Ports of Call

great book

Amin Maalouf is one of my favourite writers and this is a really good read.

Don't expect this love story to go where you think. Amin Maalouf unfolds a tale of hopes, joys and disappointments, in which the deserving stumble and fall, the undeserving rise up - or is it the other way around? Just when you are ready to catch your breath, his story line diverts you down a different path. The narrative within a narrative shows how the human will can struggle against overwhelming odds. The tribulations of star-crossed Muslim-Jewish lovers - Ossyane and Clara - keep the drama on edge, right to the very end.

The novel is the story of two ill-starred lovers in the Middle East. Ossyane, the principle narrator a muslim Ottoman prince and a hero of the french revolution and his beloved Clara a jew. Ossyane is a name which means `Rebellion' or "Disobedience'. When Ossyane's father gave him that name it represented a protest of an aristocratic but liberal man against history of sectarianism and violence that had characterized the world inherited from his Ottoman ancestors. Ossyane tells of how he went to France, to become a doctor but instead became an accidental hero. He briefly meets Clara whom he meets again back home after the war. They marry in the after math of WWII; unfortunately the chaotic dislocations that ensure keep them apart for quarter of a century, during which time the prince is unjustly committed to a mental asylum of the insane. The marriage is presented here as an exemplary rejection of suspicion and hatred between people, most particulary in the Middle East.

Great historical book of the middle east telling the every day life of families life during war which you never hear in the news or history books and very historically correct. The region now is still very much this way and its not too mushy of a romance so great for men to read also.

This is a very pleasant read. It is how a novel should be, effortless and touching essentially human issues, like love and destiny. His third person narrative makes it interesting and allows Amin to voice his own thoughts throughout. It is full of regional colors, characters and history, so typical of most of his writing. Quintessential Mediterane. I was shocked to find out that his "Balthasar's Travels" is yet to be pubished here. I read the translation, it is a magnificient epic through medival Europe and Middle East, highly recommended also when it comes out this year. Amin is a master of historical context. The heros of this book live a love story punctuated by wars, family tragedies and cultural and religious tensions. Most of the background events are the ones that have actually dominated our news for decades, but these folks actually live through it. In the end, their love seems to be the only thing that survives, or is it? Highly recommended for a relaxing and warm reading that leaves a lasting taste and memory.

This is the most outstanding of all the Maalouf novels I have read- and I must tell you I read almost all. This is probably also because the novel starts at my birthplace Adana, a southern town in Turkey. The novel is loaded with overflowing emotions. Not only I read it once every year but also I have gifted it at least 3-4 times.

World fiction is hit or miss for me. This one was a hit. In this novella, a Lebanese man tells his life story to a journalist randomly met in Paris; the journalist introduces the story, which is essentially a monologue from the Lebanese man, spanning most of the 20th century. The translation is so smooth you wouldn't realize without being told that it wasn't originally written in English, and the author never forgets the book's premise; the tone is conversational throughout. My favorite thing about this book is its voice and writing style; it's warm, personable, and intelligent, without ever struggling to be profound. I came away feeling that the narrator was someone I would love to meet. The plot is engaging and takes some surprising turns, and the main characters (the narrator and his wife and father) are vivid and interesting. While the sense of place is not especially strong, there is a lot of history in this book; the French Resistance sections, in particular, stand out. Ports of Call is a short book, but a successful one. Seeing that this is one of Maalouf's minor works, I would certainly read more from this author.