Scan barcode
A review by zeljana
The Lover by Laury Silvers
4.0
The Lover is a fine piece of historical fiction. There is a murder mystery that guides the plot, but it isn't central to the novel. From the very beginning the old world opens up to us on these pages, and we are transported to the streets of Baghdad at the height of its glory. There are various Islamic scholars, Sufis and "ordinary people" just doing their best to survive. The novel is really a window into an epoch from a fresh perspective.
Laury Silvers is a Sufi and an Islamic scholar, and this is obvious in this well-researched book. The religious teachings are wonderfully translated into the narrative and are a joy to read. I loved how this book juxtaposes Islamic spirituality and legal practice - there are very few fiction books dealing with this topic.
Another great thing about this book is that the main character, Zaytuna, is not a stereotypical Muslim woman belonging to upper social classes commonly found in historical fiction. She has a complex relationship with her faith, the memory of her mother and her relationships with men that never feels out of context.
However, I found the main characters unrelatable because despite everything good about this book I never felt the emotional connection to them. I really wanted to love this book more than I did.
The murder mystery part moved really slowly and the whole thing failed to make sense to me. I liked the ultimate message of the story, but I felt the plot was rather weak.
Ultimately, it took me a very long time to go through the novel waiting for the moment when I'm gonna fall in love with it, which in the end never happened.
Laury Silvers is a Sufi and an Islamic scholar, and this is obvious in this well-researched book. The religious teachings are wonderfully translated into the narrative and are a joy to read. I loved how this book juxtaposes Islamic spirituality and legal practice - there are very few fiction books dealing with this topic.
Another great thing about this book is that the main character, Zaytuna, is not a stereotypical Muslim woman belonging to upper social classes commonly found in historical fiction. She has a complex relationship with her faith, the memory of her mother and her relationships with men that never feels out of context.
However, I found the main characters unrelatable because despite everything good about this book I never felt the emotional connection to them. I really wanted to love this book more than I did.
The murder mystery part moved really slowly and the whole thing failed to make sense to me. I liked the ultimate message of the story, but I felt the plot was rather weak.
Ultimately, it took me a very long time to go through the novel waiting for the moment when I'm gonna fall in love with it, which in the end never happened.