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Title: The Palace of Tears by Alev Lytle Croutier ISBN: 0-385-33491-5 Publisher: Delta Pub. Date: 02 January, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.17 (6 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Failed to engage
Comment: I give _The Palace of Tears_ three stars, because I can't think of anything I particularly liked _or_ disliked about it. It just kind of...was.
The novel seems to be based on a tale the author's grandmother told her long ago, and I can see that this could have been an enchanting story when told in that way. In fact, had Croutier written a short story with this material, pruning out the fluff, it probably would have been a very good love story. As it is, we have a slim story padded out into a short novel, stuffed with ruminations about the Suez Canal, and about the nature of love. We have characters that I just couldn't get into. They never really seemed real to me. The hero is callous in his treatment of everyone but the heroine, the heroine is too sweet and beautiful to be real, and they wander through the novel spewing forth theories on the nature of love and of fate. They talk like proverbs, not like real people.
Again, I would have liked it much better as a short story, with the forced philosophical musings left out.
Rating: 5
Summary: A gorgeous little book
Comment: This is a great little story of love, desire, loss, foreign places, and culture. Croutier paints beautiful pictures of every place the book takes the reader. The prose is vivid and alive, and the characters are vibrant and complex. Each chapter begins with a tiny black and white sketch that just adds to the mystery and eroticism of the book. This is a fairy tale for adults. You will want to live in the countries and time period that this book brings alive.
Rating: 3
Summary: a nice bit of exoticism, but a bit derivative
Comment: AFter glancing at the lush cover and exotic plot, I couldn't wait to start this book. Though it had some strong qualities (dreamy writing, exotic scenery ranging from France to Egypt to Istanbul), overall, I found it disappointing. Not to nitpick, but the major plot device (dreaming someone else while at the same time they are dreaming you) is stolen directly from Jorge Luis Borges, the great Argentinian writer. To make matters worse, later in the novella a character looks for a book in the library that contains everything, and that too is directly copied from Borges! So much for originality. There is very little character development, so we never feel that we get to know Casimir or feel for him. The "true love" never seems fully rendered. All in all, most of the charm of this book lies on the surface (setting, plot) but once you dig a little, much of the magic fades away.
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Title: Harem: The World Behind the Veil by Alev Lytle Croutier ISBN: 1558591591 Publisher: Abbeville Press Pub. Date: July, 1998 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Harem: A Novel by Dora Levy Mossanen ISBN: 0743230213 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Fourth Queen by Debbie Taylor ISBN: 1400049253 Publisher: Crown Publishers Pub. Date: 18 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: Seven Houses : A Novel by Alev Lytle Croutier ISBN: 0743444140 Publisher: Washington Square Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Mirabilis by Susann Cokal ISBN: 042518532X Publisher: Blue Hen Pub. Date: 01 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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