Review forthcoming. The latest in translation from Ismail Kadare is a work of non-fiction marketed as fiction, an extended essay in which the Albanian writer analyzes and re-analyzes the brief but life-changing telephone conversation between Joseph Stalin and Boris Pasternak. It's a typically Kadareian work, with all the usual Kadareian features, e.g. frequent allusions to Greek mythology, the classics, Dante, Shakespeare, etc.. Definitely better suited to those who are already familiar with Kadare and his work/biography, rather than the uninitiated.