Rating: 
Summary: A beautiful book, as relevant now as it was then
Review: Pre-independence Azerbaijan, early 20th century Persia, Daghestan...a world caught between old and new, between the retreating forces of the East and the seemingly triumphant West. It's supposed to be a love story but it is a lot more than that. Revealing and fascinating insight into an 'Asiatic' shi'aa world of which too little is known, of a Muslim community caught between the desire to maintain the traditions of the East, and the necessary clash with the economic and military might of the West. The bit that really stuck a chord: 'I have heard things,'said a man with dreaming eyes in a face dedicated to Death, 'a man has appeared in Persia by the name of Reza, he is leading many soldiers and chasing the enemy as a hunter chases the deer. Kemal is sitting in Ankara. He has amassed an army. We do not fight in vain. Twenty-five thousand men are marching to help us.' 'No,' I said, 'not twenty-five thousand men - two hundred and fifty million men marching, all the Muslims in the world. But whether they will come in time God only knows.'
Rating:
Summary: My favorite book -- I have loved this story for 20+ years
Review: Set in the confluence of 3 cultures: Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia, this book tells the story of Ali (a Azeri) and Nino (his Georgian sweetheart). It's a love story, a history lesson, an impassioned plea for tolerance, a modern novel written in the 1930s and set in the 1910s. It's hard to say more without giving away the story, but this has been my favorite book for over 20 years. I scoured rare books stores for years and eventually got my own copy and am delighted to see it reissued for a new generation to enjoy.
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Summary: Orientalizing
Review: The sentimental and romantic story of the starcrossed love between a Moslem boy and a Georgian Christian girl. It's set in places and in a period of history that were unfamiliar to me, and part of its charm is learning about the customs of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Russia and Persia. At the beginning they are living in Baku, under Imperial Russian rule. The First world War and the Russian Revolution overtake them. Baku is occupied by the Turks and the British, and Azerbaijan is briefly independent.Although Ali is the hero the
Moslems are mostly represented as naive and bloodthirsty primitives.
Some of the dialog is stilted (it was originally written in German) and you encounter long stretches with speeches like:
"That surprises you, O Seyd?"
"Allah leads astray those against whom he has turned his wrath."
Rating:
Summary: Facinating
Review: This is a page turner! The reader will gain insight into the ever changing land in and around Afghanistan prior to World War I. The story is facinating!
Rating:
Summary: Facinating
Review: This is a page turner! The reader will gain insight into the ever changing land in and around Afghanistan prior to World War I. The story is facinating!
Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended!!
Review: This is a wonderful book. The characters are well written, the settings are exquisite, and the view of life in an earlier Baku is fascinating. The story is about the love between a Muslim boy (Ali) and Christian girl (Nino), raised in the same city but different communities, with different sets of values and expectations. They constantly encounter cultural differences in their lives. I am fascinated by the potrait of people who can love each other deeply without fully understanding or approving of each other. The time period the novel is set in makes the story even stronger, as Ali and Nino live through political upheaval and revolution fueled by similar cultural clashes as those they experience in their own relationship.
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Summary: A "must-read" for all Americans following Sept. 11, 2001.
Review: This novel presents cultural and historic conflict between Westerners and people of Central Asia in an understandable format. It is quicker reading that nonfiction, but does describe current and ancient beliefs among people in Central Asia and Europe. The cultural conflict depicted in the novel helps to illuminate the current strife in Afghanstan.
Rating:
Summary: marvellous love story
Review: When I catched the book from the shelf, never thought it will capture my 3 days and nights. Amazing love story allowing readers to get in touch with the realities of Caucasus of 1915-20s. Highly recommended!
(...)
Rating:
Summary: Recommended to me by three people in Two Days
Review: Whenever three people, all separated from each other, recommend one book within three days, you know you just Must read it immediately. I am in love with this book. There is no other phrase to describe my feelings while reading it. Haunting, lyrical, informative and important. I urge everyone here to buy a paperback, what I read, or take it from your local library. A simply great read, as all other reviewers here attest.
Rating:
Summary: Note that the introduction contains a large spoiler.
Review: While the introduction to the book gives an excellent deconstruction of its themes and offers some information about its mysterious author, it also contains one major spoiler that gives away the ending of the book. If you do not want any inkling of how the book is going to end, I recommend that you read the introduction after you have finished the book. Which won't take long!
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