Elif Shafak
Hardcover | Pages: 354 pages Rating: 4.15 | 113513 Users | 14121 Reviews
Point Based On Books The Forty Rules of Love
| Title | : | The Forty Rules of Love |
| Author | : | Elif Shafak |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 354 pages |
| Published | : | February 18th 2010 by Viking (first published 2009) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Novels. Historical. Historical Fiction. Romance. Philosophy. Asian Literature. Turkish Literature. Spirituality |
Relation In Pursuance Of Books The Forty Rules of Love
In this lyrical, exuberant follow-up to her 2007 novel, The Bastard of Istanbul, acclaimed Turkish author Elif Shafak unfolds two tantalizing parallel narratives—one contemporary and the other set in the thirteenth century, when Rumi encountered his spiritual mentor, the whirling dervish known as Shams of Tabriz—that together incarnate the poet's timeless message of love. Ella Rubenstein is forty years old and unhappily married when she takes a job as a reader for a literary agent. Her first assignment is to read and report on Sweet Blasphemy, a novel written by a man named Aziz Zahara. Ella is mesmerized by his tale of Shams's search for Rumi and the dervish's role in transforming the successful but unhappy cleric into a committed mystic, passionate poet, and advocate of love. She is also taken with Shams's lessons, or rules, that offer insight into an ancient philosophy based on the unity of all people and religions, and the presence of love in each and every one of us. As she reads on, she realizes that Rumi's story mirrors her own and that Zahara—like Shams—has come to set her free.Describe Books Conducive To The Forty Rules of Love
| Original Title: | The Forty Rules of Love |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Rumi, Shams-i Tabrizi |
| Literary Awards: | International Dublin Literary Award Nominee (2011), Muhammad Hasan Askari Award for Urdu Translation (2017) |
Rating Based On Books The Forty Rules of Love
Ratings: 4.15 From 113513 Users | 14121 ReviewsColumn Based On Books The Forty Rules of Love
I wanted to like this book, but couldn't, as hard as I tried. The writing felt forced, almost like a translation, but there was no mention of a translator, so I am guessing it was written in English. On a structural level, I felt the novel was disjointed - going back and forth in time between too many superficially developed characters. I was confused by the use of informal, modern-day colloquialisms in the 13th century voices - these expressions were so well-integrated into the novel that itThe encounter and transforming love between Rumi and the wandering dervish Shams i-Tabriz in the 1240s is background, context and explanation of the transformation in 2008 and 2009 of Ella Rubinstein, Jewish American housewife in Northampton MA, through contact with their story. Shams turns the respected and sedate scholar Rumi into a poet and co-founder (along with Shams) of the whirling dervishes; their story turns Ella from a self-repressed, resigned wife in a loveless marriage into a free
I heard the author of this book, Elif Shafak, interviewed on NPR on my way to work and had to rush out and buy the book (in hardback, no less) based on her interview. It's rare to hear someone on the radio and think, "That is an amazingly interesting person. I would love her writing." Kudos to Books Inc. in Alameda (one of the few independent bookstores around)- I walked in and said I was looking for a book by a Turkish author and there was something about love in the title... and they found it!
Finally! The book I wanted to read for such a long time.Glad I managed to finish my ARC pile. Now its time for some pleasure reading. :-)
Im used to love thats patient and kind and believe that love should be accommodative and flexible. So I found it hard to comprehend Rumis love for Shams of Tabriz and Ellas love for Aziz that shut out everyone and everything else that meant the world to them up until then. The Forty Rules of Love is a novel within a novel; the first of which is Sweet Blasphemy, a novel about the companionship between Rumi and Shams written by Aziz Zahara - a self-proclaimed follower of Sufism and the second
Unlike many other readers I did not like this book. I felt like the story narrative was a half-baked excuse to string together the "Forty Rules of Love." It would have bern better to just have listed the forty rules of love with the list of source materials given in the back. (Spoiler alert! i mention what happens in the book in the next sentence.) That Ella, the main character in our present time, leaves her husband and children to engage in a romantic relationship with her Sufi teacher
Sufism, as much as I have understood it, stretches the idea of existence and the divine to such abstractness that it allows even an agnostic to become a sufi. Sufi doesnt believe in God in the conventional sense, that is, his conception of god is rather obscured by flashy metaphors and quite distinct from the idea of God that religion puts forward. This book tries to make sufism the new sexy, and fails miserably. And its failure isnt on a philosophical level, but at a humiliatingly lower and
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