When Biografi was first published, it was met first with enormous critical acclaim – only to become the centre of a heated controversy. Was it fact or fiction? Had Lloyd Jones concocted his story of life in the new Albania? Or was it travel literature as its publishers insisted?
Equal parts travelogue, political reportage and bizarre mystery novel, Lloyd Jones crosses Albania as it reinvents itself – a volatile, surreal wonderland where nothing is quite as it seems.
Equal parts travelogue, political reportage and bizarre mystery novel, Lloyd Jones crosses Albania as it reinvents itself – a volatile, surreal wonderland where nothing is quite as it seems.
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Reviews
Extraordinarily haunting
Seductively realistic
If I had not myself witnessed the lengths to which regimes such as Hoxha's are prepared to go to cheat and deceive, I should have been inclined to dismiss Shapallo's story as fanciful, and Jones as naïve for believing it
Beautifully written, evocative and deft
'A compelling hybrid'
'Biografi starts big and then zooms in. This is Jones's skill: to draw tiny details that contain the world'
'An enlightening read'
A gem of the genre
'Curious and compelling'
'This is a clever, surreal and mysterious read, certainly worth resuscitating'
PRAISE FOR LLOYD JONES
Jones proves sly, engaging, worth-reading and even re-reading
Being a truthful writer, Jones sees nothing; neither his heroes nor his villains in black and white. His is a bold inquiry into the way that we construct and repair our communities, and ourselves, with stories old and new
Lloyd Jones gives the tired post-colonial themes of self-reinvention ... a fresh, ingenious twist but his real achievement is bringing life and depth to his characters
Lloyd Jones brings to life the transformative power of fiction
'Biografi leaves you wishing that a real-life Shapallo may still show up'