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imijen 's review for:
The Blood of Flowers
by Anita Amirrezvani
"I thought about all the labour and suffering hidden beneath a carpet [...] All our labours were in the service of beauty, but sometimes it seemed as if every thread in a carpet had been dipped in the blood of flowers."The Blood of Flowers is a carefully crafted historical novel set in the 17th century Iran during the reign of Shah Abbas the Great. This is historical fiction at its best, thoroughly absorbing the reader in another time and place and introducing them to past cultures and ways of life. The effort the author put into researching this time period is clear (she mentions in the author's note/interview at the end of the book that she spent 9 years researching for this novel) and the result allows the reader to fully experience the rich colours, sounds, smells, views and tastes of Iran at this time. I was captivated by the beautiful descriptions of Isfahan, the city's sights, the work of the carpet makers and other craftsman, the food, the folklore. It was a wonderful experience in which I really felt that I had been transported to this time and place.
The novel is a beautiful coming-of-age story of a young girl who has a gift for traditional carpet craft as she moves, due to some rather tragic events, from the familiarity of her carefree childhood home in a small village to the world of the unknown in the big city. I loved that the protagonist is determined and passionate, but clearly very young and immature, which means that she fails to think things through properly before making some very poor decisions. The book clearly shows how difficult the position of women at this time was, by the fact that the decisions of a girl this young can have such harsh consequences for both her and her family. The urge to shake some sense into her was so strong, but only because she was such a realistic, sympathetic and likeable character, and her bad decisions were very believable due to her inexperience and rashness. I really cared for her as a character, so this part of the novel was particularly strong. By the end of the novel, the reader has observed as the protagonist matures and grows in many different ways, and despite being a dark and difficult book at times, I also felt this made the novel beautifully uplifting and hopeful.
As I said, there are parts of the novel that are very dark. One of the important lessons that the protagonist learns is that life is very often unfair, especially for a woman. For some reason, I've read a lot of very depressing books recently, but although there is a lot of pain, suffering and cruelty covered in this novel, Amirrezvani demonstrates that usually life is a mix of the good and the bad. Some reviewers have said parts of the book were a little bit "fairy-tale", but I don't think so (at least not in the sense that the events are unrealistic). I'd like to believe that there is a lot of good in the world, along with the bad, and I was glad to read a book that reflects that.
That said, fables or fairy tales play an important role in Persian heritage and culture, and, therefore, Amirrezvani decided to include several adapted folk tales, scattered throughout the novel, which complimented the events of the main narrative. These tales were excellent and I appreciated them as another fascinating insight into the culture. As Amirrezvani explains in her brilliant author's note at the end of the book, she took further inspiration from Persian folk tales when structuring the main narrative and in the fact that the protagonist is left unnamed, which is a traditional feature of folk tales.
My only complaint is that a large part of the novel is taken up by the protagonist's involvement in the Iranin practise of a sigheh, basically a tempory marriage contract, usaully for the sexual pleasure of the man. The practise itself was interesting, especially in terms of its impact on the woman's position in society, but it did mean that there were a number of sex scenes in this part of the novel, where the protagonist increasingly grows in confidence in the bedroom. Personally, I usually find reading about sex rather dull, so these parts of the novel dragged a little for me and I don't think it was necessary for this part of the novel to be so drawn out. However, I didn't think this reason enough to drop a star from my rating, as the sex scenes weren't painfully bad, as they can be in some books, and I understood their purpose in the overall narrative and in discussing issues around women's independence.
In conclusion, I hope I've done this novel justice in this review and managed to the outline the reasons why this novel worked so well for me personally. I highly recommend it both to lovers of historical fiction and those interested in reading about a strong young woman. In the future, I'd love to read more books about the reign of Shah Abbas, which seems to be a fascinating period of history, as I've learnt both by reading this novel and wonderful author's note/interview at the end. Thank you, Anita Amirrezvani, for your effort in crafting such a beautiful book.