Book Review - The Forty Rules of Love

About the Book

In this lyrical, exuberant follow-up to her 2007 novel, The Bastard of Istanbul, acclaimed Turkish author Elif Shafak unfolds two tantalizing parallel narratives - one contemporary and the other set in the thirteenth century, when Rumi encountered his spiritual mentor, the whirling dervish known as Shams of Tabriz - that together incarnate the poet's timeless message of love. 

In this lyrical, imaginative new novel, acclaimed author Elif Shafak unfolds two parallel narratives—one contemporary and the other set in the thirteenth century, when the Sufi poet and mystic Rumi encountered his spiritual mentor, the infamous wandering dervish known as Shams of Tabriz. Both stories together incarnate Rumi’s timeless message of love.

American housewife 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 a work of fiction called Sweet Blasphemy, written by a man named Aziz Zahara. Zahara’s novel, which is told in many different voices, tells 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. In an age of deeply embedded bigotries and clashes, Rumi dared to break free of all conventional rules, to stand for a universal spirituality and an inner-oriented jihad, where the aim was to struggle against and prevail over one’s ego. Not everyone welcomed these ideas, however, and the powerful spiritual bond between Rumi and Shams became the target of rumor, slander, and attack.

Becoming increasingly mesmerized by this tale, and growing more distant from her husband, Ella begins to question her protected, insular life and to reach out to Aziz, who lives in Amsterdam. She is also taken with Shams’s lessons, or rules, which offer insight into an ancient philosophy based on the unity of all peoples and religions and the presence of love in each and every one of us. As Ella reads on, she realizes that Rumi’s story mirrors her own and that Aziz—like Shams—has come to set her free, to transform her in a way she never could have imagined.

The Forty Rules of Love brings together East and West, past and present, to provide a compelling, dramatic, and exuberant account of how love works in the world.

My Take on the Book

This books talks about Love in a war zone. It goes so much further thank merely a housewife and it brings the reader along on a journey into enlightenment about what love really is and what one must do, and the other steps needed to finding ways to find love for themselves. 

While the book is geared toward women, there are many interesting tidbits that men will find in the book, and you never know you might even identify ways in which you can better get to know the women in your life as well.
 

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company.  Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Disclaimer  for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.

   

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