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.

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.

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.

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 story of a young Lebanese man, Ossyane, who is born to a Turkish father and Armenian mother near the end of WWI. His father is descended from the Turkish royal family, but they immigrated to Lebanon in the 19th century after Ossyane's grandmother became insane. This story starts at the end an unknown narrator comes across Ossyane as an old man in a street in Paris that is named after a hero of the French resistance. It is clear that Ossyane himself was a hero of the resistance as well and with a bit of persistence the narrator convinces Ossyane to tell his story. This is a novel that starts out absolutely brilliantly, then in my opinion totally collapses in the second half. In the first part of the tale, we learn about Ossyane's relatively, their lives in Turkey and their peregrinations that led them to Lebanon. Ossyane is born during WWI, and as WWII approaches decides to go to France to study medicine. He gets swept up in the War, ultimately becoming a courier for the Resistance. After the war he returns to Lebanon to a hero's welcome and re-encounters a woman that he once met in occupied France, a young Jewish woman named Clara. The two fall in love and get married, but they get divided by the '48 war. Clara is trapped in Haifa, Ossyane in Lebanon. At this point, the novel is outstanding; a love story that brings together two people from hostile groups, a compelling tale of danger in occupied France, and a scathing commentary against racism and tribalism. Beautiful, poignant, I felt like I was holding one of the best novels ever written in my hand - Ma'alouf should have stopped the story here! Without giving too much away, Ossyane spends the second half of the book (and more that 20 years of his life) in a mental institution, having fallen into a grave depression (due the separation from his wife, the death of his father, etc.). Most of the rest of the book is an interior dialogue in which Ossyane describes in great detail his emotions and fractured mental state in the asylum. From my perspective, the story totally collapsed at this point. I just don't find stories about mental illness compelling in any way, and by spending more than half the story describing the main character's mental flights was ruinous. At the end, we learn that Ossyane escaped from the asylum and is in Paris hoping to meet Clara again after 20+ years of separation. If you want to know if they get together, read the book. In spite of the generally positive reviews for this book, I can only ponder about what might have been. Ma'alouf often writes about themes of loneliness and alienation, but using the vehicle of mental illness ruined (for me at least) what could have been one of the greatest novels ever written. That said, the ending is both poignant and deliciously ambiguous and can't help but move you. Bottom line is that this is still a good novel written by one of the best novelists of the current era and I recommend it. A must read of course for any serious Ma'alouf fan of course, but I think it is less than the most enthusiastic reviews suggest.

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.

Beautiful story written masterfully. Also, it is not just a story historical document as well.

Good*****