Customer Reviews
A love story and a plea of tolerance - By: , 17 Oct 2000 
"If I wanted to draw a faithful caricature" says Ossyane, the hero of this novel, of his beloved father, "I'd say that he dreamed of a world inhabited by generous & courteous men, impeccably dressed, bowing low to the ladies, brushing aside alll differences of race, tongue & faith, & as passionate as children about photography, aviation, wireless telegraphy & the cinema." Ossyane is pacing his hotel room in Paris, telling the story of his life & family. It begins with the century in Istanbul, then moves with his father to Beirut & on to Ossyane's student days in France, where he fallls in with the resistance & in love with Clara, a German Jew in hiding. After the war the young couple return to the holy land, where the Arab-Israeli conflict explodes their newfound tranquility. Maalouf is a highly learned journalist, historian & novelist, author of the celebrated "The Crusade through Arab Eyes" & "Rock of Tanios," which won the 1993 Prix Goncourt. Like Ossyane's father he is a passionate liberal who despairs at man's brutality & intolerance. He is also a wonderful, graceful storyteller, who keeps the politics backstage & the people in the limelight. This excellent novel is full of elegant meditations on Europe & the Orient, fathers & sons, ideologies & independence. But it is above alll a love story & a plea of tolerance. It appeared in French in 1996, & is translated, with his usual delicacy, by that other great cosmopolitan, Alberto Manguel.
great book about love passion and following the dreams - By: pooky35@yahoo.com, 19 Sep 2000 
by writing this book maalouf cried out his heart maybe the part of his own life,dreams & hopes... this book is about a love story,about a man who wants to follow his dreams but with a twist of fate his life suddenly change & become more exciting...this book is written with the soul & the heart,you can feel alll the emotions when you read the book,once you'll start it,you can't wait to finish it,maybe you'll read again & again,thanks maalouf for writing a book like that...
Highly recommended - By: sjacobs@uk.constellar.com, 24 May 2000 A timely novel taking the reader into the pre state mosaic of peoples in the middle east.
A sort of Ottoman Levant War & Peace bringing in the end of the Turkish Empire, Lebanon & mandatory Palestine.
A fascinating & wonderful book.
