Sometimes, when I am at the library, I go through the new book section to see if anything stands out to me or appears remotely interesting. I am very familiar with the phrase never judge a book by it's cover, but that is the first thing I see and it draws me in. From the darkened image of the girl falling, to the font of the title "A Girl in Exile" to the color of the background, or the author's name (Ismail Kadare) in red, it called out to me. I read the inside jacket and decided that it had piqued my interest and I would give it a go.

It was 177 pages of a man's descent into madness that ended with him wanting to marry a dead girls spirit (spoiler alert)... No interesting content. No surprises. Nothing engaging.

I know the translation from Albanian to English brings with it its own issues, but there was so much reading and rereading to figure out who was talking, what they were talking about, and why I gave a flying fart about it.

I will still continue seeing out foreign authors as I want to expand my knowledge, but this was rough. I should have stopped reading before I started. I cannot recommend this. At all. To anyone.

Happy Reading (Anything else)!