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A review by racheln23
The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
2.0
DNF at 10%. Hear me out. I kept reading reviews saying that this was magical, and even three star reviews said it was quite 5 ⭐️ for most of the book. While the writing is absolutely beautiful and deep, it seems like an abstract work of art. I literally have no idea what was going on, no clear picture where I was, and squinting my eyes as I met strangers and asked them, “uh, who are you??” The writing is flowery but the storytelling is rambling. It has a distinct “once upon a time” storytelling feature. The narrator is extremely detached and it makes for difficulty connecting to the characters. Let me give you an example. We have an opening scene with a guy in a cart venturing to his destination to confront a king with a secret. Totally groovy. I’m in to this! I’m enjoying the writing - the opening view of the Royal city makes you drool - the pool at the entrance of the city is being hit by the sun in such a way that it looks like molten gold. The visitors marvel at the richness of the ruler that he has so much, he pours his gold in a pool for anyone to take. Of course, this is just an ordinary pool of water, but - oh em gee, that description is amazing.
End scene after a very small bit of traveling and we are in a new scene, in the past, with said traveler (I assume, but not easy to grasp effortlessly) and he’s meeting with some guy and they are exchanging secrets. Ok, I’m kind of following. Mr. Travelled got a doc that is essential to present to the king, but the scene was VERY confusing and unclear.
After that scene, I think I fell asleep while reading, kept picking up the book, debating whether to finish the book or not, and decided I was PRO finishing the book, even though I’m not afraid to abandon books. However, it just didn’t get better. I don’t even know what happened in the next scenes through 10%
Complete, because I didn’t know where in time I was, I didn’t know where in the setting I was, and I was surrounded by people I didn’t know but I was dropped in to their life. And it was confusing. Everyone was going about their day expecting me to just KNOW how their life worked.
I can see how this might be an enjoyable style for
Some people but it was too…much for my brain to want to work. It’s probably some amazing work of literature, but I’m not really down for working through literature, I want to be whisked away to another world effortlessly.
End scene after a very small bit of traveling and we are in a new scene, in the past, with said traveler (I assume, but not easy to grasp effortlessly) and he’s meeting with some guy and they are exchanging secrets. Ok, I’m kind of following. Mr. Travelled got a doc that is essential to present to the king, but the scene was VERY confusing and unclear.
After that scene, I think I fell asleep while reading, kept picking up the book, debating whether to finish the book or not, and decided I was PRO finishing the book, even though I’m not afraid to abandon books. However, it just didn’t get better. I don’t even know what happened in the next scenes through 10%
Complete, because I didn’t know where in time I was, I didn’t know where in the setting I was, and I was surrounded by people I didn’t know but I was dropped in to their life. And it was confusing. Everyone was going about their day expecting me to just KNOW how their life worked.
I can see how this might be an enjoyable style for
Some people but it was too…much for my brain to want to work. It’s probably some amazing work of literature, but I’m not really down for working through literature, I want to be whisked away to another world effortlessly.