Bosnian Chronicle : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Another great book by Ivo Andric
Review: "Travnicka hronika" (The Bosnian Story, The Time of the Consuls... etc.) is Andric's second best work. I don't like ranking books, but I will dare to do it now. His major work "The Bridge on the Drina" (Na Drini cuprija) is a work of such originality and power, unequalled in literature... This book, however, uses a more conservative method, it talks about a smaller period of time and has a significantly smaller gallery of characters, all of which are, of course, very believable and beautifully depicted.
After opening it for the first time, I couldn't stop reading. It was so captivating that I read it in twice in the same week. Not many books do this for me.
"Bosnian Story" follows Austro-Hungarian and French consuls in the Bosnian city of Travnik over the period of five-six years. Andric didn't do much research for his novels, all his major works were written in Belgrade, during WWII, and all that time he almost never left his apartment. It is amazing that one can posses such great knowledge of Travnik and Bosnia, and most impressive of all, his depiction of Turkish, French and Austro-Hungarian politics is so accurate and clear.
What attracts me the most in Andric's works is his clear and simple, yet beautifully sounding sentence.
I strongly recommend you read this one. Chances are, you won't be disappointed. Simpler and less ambitious in approach, this book should perhaps be read before his masterpiece "The Bridge on the Drina."

Rating:
Summary: Great Novel
Review: A great novel about Balkans, and Europe, and life. The French Consul's sojourn in Travnik is beautifully rendered, and Andric describes well the social tensions among the various peoples of Bosnia and a Frenchman's difficulty making sense of Balkan life. I can't recommend it highly enough, and it is certainly as good as the more famous Bridge on the Drina, and perhaps better.

Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: Andric's novel describes the events in a provincial town within the Ottoman Empire during the Napoleonic era. The story is told from the viewpoint of the French consul, a western rationalist. The interactions of the French consul, his Austrian counterparts, and members of their households with the local residents of various religions, and with the Turkish vizier are related with great sympathy and humanity for all the characters. The book is wise and perceptive. The translation is excellent.

Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: Andric's novel describes the events in a provincial town within the Ottoman Empire during the Napoleonic era. The story is told from the viewpoint of the French consul, a western rationalist. The interactions of the French consul, his Austrian counterparts, and members of their households with the local residents of various religions, and with the Turkish vizier are related with great sympathy and humanity for all the characters. The book is wise and perceptive. The translation is excellent.

Rating:
Summary: Andric's Best
Review: I read this book a few years ago, and still think about its stories and themes. This brilliant novel opens a window to the small Bosnian town of Travnik (Andric's hometown) where representatives of the great European empires have come to play out their epochal hostilities under the suspicious eyes of the local townfolk. While the novel takes place in the Napoleonic era, the story was written (as was "Bridge on the Drina") while Andric was under house arrest during World War II, and thus its story of great forces coming to shake up a small town can be read in light of more recent world changing events. I made a point to visit Travnik on a trip to Bosnia two years ago, and felt as if I already knew the town intimately: the remains of the Pasha's palace on the hill is still there just as Andric describes it, as is the town nestled in the rolling Bosnian hills replete with Turkish fountains and monuments. Sadly, the multiethnic character of the town is gone now, as Serbs such as Andric himself are hard to come by in this part of Bosnia, and Jews are even more difficult to find. By reading this book, however, one can briefly visit Travnik in its multiethnic heyday, and enjoy the depiction of comraderie and sparring between the different local ethnic groups before the age of nationalism truly took hold. Everyone I have met from the former Yugoslavia cites this novel as Andric's best work.

Incidentally, this book has been translated as Travnik Chronicles (the original title), Bosnian Chronicle, and Days of the Consuls (translated by Celia Hawkesworth). Also, a collection of Andric short stories, entitled "The Damned Yard" in the edition I have, also features several more stories set in Travnik around the same era.

Rating:
Summary: Andric's Best
Review: I read this book a few years ago, and still think about its stories and themes. This brilliant novel opens a window to the small Bosnian town of Travnik (Andric's hometown) where representatives of the great European empires have come to play out their epochal hostilities under the suspicious eyes of the local townfolk. While the novel takes place in the Napoleonic era, the story was written (as was "Bridge on the Drina") while Andric was under house arrest during World War II, and thus its story of great forces coming to shake up a small town can be read in light of more recent world changing events. I made a point to visit Travnik on a trip to Bosnia two years ago, and felt as if I already knew the town intimately: the remains of the Pasha's palace on the hill is still there just as Andric describes it, as is the town nestled in the rolling Bosnian hills replete with Turkish fountains and monuments. Sadly, the multiethnic character of the town is gone now, as Serbs such as Andric himself are hard to come by in this part of Bosnia, and Jews are even more difficult to find. By reading this book, however, one can briefly visit Travnik in its multiethnic heyday, and enjoy the depiction of comraderie and sparring between the different local ethnic groups before the age of nationalism truly took hold. Everyone I have met from the former Yugoslavia cites this novel as Andric's best work.

Incidentally, this book has been translated as Travnik Chronicles (the original title), Bosnian Chronicle, and Days of the Consuls (translated by Celia Hawkesworth). Also, a collection of Andric short stories, entitled "The Damned Yard" in the edition I have, also features several more stories set in Travnik around the same era.

Rating:
Summary: Prolix.
Review: I very much enjoyed Andric's "The Bridge Over the Drina", but reluctantly gave up on this book after 104 prolix pages. This is one of those cases where an abridged version would be a definite improvement. Incidentally, the version I read was translated by Kenneth Johnstone, and was entitled "Bosnian Story" instead of "Bosnian Chronicle".

Rating:
Summary: Prolix.
Review: I very much enjoyed Andric's "The Bridge Over the Drina", but reluctantly gave up on this book after 104 prolix pages. This is one of those cases where an abridged version would be a definite improvement. Incidentally, the version I read was translated by Kenneth Johnstone, and was entitled "Bosnian Story" instead of "Bosnian Chronicle".