by Amin Maalouf
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Product Description
This series is designed to bring to North American readers the once-unheard voices of writers who have achieved wide acclaim at home, but are not recognized beyond the borders of their native lands. With special emphasis on women writers, Interlink's Emerging Voices series publishes the best of the world's contemporary literature in translation or original English.
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Average Customer Review:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
One of the most absorbing story read, 2008-10-11
So many reviewers have described in such elegant terms this book I can only concur. I read this book in 1997 in French first (As far as I know Amin Maalouf writes all his books in both Arabic and French) and then I reread it in English. The translation is excellent. Like any poetry it is very difficult to translate Omar Khayyam's.
There is a rupture between the first part and the second. I do prefer the first half but the second half's end is remarkably incredible and full of hope.
Amin Maalouf is a master of "time travel" and takes you to exotic places like 15th century southern Spain during the Reconquista with Leo Africanus or the second century Persia with The Gardens of Light or the 19th century in the Otoman empire with The Rock of Tanios
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 not perfect, but lovely. , 2008-07-06
Samarkand tells the story of Omar Khayyam and the writing of his Rubaiyaat. It crosses that biographical story with the story of an American scholar who discovers the real book later, in the midst of a journey to the Middle East.
Samarkand breaks nearly every rule that I have for myself about what kind of historical fiction I dislike. It name-drops famous people (characters sail on the Titanic. Khayyam is close to Hassan-i-Sabah and their stories intertwine, etc.). It makes historical characters modern. It indulges in fancy dress and exotic places. But still, that didn't really bother me. Perhaps that is because in the character of the student it seems Maalouf turns the camera back on himself. By giving a young, well-intentioned but ultimately callow character the role to interpret not only the past but the culture of the present, the reader is reminded that such things can not be so easily understood. Maalouf seems to remind us that their is no such thing as an omniscient narrative. And then somehow, just like that, I forgive him the rest of the devices in his book.
Samarkand is not perfect. The latter half, in particular is a little bit clunky. There is something not quite right about the structure. It may be the translation, but I am not completely sure. Still, a worthwhile read. A good use of time. (And now I have to run out and re-read the Rubaiyaat, which I will confess I did not take as seriously as I ought.)
This is the second book that I have read by Maalouf, the first being the magnificent Crusade Through Arab Eyes. I'm definitely going to keep reading in his body of work.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Thought Provoking, 2008-04-21
I only picked up the book because of FitzGerald's Rubaiyat and was happily surprised. The only two observations I would add to other reviews here are, first, that the novel was translated from French into English and so may lose some elegance and effect. Perhaps that's the origin of someone's remark, "surprisingly dry"? Second, I enjoyed the way the fictionalized characters were drawn from actual history, Medieval and modern, and how characters in the early history had thought provoking parallels in the modern story. So, I came away moved by the question of how different types of people influence history, or art, or the people around them. And the story opens a door into Persian history, including Islam, for those of us in the West who had little or no idea of it before.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Invoking a deep respect for Iran, Islam,democracy and Justice, 2007-08-04
This is easily Maaloufs best work. Totally different from all other writers, Maalouf never polarises. He writes with fine balance and invokes a deep respect for every culture and creed he writes of. No one , having read this, will finish it without having a deep understanding and respect for Iran and its people, its brutal history , its identity ,which it has had very little chance in creating due to constant invasions-Turks to Mongols- or tutelege-Britain and Tsarist Russia.
Using the verses of Omar Kayyams Samarkand Manuscript and the turn of the century constitutional and democratic revolts and its failure due to British and Russian interference (what would we give for the democratic Iranian state today-free of religious and political tyranny?!) Maalouf weaves a wonderful tale of -appropriately-Arabian Nights proportions and educates the reader on all the historical upheavals desires and missed opportunities of the region. The book divides into two main parts; 11th century Persia and the life of Kayyam, and the late 19th and early 20th century Persia; a nation trying to establish itself in the world.
A deep lesson lies here, of the importance of democracy freedom and justice to all people, and how fragile it is against vested interests.
This is a truly great novel. A wonderfully unifying novel that lifts the prejudices and fears between the east and west, and misconceptions of Iran and islamic cultures.
A masterpiece in humanitarian understanding.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
A parable for our times, 2006-09-01
Other reviewers have highlighted the charm of the book, with its evocation of Khayyam, the Rubiyyat and the fabled cities of the Silk Route. I would like to point out that it holds a frightening parallel to our present times. The book was published in 1988, so Maalouf could have had no idea how closely his book would mirror the early part of the twenty first century.
The book deals partly with the confict between the hidden leader of a violent sect and powerful empire. The second part of the book deals with the citizens of a country (ironically, today's Iran) striving for democracy and freedom from the oppressive rule of theocrats, but opposed by two great world powers of the time (Britain and Russia!) who wish to maintain the status quo for their economic benefit.
The book is written with great charm and makes the reader feel (s)he is there. Like a previous reviewer, I do not know enough to separate fact from fiction, but at the end of the book, one wishes with all one's heart that there IS such a book, written in Omar Khayyam's own hand, and that it is NOT at the bottom of the Atlantic.
An amazing and uplifting book.
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