There isn't really a good place to start in reviewing this. Black Lamb and Grey Falcon is sprawling. While this novel is best defined as a travel memoir, it is mostly made up of a retelling of the story of the Balkans. As West traverses 1930's Yugoslavia, she gives a historical recounting of each destination she visits, thus placing her experiences in the context of the region's troubled past.

Occurring in 1937, there is a very unsettling feeling while reading through West's trip knowing the fate that Yugoslavia would suffer in the coming years. Every person met on the journey would soon be gravely impacted by the coming war. Many would be killed. It is a liminal feeling, being sandwiched in a brief moment of respite between hundreds of years of strife and the catastrophes to come.

West's main argument of the novel is that the pacifist desires to be martyred. The Grey Falcon represents the pacifism of the Balkan states in the face of Turkish invasion. The black lamb is the pointless sacrifice made in hopes of salvation. West's Yugoslavia is able to find redemption in the epilogue by resisting fascism despite inevitable destruction.

There is so much more to be said about this book that I am not ready to say. Really really great.