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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
POV narration seems to becoming a trend for switching over context. Add to it the timeline jumping as two parallel stories play out - one in recent times and one back in time . Taking in numerous connotations of love and the relationships, this is an interesting tale intermixed with self help topics. The thing with super deep thoughts is they are so generic and relatable and help in people moving their thought inertia. That relates to the forty rules. Shams walks away as the star character on how he truly frees Rumi into becoming the poet he is (as per the book) . A key takeaway is live the present.
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
"Love is the water of life. And a lover is a soul on fire! The universe turns differently when fire loves water." The last part of the last of the The Forty Rules of Love,this also constitutes the conclusion of the book and also the conclusion Ella reaches.
A housewife with three grown children, Ella is content with her life as it is, considering that a relationship requires hard work, whereas love is the least important ingredient, as it fades away in time. She is aware of her husband's infidelities, reaching the point where she somewhat understands him, as she (and more importantly, her body) changed over time and they are not the same as they were before. She gets to the point of trying to stop the engagement of her eldest daughter, as she is "too romantic" and unrealistic.
Her life slowly starts to change as she pursues the first assignment as a part-time reader for a literary agent. Entitled Sweet Blasphemy, the story depicts the encounter and the highly criticised relationship between Shams of Tabriz, a wandering dervish, and Rumi, the well known scholar and, later on, poet.
As I want to leave the details of the story to the book itself, I choose to talk about what made this book crawl so deep into my heart.
To talk stylistically, Elif Shafak manages to immerse the reader in very different ages and places from one chapter to another, switching between the 13th century Baghdad and Konya, in the time of Sufis and Rumi and the American 2008, when we discover the story of Ella. The stories unfold one inside the other, like a woman releasing veil after veil.
For inside Ella's story we find the one of Shams and Rumi, written by a certain Aziz Zahara. Going deeper, inside this we find the different perceptions of the story's characters, each chapter being told through the eyes of a different one, no matter if they're important (Shams or Rumi) or very small characters but who also play their part (such as Suleiman the Drunk). Even more, Sweet Blasphemy is sprinkled with the stories and parables told by Shams, in order to teach about love.
This seems to follow the Sufi principle presented in the book that states that knowledge has not one, but several (four) levels, one deeper than the other, the fourth being indescribable in words.
The whole novel describes the transformation its characters go through by discovering their inner selves and having the courage of going further in their spiritual evolution. It is also a call for meditation and about self.
A housewife with three grown children, Ella is content with her life as it is, considering that a relationship requires hard work, whereas love is the least important ingredient, as it fades away in time. She is aware of her husband's infidelities, reaching the point where she somewhat understands him, as she (and more importantly, her body) changed over time and they are not the same as they were before. She gets to the point of trying to stop the engagement of her eldest daughter, as she is "too romantic" and unrealistic.
Her life slowly starts to change as she pursues the first assignment as a part-time reader for a literary agent. Entitled Sweet Blasphemy, the story depicts the encounter and the highly criticised relationship between Shams of Tabriz, a wandering dervish, and Rumi, the well known scholar and, later on, poet.
As I want to leave the details of the story to the book itself, I choose to talk about what made this book crawl so deep into my heart.
To talk stylistically, Elif Shafak manages to immerse the reader in very different ages and places from one chapter to another, switching between the 13th century Baghdad and Konya, in the time of Sufis and Rumi and the American 2008, when we discover the story of Ella. The stories unfold one inside the other, like a woman releasing veil after veil.
For inside Ella's story we find the one of Shams and Rumi, written by a certain Aziz Zahara. Going deeper, inside this we find the different perceptions of the story's characters, each chapter being told through the eyes of a different one, no matter if they're important (Shams or Rumi) or very small characters but who also play their part (such as Suleiman the Drunk). Even more, Sweet Blasphemy is sprinkled with the stories and parables told by Shams, in order to teach about love.
This seems to follow the Sufi principle presented in the book that states that knowledge has not one, but several (four) levels, one deeper than the other, the fourth being indescribable in words.
The whole novel describes the transformation its characters go through by discovering their inner selves and having the courage of going further in their spiritual evolution. It is also a call for meditation and about self.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Aspects I loved, others not so much. Shams means sun in arabic and the character had a role of enlightenment. He had many enlightening thoughts (his rules of love which were not for romantic love but love of God) but I didn't think he lived all those rules. Even those who tried to follow those rules didn't interpret them the same as I did. Very interesting, worth the read.
reflective
slow-paced
DNF
Nope. Not for me.
Spiritual journey is not my strong forte. So confusing.
Nope. Not for me.
Spiritual journey is not my strong forte. So confusing.