ar_etc 's review for:

Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree by Tariq Ali

2.0

---

I was so excited to read this book both because it is set in a period totally overlooked by western history courses and also because it is the first in a series, which promised even more exciting entries. But I just could not get along with Ali's writing style. I felt very unengaged by his tendency for block exposition. Things are explained and then explained again, rather than every allowing us to explore the world through the lives of the actual characters, who I never really felt anything for. They are people in an intensely emotionally fraught situation, and yet the tone of the whole novel was very dull and cerebral for me.