post-reading reaction: THE FORTY RULES OF LOVE by Elif Shafak

 

Once a wise man told me one of the forty rules of reading. He said when

you are reading do not take all of them at once without examining it further.

The matter of believing thing has a great deal. Thus, ones do not go for this

one to quick. Ones have to overly think to come to the term where he or she

can finally gesture his head signing that he believes in the words that are

spoken or written.

Last evening I just finished a book by a writer that is so dear to me. She is

Elif Shafak. A writer that happens to come from a country where I live right

now. This is the third book of her that I have read. Hopefully I can read her

other masterpieces.

The title of the book is THE FORTY RULES OF LOVE. Before reading this

book I heard a rumor that says this book is all about Rumi. Later on, however,

I found out that this book talks very little about him. The center of this book

is not him, I think. It's Shams of Tabriz who becomes the star of this book.

Derived by curiosity to learn about Sufi's life I decided to buy the book about

three months ago. But I just have time to read it during summer holiday.

My schedule was so awfully crazy back then. The finals were on the line.

There were things need to be done. Etc Etc…

It took me about a month to finish reading this book. It's my TOP record!

Normally I could finish book in five days for the longest. The fact that it took

me this long. There must be something. No, it's not that this book was boring.

In fact I enjoyed it a lot. I just couldn't put up myself to the new 'sleeping-

getting up' times.

Ramadhan forces us to shift our time to sleep and wake up,which is quite
challenging. But again, that's what ramadhan all about right?An examination
that challenges you to shift your time, to fast, to keep your eyes, your heart, your thought from bad things. It's pretty much a month where we are supposed
to cleanse our body and soul from every single viruses that we, ourselves, has committedly infected to our soul and body.

So, what makes the book different? What is it this book has that other book

doesn’t have?

1.Her way of narrating the story.

Okay! Writing with the point of view of a single character is hard, at least

that's what I thought, yet she managed to do it in this book. Throughout

the book you will be amazed by the complexity of her narrating style. Each

chapter is narrated by different character.

Let me show off my literature-student instinct here. I think why she did that

here is particularly because she wants this book to be non-judgmental. The

fact that she gives every character the right to speak up for their own behalf

shows that she concerns a lot about this issue. When someone did something

wrong, she creates a kind of justification of why the character arrived to that

state, which again is part of the process of being non-judgmental.

2.The attempt to remind the readers that this book is a work of fiction.

The technique of novel within novel is no strange for us, and that's also

happening here. At first the book talks about Ella's life, a character from

present and through a novel that she happens to be trusted to read, we are

brought to a new story with different time setting. Present time with its

complication. And the past with its dramatically breath-taking conflict.

The novel Ella was reading is called 'Sweet Blasphemy' a book by a fictional

writer named A. Z. Zahara. His role in this story, I think, is as a reminder that

this book is just a fiction. Thus, we shouldn't take everything for granted. Especially

when it talks about the relationship between Rumi and Shams. What I know

about Rumi before reading this book is that he was inspired by divine love to

cite his poems. He didn't even have the attempt to write it down. It's

Husham Chelebi who scribe them all. But this book, somehow, tells us that

it's the lost of Shams that makes him a melancholy guy, and that transforms

him into a poet.

3.Focusing on theme rather than plot.

However odd it is to read everybody's mind, it still has its own entertainment.

On the top of it, it has message to deliver. Every chapter gives you a study of life,

I guess.

4.Narration Styles.

Ella is narrated with the third person eyes. The rest characters talk for their

own. 

Actually there are many things that make this book great but these are some

of them that I remember now. When I come up with others I will write them

down for sure….

Next to read "SOPHIE'S WORLD" by JOSTEIN GAARDER