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Title: Balthasar's Odyssey by Amin Maalouf ISBN: 1-55970-666-X Publisher: Arcade Books Pub. Date: 12 November, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.14 (7 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Quest for the mysterious 100th name
Comment: (***1/2) Balthasar's Odyssey explores the speculation of the world coming to an end. The author has written quite an ambitious novel that sets at the eve of the year of the Beast; the year as predicted in the Book of Revelations in which the Antichrist will appear and the Apocalypse will resurface. God has 99 names in the Koran and it has been said that God has the most clandestine 100th name that contributes to the scope of the novel.
Balthasar Embriaco was a merchant and antique dealer living in the Levant. The Geonese embarks on the quest for a mysterious book entitled "The Hundredth Name" by fortuity. Crazed for the rumor and religious myth, Balthasar was convinced, with unshakable conviction, that the mere knowledge of this hundredth appellation will help him find salvation for not only himself but also mankind.
From Levant Balthasar set out on a tumultuous odyssey that spanned the Asia Minor, the Mediterranean and finally to Europe, a distance that was comparable to Paul's missionary routes. He left his mark in Constantinople and then bound for Smyrna, sailed across the Mediterranean to Genoa then Lisbon, and finally London. During his indefatigable quest for the book, Balthasar encountered fear, falsehood, charlatan, deceit, and disillusion, to the point he wished to give up.
Whether Balthasar found the book or not must be left to the readers, but Balthasar's journey had opened his eyes to the civilized world, to stricken communities, and cities in ruins. Though parts of the novel are somewhat trite and disjointed, Balthasar's Odyssey tells a tale of the Mediterranean through a unique religious perspective.
2004 (29) © MY
Rating: 4
Summary: magic, mystery,love and danger
Comment: In Islam there are 99 names for God, but I do vaguely recall my Islamic Education teacher mentioning that there was indeed a hundredth name to God. It was only revealed to one of the prophets. And if my memory serves me correctly, to know the 100th name is to ensure one's salvation. That, with the fact that Maalouf is the author left me tingling with excitement until I flipped the hardcover to start reading.
Page 1: Wasting no time for the GRIP, Maalouf offers his set-up: "That strange book, appearing and disappearing, and all my fault. Old Idriss's death. And the journey I'm to set out on next Monday, despite my qualms." This is the story in summary.
In this tale of magic and mystery, of love and danger, the narrator Balthasar's ultimate quest is to find the secret that could save the world. Before the dawn of the apocalyptic 'Year of the Beast' in 1666, Balthasar Embriaco, a Genoese Levantine merchant, sets out on an adventure with his two nephews - the scholarly Jaber who revels in arcane literature "as if in the most delicious sweetmeats" and the womanising Habib - and the "wilful" Marta. Together this group of misadventurers travel, across the breadth of the civilized world, from Constantinople, through the Mediterranean, to London shortly before the Great Fire. Balthasar's urgent quest is to track down that copy of one of the rarest and most coveted books ever printed, Abu-Maher al-Mazandarani's The Unveiling of the Hidden Name' or called 'The Hundredth Name', its contents are thought to be of vital importance to the future of the world.
Though a religious sceptic, Balthasar finds the mounting hysteria over the predicted end of the world bewildering. But he is haunted by the book and what it contains.
Desire to uncover another truth, one which will define his future, also pushes him on: is his beloved Marta, long ago deserted by her feckless husband, truly a widow now, or simply a callously discarded wife?
Maalouf's characters often find themselves in conflict with the beliefs of their surroundings and time and Balthasar, a religious sceptic, finds the mounting hysteria over the predicted end of the world bewildering. But he is haunted by the book and what it contains.
Desire to uncover another truth, one which will define his future, also pushes him on: is his beloved Marta, long ago deserted by her feckless husband, truly a widow now, or simply a callously discarded wife?
Indeed, the past in the book - all of Maalouf's undoubted research and travail - sometimes seems like little more than a pretext for the very huggable Balthasar, "the size of a buffalo", to knock around the world, gaining experience and falling in love with people and places. You get the feeling, almost, that Balthasar could have been born at any time, and have any kind of adventure: Constantinople could be anywhere here or there; 1666 could be now, or tomorrow. Which probably makes Balthasar an Everyman.
Definitely a good read!!
Rating: 5
Summary: Join Baldassare in his Odyssey...
Comment: In his search for the home Odysseus traveled far and dangerous, Baldassare's trip is no less than that. This abtique book seller happens to get his hands on a book that everyone is looking for. The book will give its reader the key to survival when the end of the world comes. But this key is not that easy to get. Searching for the 100th name of Allah, Baldassare takes a journey of a lifetime, from his small village in Levant to Constantinople, Symrna and Genova.. Mystery, romance, hostory and adventure... After all life itself from the mirror of a fellow human being.
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Title: Samarkand by Amin Maalouf, Russell Harris ISBN: 1566562937 Publisher: Interlink Pub Group Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong by Amin Maalouf ISBN: 0142002577 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 25 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Gardens of Light (Emerging Voices Series New International Fiction) by Amin Maalouf, Dorothy S. Blair ISBN: 1566562481 Publisher: Interlink Pub Group Pub. Date: September, 1999 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Crusades Through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf ISBN: 0805208984 Publisher: Schocken Books Pub. Date: 29 April, 1989 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Ports of Call by Amin Maalouf, Alberto Manguel ISBN: 186046890X Publisher: Harvill Pr Pub. Date: July, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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