A review by andrejt
The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie

5.0

A sensual and well researched magic realism novel alternating between Renaissance Florence and the court of Akbar the Great in India. I greatly enjoyed discovering copious hidden literary allusions.

Niccolo Machiavelli was depicted in a historically accurate way. The bigger than life character of Akbar sucked all the complexity from lesser characters. Female characters were closer to phantasms than real humans.

The story was to a great degree a story about storytelling - just like Arabian Nights or Marco Polo describing his adventures to Kublai. Retaining a strong sense of fantastical, it makes it intentionally difficult to identify what's real, what's a dream, and what's an outright self-serving lie.

4.5 stars.