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Title: Seraglio by Janet Wallach ISBN: 0-385-49046-1 Publisher: Nan A. Talese Pub. Date: 21 January, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.77 (13 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Fascinating Look into A Most Influential Woman
Comment: Judging from the reviews for this book here on amazon.com, my expectations for this book weren't very high. However, last week I needed something to read and got this book from my library, not expecting a wonderful read but at least something to get me through the next few days or weeks. Was I wrong.
Seraglio is an excellent book. The story centers on Aimee du Buc de Rivery, a refined young lady on her way home to Martinique from France whose ship is plundered by pirates. The thirteen-year-old fair beauty is presented to the bey of Algiers, who presents Aimee to the Ottoman sultan. Refined and educated in the ways of the Western world Aimee is renamed Nakshidil and enters her golden prison. The Seraglio. At first, Aimee is stubborn and refuses to follow the rhythms and rules that operate the harem, a world within itself. However, she soon learns that if she behaves that way longer, she will meet a horrible fate. And so Nakshidil sets out to be educated in the ways of the harem and Islam, mastering the many forms of dance and seduction and how to please the sultan both sexually and through cooking and charm. The narrator of the story is Nakshidil's closest friend, the black eunuch, Tulip. Eventually, Nakshidil is called to the sultan's bed but soon enough, the sultan is dead and Nakshidil must set out for the Old Palace, a miserable palace set-aside for the harem girls after their sultan dies and a new sultan moves in with his own harem. Nakshidil believes her career is over but the new sultan, Selim III, is enthralled and enchanted with Nakshidil's French ways, her French ideas, and her French cooking. Instead of bedding Nakshidil, the two converse for hours on end each night about Western ideas. However, the idea of Western ideas entering the Ottoman Empire strikes fear into the hearts of many of the Turkish people, endangering both Selim and Nakshidil. And so the story unfolds, an epic of danger, deceit, murder, and a glitzy and extravagant life showered in satin and jewels. I enjoyed reading Tulip's account of his closest friend and the only harem girl who showed him compassion, Nakshidil.
There were some glitches in the plot. Sometimes the huge gaps were puzzling, sometimes years at a time were skipped over which meant we lost that much of Nakshidil's life. Sometimes characters arrived and disappeared quickly and often characters could be confused do to their infrequent mentioning and their titles they were known by. Their were other little things, such as Nakshidil corresponding with her cousin, Rose de Beauharnais (the later Josephine Bonaparte), which probably would not have happened but it lended to the plot of the story and depicted a more sneaky and secretive side of Nakshidil.
But overall, the story was wonderful. You really did feel for the characters. You can't help but feel sad at the point of Peretsu's shocking and barbaric death or hate the despicable Aysha, Nakshidil's lifetime rival in the harem. You feel for the characters and their losses and loves and emotions. Also, the descriptions were wonderful. Everything down to the tiling of the harem floors was described and most extravagantly Nakshidil's outfits were described from her emerald earrings to her blue kaftans to her high-heeled bath shoes. The settings and the language also made the book enjoyable. The exotic and sultry harem and the new Turkish vocabulary all made the story more cultural and enjoyable.
I liked this book a lot and was happy I did get it after all. I finished it in only six days...I couldn't put it down!
Rating: 4
Summary: The Extraordinary Life of a Harem Slave
Comment: The year is 1788 and young Aimee du Buc is on her way to Martinique when her ship is captured by pirates. The pirates realize they have a prize with this beautiful and elegant girl and they present her as a gift to the Ottoman Sultan.
For the rest of her life, Aimee will live as a prisoner in the Sultan's harem, or seraglio. But the book is the story of how she triumphs in that mysterious world and eventually, comes to rule it.
The story is based on the life of a real young woman who was a cousin of the French Empress Josephine and the best part of this novel is Janet Wallach's recreation of the historical world in which novel takes place. The details about the life of the seraglio are fascinating and Wallach includes every detail you would want to know - from her descriptions of the vast wealth of the palace to the way in which the women of the seraglio were taught to make love to the sultan and how to bring him pleasure.
One of the most fascinating parts of Seraglio is the information it contains about the Muslim religion. Many of the conflicts that took place in the Ottoman Empire foreshadow the East-West conflict going on today, so the reader will get some important historical perspective from reading this book.
Rating: 1
Summary: This Book Rates Zero Stars
Comment: This book was awful! I'm amazed how an intriguing story like this can be told so poorly. With every page I groan out loud. Skip this book and read Sultana by Prince Michael of Greece instead.
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Title: Inside the Seraglio by John Freely ISBN: 0140270566 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 03 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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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 Pub. Date: 06 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Valide: A Novel of the Harem by Barbara Chase-Riboud ISBN: 0688043348 Publisher: Harpercollins Pub. Date: 01 June, 1986 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: The Palace of Tears by Alev Lytle Croutier ISBN: 0385334915 Publisher: Delta Pub. Date: 02 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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