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A review by stephanieridiculous
The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak
1.0
Goodness gracious this book is awful. I don't wanna yuck anyones yum, and most people seem to love this book- but I absolutely cannot understand why.
-It's all the same tone. Our middle age modern midlife crisis mom of 3 in the US and the religious men of ancient of Turkey all talk the exact same way.
-The writing stumbles over itself in its simplistic and modern vernacular. Its over written, clunky, juvenile, and cringey.
-The waxing philosophical about the meaning of life and love and the divine machinations of it all strive way to far and rarely land. I will give credit to two or three quotes from Shams that are very spot on regarding legalistic approaches to faith, but by and large it just didn't work for me.
-Less objectively bad and more in personal preference, reading about a woman falling into a wildly inappropriate/unprofessional emotional affair and justifying it because her husband has been unfaithful, but never confronting him about it, was not great.
-Shock factor used for literally nothing other than shock with rape on page and a hermaphrodite brothel owner.
-Shams tells a prostitute who was kidnapped/forced into sexual slavery who is trying to survive in a world that deems womens value based on their purity that people "disrespect her" (i.e. rape her) because she doesn't respect herself.
-Fatphobia, Islamophobia, questionable rep of various Islamic sects
-The writing stumbles over itself in its simplistic and modern vernacular. Its over written, clunky, juvenile, and cringey.
-The waxing philosophical about the meaning of life and love and the divine machinations of it all strive way to far and rarely land. I will give credit to two or three quotes from Shams that are very spot on regarding legalistic approaches to faith, but by and large it just didn't work for me.
-Less objectively bad and more in personal preference, reading about a woman falling into a wildly inappropriate/unprofessional emotional affair and justifying it because her husband has been unfaithful, but never confronting him about it, was not great.
-Shock factor used for literally nothing other than shock with rape on page and a hermaphrodite brothel owner.
-Shams tells a prostitute who was kidnapped/forced into sexual slavery who is trying to survive in a world that deems womens value based on their purity that people "disrespect her" (i.e. rape her) because she doesn't respect herself.
-Fatphobia, Islamophobia, questionable rep of various Islamic sects
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape