nehariaz 's review for:

The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak
3.75
emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
Having LOVED the Pakistani drama, Alif, I had high hopes. But in this book, Sufism was favoured upon Islam, almost showing that it’s wrong.  Shafak’s writing is beautiful & spiritual, how she wove together the 40 rules in the different stories & characters is applaudable. Ella’s POV bordered a soap drama but the latter (infidelity😬) romance made up for it. I wasn’t too interested in her weight gain, cheating husband or intimate emails, and skipped some of her chapters. Shams was an amazing character, but I don’t understand why he turned Kimya down. Desert Rose the Harlot always had the most touching storyline and quotes. Rumi’s transformation from a preacher to poet, a scholar to Sufi, all have inspired me to pick up his poetry. This reflective piece certainly encourages one to embark on their jihad-al nafs, to lose one’s ego and find love.
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