ŷ������

I shall not be retelling the story here. My reviews rarely do.

This is a book which blew hot and cold for me, but that finally I ended up liking. It is worth the read.

To begin with, I was put off by the style and, especially, the voice of the narrator. It is what I would refer to as the 'faux mythic' so beloved by writers who want to deliver light-weight morals and what passes for profundity - think Coehlo. (Sorry Coehlo fans) And yes, there remains a bit of that in the book. But Maalouf redeems himself at each point where he appears to be about to fall over the edge into kitsch.

The style is one that is popular with North African writers. The narrator is telling a story. One can almost smell the coffee and the smoke from the water pipes. There is an uncertainty about how events actually occurred. The story takes place in what is now Northern Syria or Lebanon in the early 1800s.

And that is where the story is redeemed for me. Maalouf ties the story to political events which occurred in that region at that time. Having recently read about Arab history, I found myself recognizing where I was and what was happening. Recognition is an important aspect of all art I believe. It is the juxtaposition of the known and the unexpected that makes music, drama, the plastic arts and literature good and even great.

This book attains 'good' for me because it ties the main character into a historical time and place while simultaneously putting him into situations that are ethically and emotionally insoluble. If the book is a bit unclear at the end, it is because the author could not dig his character out. There are too many possibilities and none of them are happily ever after.

Not a great book but a good read. Three solid stars.