The Little Red Chairs, Edna O’Brien, author; Juliet Stevenson, narrator
In March, of 2016, Radovan Karadzik was sentenced to 40 years in prison for crimes against humanity by the United Nations Court in The Hague. He led the siege of Sarajevo, beginning in 1992 and continuing until 1995, in which thousands of Sarajevans were slaughtered by the Serbs. Karadzik, sometimes called the Butcher of Bosnia, is the very real person O’Brien has based her novel upon. Eluding capture for more than a decade, one of his alias identities was Dr. David Dragan. O’Brien makes use of that last name in her novel. In April of 2012, on the 20th anniversary of the siege of Sarajevo, thousands of empty chairs were laid out in the streets to commemorate the Sarajevan lives that were lost. The book takes its title from that event.
The author has placed Karadzik in the person of a character named Dr. Vladimir Dragan, also known as Vuk, which means wolf and is a fearsome name. The novel is an account of the time in which he supposedly eluded arrest in the fictional town of Cloonoila, in Ireland. Disguised as a healer and sex therapist, sometimes playfully called Dr. Vlad, he was intelligent, understood human nature and was quite likeable. He carried about him an air of mystery and mysticism and exhibited an unusual knowledge of many things, like the qualities of certain plants and vegetables to benefit health and a knowledge of psychiatry which helped him analyze the needs of the people. His beautiful head of white hair and his full beard, coupled with his soft-spoken presence, made him attractive to the women. One woman, Fidelma, was especially drawn to him. She confided to him, in one of their conversations, that she dearly wanted a child. The story of their relationship and its aftermath was a difficult part of the story to read, but it is used to explain, graphically, how violent and brutal the war experience was for the ordinary citizens of Sarajevo.
Myths and legends and poetry embellish the tale. Although it takes place in the present time, there is a feeling of the past pervading the story and the location of the events is often hazy. It took me awhile to figure out that part of it was in Ireland and part in England. Perhaps it was because of the allusions to Dracula and Transylvania, and a bit of the occult, that I was distracted and believed it was taking place in European countries with a more fabled history.
I found the story interesting mostly in its lyrical and descriptive presentation which was sometimes mesmerizing, owing also to the exceptional narration on the audio by Juliet Stevenson. I felt as if I was in the actual countryside observing the scenes. From some scenes, I actually wanted to avert my eyes. It was through the experiences related by many of the witnesses and victims, as they exposed the violence and brutality that had been inflicted upon them and their families during the siege, that the story truly plays out and Dragan’s (Karadzik’s) arrogant and cruel personality is imagined and presented.
At times, the number of characters was overwhelming, and at other times, the story did not knit as well together as possible, leaving odd threads hanging about, making it a bit disjointed. Still, it prompted me to do research on the beast in the book, and for that the author deserves much credit. Shining a light on a piece of history that is not known well enough is a worthy effort, even if it is in fictional form. When it is based on a true historic event which touched so many thousands of people, it deserves attention.

Because THE LITTLE RED CHAIRS takes place at first in Ireland, I expected it to be about Irish people. And it seems so at first. But this is really about the mysterious foreigner, “Dr. Vlad,” who comes to a small village in Ireland. Who is he really? Why is he able to mesmerize so many of the people who live there? That’s at first.

Then this book is more and more about a beautiful woman there, Fidelma, who is married to a much older man and has tried and failed to have a baby. She wants one badly and gets help from “Dr. Vlad.”

By this point in the story, it is evident that THE LITTLE RED CHAIRS is not about Ireland but about the Bosnian War and its atrocities. But O’Brien just says this in bits and pieces.

There is also no character development in this story, even the two main characters. O'Brien leaves too much unsaid.

O'Brien seems to like to make the reader doubt her memory and deduce what she means. Therefore, THE LITTLE RED CHAIRS is difficult to describe.

I didn’t enjoy reading this book because, frankly, it made me feel stupid. I still have questions I don’t know the answers to and wonder if I somehow missed them or didn’t make the correct deductions. And I wish someone would at least tell me why the heck Fidelma is referred to twice as “Jenny.”

This book meandered around a lot, and I found it difficult to figure out where it was going at times. Character development was not deep. It is based on the 'Bosnian Butcher' and there is one horrific scene that nearly ended my reading. Dark and depressing.