Samarkand in Around the World

Jul 10, 2017 Krista the Krazy Kataloguer rated it liked it

Shelves: read-historical-fiction, read-adult-fiction

I actually want to give this 3 1/2 stars--4 stars for the first half of the book, 3 stars for the second half.

This my second novel by Maalouf, and I have to say that I liked The Rock of Tanios better. With Samarkand I felt like I was reading two different novels. It was divided into four books, the first two of which were a fictional life of the 11th-century Persian poet Omar Khayyam, narrated in the third person. It was fascinating, as I had no idea he was an astrologer/astronomer, philosopher, I actually want to give this 3 1/2 stars--4 stars for the first half of the book, 3 stars for the second half.

This my second novel by Maalouf, and I have to say that I liked The Rock of Tanios better. With Samarkand I felt like I was reading two different novels. It was divided into four books, the first two of which were a fictional life of the 11th-century Persian poet Omar Khayyam, narrated in the third person. It was fascinating, as I had no idea he was an astrologer/astronomer, philosopher, and scientist as well as a poet. I loved the description of places, foods, customs, clothing, and politics.

The last two books were a first person narrative, told from the point of view of Benjamin Lesage, a late 19th-century Omar Khayyam enthusiast who makes several trips to Persia in search of the original manuscript of Khayyam's The Rubaiyat, which also contains in the margins a life of Khayyam and a description of the political situation during his time. Apparently, verses were written after his death and wrongly attributed to him. In the course of searching for this book to determine which were the verses truly written by Khayyam, Lesage becomes involved in local politics and Persia's fight for a democratic government and a break from British and Russian domination. Maalouf certainly does his research, as I learned more than I wanted to know about how Persia/Iran came to be the way it is today.

An introduction of sorts provides the reason for the two separate narratives. It is revealed that the only original manuscript of Omar Khayyam's The Rubaiyat went down with the Titanic. The first narrative of Khayyam's life explains how The Rubaiyat came to be written. The second narrative set in the 19th century explains what happened to the manuscript after Khayyam died and how it ended up on the Titanic. I think the second narrative is written in the first person in order to draw the reader in to a story that might otherwise be boring, with its emphasis on politics.

The novel certainly had an interesting structure, but it made story seem a bit disjointed. The switch from the 11th-12th centuries to the late 19th was too abrupt. While I zipped through the life of Khayyam, I labored through the second half. Nevertheless, I do have to recommend the book, especially if you're interested in Khayyam or the history of Persia/Iran. Now I'll have to pick up my copy of The Rubaiyat again. ...more

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Jan 14, 2021 Sue Kozlowski rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, 196-countries, z-196-read-lebanon, ebook, amazon-kindle, muslim

I read this book as part of my quest to read a book written by an author from each of the 196 countries of the world. This author was born and raised in Lebanon.

This was a difficult although pleasurable read for me because I was unfamiliar with the history of the setting. It is based on real events and people. I have extracted this information from Wikipedia because I can't even begin to summarize it myself:

"The first half of the story is set in Persia (present day Iran) and Central Asia in the ...more

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Jun 08, 2014 Mounir rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: a-borrowed-كتب-مستعارة, literature-francais, arabic-translation

