by Amin Maalouf
|
| List Price: | $16.95 |
| Amazon Price: | $11.53 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
| You Save: | $5.42 (32%) |
| Average Rating: |  |
| Lowest New Price: | $5.87 |
| Availablitiy: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
|
 |
|
Product Description
Leo Africanus is a beautiful book of tales about people who are forced to accept choices made for them by someone else...It relates, particularly at times and often imaginatively, the story of those who did not make it to the New World. --New York Times Book Review
Customers who bought this item also bought
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 What a great story!, 2008-10-11
but what else can one expect from Amin Maalouf?! Each of his book is a jewel. Every time Maalouf creates a wonderful time traveling machine. His books are all perfectly woven and one can't help being taken by the plot.
I don't need to tell you what this book is about since the editor did it so well on this page, I have to warn you that if you read this book chances are that you will, like me, want to read every book that Maalouf wrote.
like The Gardens of Light, Samarkand, The Rock of Tanios (for which he received the highest literary honor in France)
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Engrossing novel about humans, not about sides, 2008-04-05
I've read this book several times now, and what I find most appealing is the ease at which the author explains cultural differences through a narrative. Things which I considered so foreign that I could not comprehend become real, sympathetic, and thought provoking. Maalouf is able to tie you emotionally to every single one of his characters, whether hero or villain, and that is an amazing talent. I recommend this book for anybody who a) loves travel/heroic journey novels, it is one of the best I've ever read b) wants to learn a little more about Muslim culture from a human perspective, not from the history books or politicians or the 24/7 news media.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Maalouf scores big time with Africanus, 2008-01-08
There's little I can add to the laudatory comments on Maalouf's book "Leo Africanus." Those familiar with Africanus will appreciate Maalouf's use of historical facts to season his gripping story. Those who are simply looking for a good read can rest assure that the life of Leo (both in reality and in this novel) is sufficiently interesting. The translation from Maalouf's French into English appears to be excellent (I don't speak French) as it is highly bombastic without being uppity.
I only with that Maalouf had given some insight into why Leo wrote so spitefully of Muslims in his "Geographical Historie of Africa" (unless this was only added by John Pory, the translator)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 History becomes a novel, 2007-07-02
If you hate reading through endless history books but love novels then Amin Maalouf is the writer for you. Here he brings to life Lea Africanus the North African traveler. He captures well the final fall of Granada and the pitiful state of its Muslim residents, the unwilling expulsion and settlement in Morocco a country they could never feel at home in. His travels across Africa his kidnap in Tunisia being brought to Italy before his final return to his homeland.
An entertaining read.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Enjoyable historic fiction, 2007-05-05
Lebanese author Amin Maalouf has given the reader, in "Leo Africanus," a masterfully written adventure set in the world of the early 16th Century. His protagonist, Leo Africanus aka Hasan, son of Mohammad the weigh-master and other monikers, starts life in the waning days of Islamic Spain, but quickly becomes a refugee in the Sultananate of Morocco, thus putting him on the road to the travels that become the hallmark of his story. Before that life is over, Leo Africanus will have voyaged from Spain, Morocco, Mali and other African kingdoms, Nubia, Egypt, Turkey, Italy and France. There is a lot of overlapping history in the story and the author rather audaciously, and sometimes implausibly, installs his hero in the middle of it all. Maalouf provides rich details--some of them doubtlessly speculative--about life in the most important cities of the period. When his hero, Leo, becomes a favorite in the papal court of Leo X, credibility is strained a bit. Still, this is a grand story that is well worth reading.
Price is accurate as of the date/time indicated. Prices and product availability are subject to change. Any price displayed on the Amazon website at the time of purchase will govern the sale of this product.
|
Store Categories
|