chehak's review
4.75
Written so deeply and beautifully. The words are wound around so well. I certainly do not understand the language of love and despair, so it was a difficult read for me. A poem fanatic would surely love this one.
badoit90's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 Stars // When I set out on my journey to read 100 books this year, I didn’t just want to focus on the genres of books I kind of knew I would naturally drift towards to, or just read modern western authors, but also be open to books of different time periods or geographical origins. The Broken Wings is one of these novels - written and published in the early 20th century by Lebanese author Khalil Gibran, this novel takes us to the city of Beirut in the same time period.
Our protagonist is a young boy of seemingly poor social background, who runs into an old man, a friend of the boys late father. One day, the boy decides to visit the old man, as he is one of the few social contacts he still has left and as he enters the old mans home, he falls head over heels in love with his astonishingly beautiful daughter Selma. They seem to be made for each other, so sweet and tender is their love. It’s a sugar-sweet love-story until the day that the old man decides to promise the hand of his daughter to the son of the priest instead, a highborn of wealth and social prestige.
The Broken Wings gets 2.5 stars from me - it’s an overly sweet, almost fairy-tale like, telling of first love. It’s a critical commentary on the social and cultural traditions of its time and place, although for me it’s a book of two extremes - on one hand it’s too sweet to be really taken seriously as a love-story and on the other it’s too shallow in it’s critique to be taken seriously as a commentary. I’m sure that this is one of those books best read in its original language Arabic, as sometimes the book wants to be so poetic, but the English translation then feels too translated and you get just a glimpse of what might have been possible here in its original writing. It’s quite a short books though, so it might make for a nice and easy summer read.
Our protagonist is a young boy of seemingly poor social background, who runs into an old man, a friend of the boys late father. One day, the boy decides to visit the old man, as he is one of the few social contacts he still has left and as he enters the old mans home, he falls head over heels in love with his astonishingly beautiful daughter Selma. They seem to be made for each other, so sweet and tender is their love. It’s a sugar-sweet love-story until the day that the old man decides to promise the hand of his daughter to the son of the priest instead, a highborn of wealth and social prestige.
The Broken Wings gets 2.5 stars from me - it’s an overly sweet, almost fairy-tale like, telling of first love. It’s a critical commentary on the social and cultural traditions of its time and place, although for me it’s a book of two extremes - on one hand it’s too sweet to be really taken seriously as a love-story and on the other it’s too shallow in it’s critique to be taken seriously as a commentary. I’m sure that this is one of those books best read in its original language Arabic, as sometimes the book wants to be so poetic, but the English translation then feels too translated and you get just a glimpse of what might have been possible here in its original writing. It’s quite a short books though, so it might make for a nice and easy summer read.
foolishone's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
ben_martizz's review against another edition
5.0
Gibran's writing is so rich and poetic but not too indulgent in the beauty of poetry. His prose bear weight that transcends a message of pain and sorrow but also the calm and lightness of love and loving.
The story is just tragic and sad but surprisingly I did not feel like I needed to cry or be anguished, the story was just plain depressing.
It showed the reality or rather realities of women by a single woman named Selma. Selma was robbed of her life and her lover due to her position as a woman and had enslaved her to selfish and abusive high position religious men who when disobeyed shamed will bestow upon his father and her, and she loves his father very much.
I do find the father somewhat dismissive to Selma's suffering due to his cowardness to say no to a power-abusive man, but I do get why he chose silenced rather than fighting but still at least he could have tried.
The portrayal of love here, in this book, was just as beautiful as Gibran's prose and I have nothing much to say about it since my adoration of it is enough to convey what I think and so is to the depressing parts.
The story is just tragic and sad but surprisingly I did not feel like I needed to cry or be anguished, the story was just plain depressing.
It showed the reality or rather realities of women by a single woman named Selma. Selma was robbed of her life and her lover due to her position as a woman and had enslaved her to selfish and abusive high position religious men who when disobeyed shamed will bestow upon his father and her, and she loves his father very much.
I do find the father somewhat dismissive to Selma's suffering due to his cowardness to say no to a power-abusive man, but I do get why he chose silenced rather than fighting but still at least he could have tried.
The portrayal of love here, in this book, was just as beautiful as Gibran's prose and I have nothing much to say about it since my adoration of it is enough to convey what I think and so is to the depressing parts.
notarein's review against another edition
3.0
This book repeats a lot of phrases, rephrases sentences. This one part sounded like misogyny. Could not connect with anyone.
fatima_zafar11's review against another edition
5.0
After 'before the coffee gets cold' it's the second book which made me cry and wrecked my soul. Never going to fall out of my love for this masterpiece which was written more than a century ago but is still read and cherished by hearts of readers.
Some of my favorite quotes:
Oh, friends of my youth who are scattered in the city of Beirut, when you pass by the cemetery near the pine forest, enter it silently and walk slowly so the tramping of your feet will not disturb the slumber of the
dead, and stop humbly by Selma’s tomb and greet the earth that encloses her corpse and mention my name with deep sigh and say to yourself, “here, all the hopes of Gibran, who is living as prisoner of love beyond the seas, were buried. On this spot he lost his happiness, drained his tears, and forgot his smile.”
Some of my favorite quotes:
Oh, friends of my youth who are scattered in the city of Beirut, when you pass by the cemetery near the pine forest, enter it silently and walk slowly so the tramping of your feet will not disturb the slumber of the
dead, and stop humbly by Selma’s tomb and greet the earth that encloses her corpse and mention my name with deep sigh and say to yourself, “here, all the hopes of Gibran, who is living as prisoner of love beyond the seas, were buried. On this spot he lost his happiness, drained his tears, and forgot his smile.”
luelladai's review
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
The most beautiful and sincere tragedy with such lyrical words. The discussions around gender, power and society are so relevant to us today.
illyricvm's review against another edition
5.0
Words cannot express how in love I am with this book. Generally Khalil Gibran has always been a treasure I gatekeep. The broken wings is an exquisite story filled with mesmerising writings reflecting Gibran’s gift and talent for putting words into paper in such a way that will move your heart and change the way you perceive love, life and suffering. You know when you come across a beautiful quote that you want to annotate into? That, but this entire book as a whole.
yoannaboteva's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0