Play Book Tag discussion

I picked this up from one of Nancy's subdue boards to finish my "5,6" roll.

This book was an amazing journey into Sufism - a mystical element of Islam I knew almost nothing about.

There are several overlapping stories here. Aziz is an author who found Sufism late in life and then converted to Islam. He's written a novel telling the story of the famous poet Rumi and his friend Shams, a traveling dervish. In Aziz's novel, he explores Sham's 40 Rules of Love that he developed while living as a traveling dervish.

In an interwoven thread, Ella is an unhappy housewife in suburban Boston. She takes a part time job as a book reviewer for a publisher. And the first book she's asked to review is Aziz's novel Sweet Blasphamy.

The author does a marvelous job of hopping between Ella's story, her emerging friendship with Aziz, Aziz's story, and the story of Rumi and Shams as told through Aziz's novel.

Altogether wonderful book.

I enjoyed this one too! Elif Shafak is such a great writer.