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I read my first Elif Shafak novel in 2020 and since then, I’ve been on a mission to collect (and read) all her books because I guess, I want to double-check that she is my favourite author before actually announcing it to the world. I was recommended ‘The Forty Rules of Love’ by my work colleague, who after reading ‘The Island of Missing Trees’ from my recommendation, suggested I read this book so we can both ‘stan’ over Elif and her writing.
SYNOPSIS: Ella Rubenstein is forty years old and unhappily married when she takes a job as a reader for a literary agent. Her first assignment is to read and report on ‘Sweet Blasphemy’, a novel written by a man named Aziz Zahara. Ella is mesmerised by his tale of Shams's search for Rumi and the dervish's role in transforming the successful but unhappy cleric into a committed mystic, passionate poet, and advocate of love. She is also taken with Shams's lessons, or rules, that offer insight into an ancient philosophy based on the unity of all people and religions, and the presence of love in each and every one of us. As she reads on, she realises that Rumi's story mirrors her own and that Zahara—like Shams—has come to set her free.
REVIEW: I went into this book not actually knowing what the story was about and was actually surprised when I found out that it was two books for the price of one - just the first reason why Elif is such a unique talent. So alongside Ella’s story about her unhappy marriage and realisation that she wants more, we also get the story of ‘Sweet Blasphemy’ - the book that Ella is reading for her new job as a literary agent. It’s through ‘Sweet Blasphemy’ that Ella comes to know the author, Aziz Zahara, and the different stories run together as one.
So as there are two books running parallel to each other, there are a lot of different characters but in true Elif Shafak style, every character was so vivid and clear in my mind when I was reading their narrative and I never felt like I was confused at any point as to who was who. The main characters in the ‘Sweet Blasphemy’ story were Sufi and Rumi. However, in my opinion, I wasn’t that interested in their narrative. In fact, I was more hooked on all the other narratives from the other characters who all had a motive for disliking Sufi and as we know that Sufi gets killed right at the start of the book, I liked seeing the different personal vendettas behind his death and working out who played a part in his murder.
Obviously because the name of the book is The Forty Rules of Love, the theme of love runs throughout the novel and each rule pops up here and there in the Sweet Blasphemy story, when Sufi uses different rules to help the other characters make sense of how they are feeling. I really enjoyed seeing how Elif incorporated these rules into the story and how these rules influenced Ella into changing her belief on love and her relationship. I also loved the added little details (like every chapter in Sweet Blasphemy beginning with ‘B’) that in true Elif style made the book a joy to read. However, although I enjoyed the story, I can’t say I was completely invested? I did struggle to write this review and actually remember what happened, which screams to me that this book was good but not ‘wow’. I still enjoyed the story though and I would still recommend this read to anyone looking to extend their Elif Shafak collection and a book with short chapters!
READ THIS IF:
💕 You enjoy Elif Shafak books
💕 You like books with different narratives and multiple narrators
💕 You enjoy books with religious elements
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