The Enchantress of Florence
The Enchantress of Florence
By: Salman Rushdie
I'm not going to lie, it took me a little bit to get into this one. I almost even gave up. Why didn't I? Because I wanted to know how the tale of the Enchantress of Florence, Qara Köz, ended. The reason I thought about just throwing in the towel on this one is I was getting confused during the beginning. Sometimes I felt like I was in India and at others in Italy. It took me a little while to figure out that that is what was actually happening. The Enchantress of Florence weaves the tale of Qara Köz with the tale of Machiavelli (took me a while to figure that out too...sometimes book jackets are so helpful!) and two of his childhood friends and then also has a first person narrative at some points for King Akbar. The problem is that you are never told where you are and when. You have to figure that out by the characters names, and when they are Italian, Indian, and Turkish names you easily get confused.
Was it worth the beginning struggle? You bet your bottom dollar it was! If I had the time (okay, the ambition) I would read it again to pick up on all the little things that I missed the first time, but, quite frankly, there are too many books out there and I didn't completely love it like I do Harry Potter (no, that is not a fair comparison because we're talking about completely different books, but this book did not inspire the desire to devour the book like the Harry Potter books do to me. That, of course, is purely a personal preference and yes, there have been other books that I have read then started over again from the beginning.)
The story of Qara Köz is tragic and beautiful and even a little disturbing. Weave that in with a King who believes he is supreme and who begins to wonder about the "I" and what kind of King he is and is to become, the adventures of Argalia the Italian Turk (yes, you read that right), Niccolò Vespucci, and the magical realism that occurs throughout the text. Please note that this is set during the Italian Renaissance so expect some debauchery and war stories in the text. These sections do make it a more believable experience, especially since Rushdie did a considerable amount of research for this book. The bibliography kind of makes me want to go out and read through them all, but I'll be realistic; maybe just a couple of them!
Recommended To:
- Italian history fans
- Those who read their books for the prose
- Storytellers - Vespucci knows how to tell a tale!
Notes on the Cover:
It's lovely. There, I said it! The copy I have is an orangish color with a light pattern against it. Behind the title you see the silhouette of a woman (Qara Köz I betcha) and below her is a goldish border that has the author's name. It's just a classy cover! Yes, Rushdie has won the Booker Prize (among others) so you can expect great things from this author!
You can get this one at the public library here in town.