaves the story of the Bolla, a mythological beast born from the union between a snake and God’s daughter. The Albanian word also means “alien” and “invisible” - concepts that could not be more fitting here.

Is Bolla on your radar? It definitely should be.

Bolla is a harrowingly novel set across two time lines and follows Arsim as he navigates life, a new marriage, his sexuality and a brewing war. Arsim is quite an unlikeable narrator and yet the reader cannot help but root for him, to hope for a better life and a brighter outcome than the tone of the book suggests.

Statovci's prose is absolutely beautiful and is so immersive I felt as though I was in Arsim's world, the smells, the sounds and the colours were so evocative. Praise should also be given to the translator who has done a wonderful job in translating this gorgeous work from Finnish to English.

Bolla is a dual-narrator novel set before and after the Kosovo War. Newly-married Arsim is an Albanian student, dreaming of being a writer who meets Milos, a Serbian medical student, in a cafe in Pristina. And so begins their secret, forbidden relationship.
Wow! This book blew me away. It’s harrowing and bleak and ugly and beautiful. There’s fury, love, brutality, lust and destruction. There’s danger, shame, abuse and self-hate. The haunting prose is vivid and visceral - you really feel the stench, the hatred and the filth. And wrapping itself around all this is the recurring fable of the Bolla - a tale of God, the Devil, the blind daughter and the serpent.
It’s a devastating, necessary novel; quite gut-wrenching and I’m now going to read everything by Pajtim Stativci!
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. All views are my own.