Blog this item

The Book of Saladin

A Novel

By Tariq Ali

(3)

| Paperback | 9781859842317

Like The Book of Saladin?
Join aNobii to see if your friends read it, and discover similar books!

Book Description

Tariq Ali's latest novel is a rich and teeming chronicle set in twelfth-century Cairo, Damascus and Jerusalem. "The Book of Saladin" is the fictional memoir of Saladin, the Kurdish liberator of Jerusalem, as dictated to a Jewish scribe, Ibn Yakub. Saladin grants Ibn Yakub permission to talk to his wContinue

1 Review

Perhaps too true to life?

War, it is said, is long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror. If we over-extend the analogy to "The Book of Saladin," Tariq Ali might have been too true to life.
Mr Ali delivers a well-told tale of everyday life in the palace - eating habits, personal beliefs, personality qu ... (continue)

War, it is said, is long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror. If we over-extend the analogy to "The Book of Saladin," Tariq Ali might have been too true to life.
Mr Ali delivers a well-told tale of everyday life in the palace - eating habits, personal beliefs, personality quirks - and spices it up with political/religious ambition and sexual intrigue. It's all quite subtly delivered. To his credit, Mr Ali does not attempt to become a romance writer or military novelist, leaving most of the "action" off-screen. Everyday life, though, even with a sultan in the middle of it, can be quite a drag. The moments of suspense and conflict are too few and far between to make this story more than just OK.
While the reader gets a good look at the man (and his entourage) behind the myth and legend that is Saladin, I never established a bond with any of the characters like I did in the first book of the Islam Quintet. In "Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree," Mr Ali does a very good job of grabbing the reader's attention using the same literary techniques on display here. Unfortunately, he was unable to repeat in Book 2.
The life and times of Saladin deserved better.

Is this helpful?

Andyberschauer said on Nov 15, 2010 | Add your feedback