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. مزيج من الرواية والتاريخ السياسي القديم والحديث لإيران والمنطقة المحيطة بها: تدور الأحداث ما بين طبرستان، سمرقند، أصفهان، تبريز، نيسابور. وأيضا القسطنطينية وبعض العواصم الأوربية
يمكن تقسيم الرواية إلى قسمين. الأول يدور في زمن عمر الخيام ويركز على ثلاث شخصيات أو ثلاثة "أصدقاء": عمر الخيام ونظام الملك وحسن الصباح، الأول شاعر وفلكي والثاني وزير وصانع للسياسات ومؤلف كتاب سياست نامة الذي يقارنه المؤلف بكتاب الأمير من حيث تأثيره، والثالث طالب دين طموح ذو تفكير أصولي يتحول إلى زعيم لفرقة ضخمة تقوم بعملي مزيج من الرواية والتاريخ السياسي القديم والحديث لإيران والمنطقة المحيطة بها: تدور الأحداث ما بين طبرستان، سمرقند، أصفهان، تبريز، نيسابور. وأيضا القسطنطينية وبعض العواصم الأوربية
يمكن تقسيم الرواية إلى قسمين. الأول يدور في زمن عمر الخيام ويركز على ثلاث شخصيات أو ثلاثة "أصدقاء": عمر الخيام ونظام الملك وحسن الصباح، الأول شاعر وفلكي والثاني وزير وصانع للسياسات ومؤلف كتاب سياست نامة الذي يقارنه المؤلف بكتاب الأمير من حيث تأثيره، والثالث طالب دين طموح ذو تفكير أصولي يتحول إلى زعيم لفرقة ضخمة تقوم بعمليات إرهابية. تشتبك مصائر الشخصيات بصراعات سياسية ودسائس القصور ويبرز منها دائما الصراع بين التفكير الأصولي والتفكير الحر كما يمثله الخيام، وهو نفس الصراع الأساسي الذي نراه في القسم الثاني من الرواية عندما يقفز بنا المؤلف ببراعة - ومن خلال البحث عن المخطوط الأصلي لرباعيات الخيام - إلى تاريخ إيران الحديث في أواخر القرن التاسع عشر وأوائل العشرين. وإلى جانب الصراع بين النقل والعقل وبين توظيف الدين في السياسة ومحاولة إقامة دولة عصرية، يبرز صراع آخر مهم يكبل تطور إيران: صراع القوى العظمى حول الدول الشرقية المتخلفة وحرصها على إبقائها متخلفة للإستفادة منها ولنهب ثرواتها. وفي هذا القسم الثاني نلتقي بشخصيات تاريخية منها مثلا جمال الدين الأفغاني وبأحداث تاريخية منها غرق السفينة تيتانيك !
الكتاب ممتع في القراءة ولكني كنت أفضل ألا يستغرق طويلا في سرد الأحداث التاريخية لدرجة كانت أحيانا تطغى على الشخصيات الروائية. وفي رأيي أن هذه الترجمة كان ينقصها ثلاثة أشياء
- مقدمة توضح للقارىء الحدود ما بين التاريخ والخيال الفني في هذا العمل، والحدود بين الشخصيات الخيالية التي من صنع المؤلف وبين الشخصيات التاريخية الحقيقية
- خرائط توضح للقاريء الأماكن الجغرافية الكثيرة التي وردت بالرواية
- هوامش تشرح الشخصيات والأماكن التاريخية
مثل كل أعمال أمين معلوف نجد في هذه الرواية الحس الإنساني الرفيع والشعور بالإشفاق والمحبة لكل البشر والتسامح مع الضعف البشري والرغبة في التقارب بين الشعوب والثقافات والتعاون بينها من أجل الحرية والسلام
كتاب جميل وممتع وجدير بالقراءة ...more

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May 20, 2010 Marieke rated it liked it

Shelves: re-read, history, 2012, islam, mena-lit, fiction, w12

I loved this book when I first read it in 1996 and had initially rated it 5 stars based on what i remembered feeling about it at that time; i actually remembered very few details. I was somewhat afraid to re-read it because of that. But I'm glad I did. The first time I read it the places and events were totally new to me, this time that wasn't the case. It was fun and interesting to be more comfortable with religious and historical details. The thing that irked, however, was the language. I'm no ...more

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Oct 20, 2011 Natalie rated it liked it

Do not really appreciate the english translation.

The french version was more subtle, bloomisch, mellow, melodic. Farsi is a very poetic, warm, bloomy, descriptive, colorfull language filled with melody and chant. I found it unpleasant to read in english, though the quality of the translation is not doubted. Sorry.

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