What do You think about A Sultan In Palermo (2006)?
Konon, jika ingin mengetahui budaya suatu bangsa, bacalah melalui novel-novelnya.Tariq Ali salah satu novelist identik dengan tema sejarah terutama berlatar timur tengah. Ini buku kedua yang kubaca setelah perempuan batu. Tapi ya..ciri khas Tariq Ali, memadu intrik politik, dan skandal percintaan. Apa memang dua hal ini tak bisa dilepaskan yaa??Buku ini sendiri bercerita tentang Islam di Palermo, sebuah pulau di selatan Italy. Diceritakan dari kehidupan Muhammad al-Idrisi, seorang pembuat peta, sahabat kesayangan raja Roger II/rujary. Awalnya pulau sisily di dominasi Muslim, namum di perintah oleh seorang raja beragama Kristen. Hidup berdampingan dengan damai, sampai akhirnya harus terpengaruh dengan dinamika pilitik di sekitarnya. Islam pun terusir dari palermo.bagian yang kusuka dari buku ini, ya cuma peta , di bagian belakang buku ini..sayang sekali, bagaimana proses sipembuat peta tak begitu banyak diuraikan dalam buku ini. Buku ini memang lebih menonjolkan kisah persahabat yang unik/aneh antara Muhammad al-Idrisi dan Rujary.
—Pera
After visiting Sicily for the first time this year, I have been looking for literature on the extraordinary art and culture from the period when this novel is set. Twelfth century Sicily brought artworks of a kind not found anywhere else, uniting Byzantine mosaics, Greek sculpture, Norman architecture and Fatimid craftsmanship. An extraordinary world. The novel, however, belongs to a genre of historical literature where the narrative becomes so sensationalist and dramatic a scaffold for conveying historical information that it becomes tiresome. Unfortunately many novels depicting the Islamic-Christian Middle Ages seem to fall in this category. Far too much concoction of sex and blood and action and historical data to really experience literature. No time to dwell on building characters and settings. Certainly a page-turner and certainly giving a small window to this most exciting of historical chronotopes. But not great literature, unfortunately.
—Silje
If you think Islam beats out Christianity for brutality, you will think again after reading this historically accurate novel by British-Pakistani historian/novelist Tariq Ali. It takes place around 1150 in Sicily during the period when the Normans had accomplished a "peaceful" takeover of power from the Arabs. But the Vatican politics and thirst for power stopped at no form of inhumanity. Ah, but you already knew that, right? I always appreciate a historical perspective on current events. Ali gives a very nuanced picture --- this is no good guy vs. bad guys story. He spices up the plot with a few juicy sex scenes.
—Camille Cusumano
