Take a photo of a barcode or cover
sandrasbookishcorner 's review for:
The Forty Rules of Love
by Elif Shafak
The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 stars
Publication date: 3 July 2025 (originally published in 2010)
Thank you to Viking Books and Netgalley for providing me with an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Ella Rubenstein is forty years old and unhappily married when she takes a job as a reader for a literary agent. Her first assignment is to read and report on Sweet Blasphemy, a novel written by a man named Aziz Zahara. Ella is mesmerized by his tale of Shams’s search for Rumi and the dervish’s role in transforming the successful but unhappy cleric into a committed mystic, passionate poet, and advocate of love.
Elif Shafak has really established herself as a favourite author of mine, and it was an absolute pleasure to dive into one of her earlier books. I loved the book within a book structure, and I much preferred reading the story of Rumi and Shams of Tabriz through a range of various POVs. The main story, or present timeline, wasn't quite as compelling for me and Ella is a difficult character to get on with or empathise with.
However, this is a minor grumble because Shafak’s prose is ultimately so beautiful, so evocative that I was transported, especially in Rumi and Shams’ story which I was always happy to go back to. This is a very spiritual and philosophical book, almost mystical, and I'm honest enough with myself to admit that I probably didn't grasp all the nuances of Shafak's writing. It is about love in its multitude: romantic, religious, from friends or soulmates, about the importance of living a purposeful life seeking, understanding and accepting these different kinds of love. I just lost myself in the beautiful writing and the beautiful quotes, and I absolutely want to read everything Shafak has ever written and is going to write in the future.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 stars
Publication date: 3 July 2025 (originally published in 2010)
Thank you to Viking Books and Netgalley for providing me with an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Ella Rubenstein is forty years old and unhappily married when she takes a job as a reader for a literary agent. Her first assignment is to read and report on Sweet Blasphemy, a novel written by a man named Aziz Zahara. Ella is mesmerized by his tale of Shams’s search for Rumi and the dervish’s role in transforming the successful but unhappy cleric into a committed mystic, passionate poet, and advocate of love.
Elif Shafak has really established herself as a favourite author of mine, and it was an absolute pleasure to dive into one of her earlier books. I loved the book within a book structure, and I much preferred reading the story of Rumi and Shams of Tabriz through a range of various POVs. The main story, or present timeline, wasn't quite as compelling for me and Ella is a difficult character to get on with or empathise with.
However, this is a minor grumble because Shafak’s prose is ultimately so beautiful, so evocative that I was transported, especially in Rumi and Shams’ story which I was always happy to go back to. This is a very spiritual and philosophical book, almost mystical, and I'm honest enough with myself to admit that I probably didn't grasp all the nuances of Shafak's writing. It is about love in its multitude: romantic, religious, from friends or soulmates, about the importance of living a purposeful life seeking, understanding and accepting these different kinds of love. I just lost myself in the beautiful writing and the beautiful quotes, and I absolutely want to read everything Shafak has ever written and is going to write in the future.