Reviews

One Thousand and One Nights by Hanan Al-Shaykh

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thekqy's review against another edition

3.0

this was my first time actually reading a translation of the thousand and one nights. I’ve wanted to ever since I heard the scheherazade piece from rimsky korsakov. however I have to say I was disappointed and in hindsight I shouldn’t have read this version first (or at all??)… I’ll have to try a more faithful version one day, hopefully with a writing style more akin to oral storytelling

2.5 stars

miffness's review against another edition

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Everything kinda bled into each other. So much fucking and god. For what... everyone knew everyone but after the first or second tie in I no longer cared.

kdaedwards's review against another edition

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3.0

So many stories within stories. I'm now curious to read a version that is more of a translation than an adaptation, but that'll have to wait awhile. Hopefully there's less instantly falling in love because the person is so beautiful in the others...

dyerra's review against another edition

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3.0

I have not read the full text of any other versions of One Thousand and One nights, but this translation was very easy to read in contemporary English. I'm also always impressed when the translator is able to make the poetry rhyme in another language, which the translator was occasionally. Because of my lack of experience with other translations, I'm not able to make comparisons.

This book was good, an introduction to traditional middle eastern story telling. It read like a Russian nesting doll, where characters in stories told stories of other characters telling stories. This took a little concentration to keep straight, but it also isn't really necessary to keep it straight, if you just want to read the stories and go with the flow.