This book was recommended by my good friend Flora whose recommendations I can always trust. And this was no exception. It was not the best writing, but the information and the understanding of the Turkish and Ottoman empire and outlook was extremely valuable. I highly recommend this to anyone who needs to understand the mentality of that part of the world better.Some favorite quotes...-You took babies from all over the Empire and created a caste of soldiers and administrators through long years of training and education. The state owned them, but they began to believe that they owned the state and sometimes that they were the state. It was an ambitious plan which your rulers refined, but as your great and incomparable historian Ibn Khaldun warned many centuries ago, it is dangerous to expect a group without common ties of kinship or solidarity or class to remain loyal to the sovereign authority. A common training is fine for the production of French chefs, but not for creating a strong state.-There is too much secrecy in our world, and concealment usually hurts more than the truth.-The importance people attach to blood relationships has a great deal to do with the laws of inheritance and not very much to do with genuine affection.-We are all capable of wearing the mask, but underneath we remain what we are even if we do not wish others to glimpse that reality.-Love is the longing of the flute for the bed from which the reed was torn. Try and forget.”
If for no other reason, this book is worth reading as a fascinating introduction to the end days of the Ottoman empire. Taking place at the very end of the 19th century, The Stone Woman recounts several decades of family history of a wealthy Istanbul family as each member confronts the decline of the empire that has served them so well.The author uses the stone woman as a device for allowing the reader to listen intimately to each main character's inner-most personal and family secrets. She is an old statue, or perhaps just a tall, lithe vertical rock with some imagined carvings into it, behind the family estate.I know nothing of the other four books in the Islam Quintet, but I do find the label of Islam somewhat curious for this one: These characters are mixtures - Turks, Greeks, Armenian, Jews, Syrians, Sufis - and certainly portray a rich, diverse, and co-mingled society and family tolerant of many religious, cultural, sexual, or even atheistic beliefs. I agree with one of the back cover blurbs, that this novel certainly challenges any simplistic ideas one might have of life under Islamic rulers (at least in the recent past).The language is beautiful without being overbearingly so, with many passages giving the lyrical, mystical feel of Middle Eastern languages.
What do You think about The Stone Woman (2001)?
This is the third book of the Islamic Quintet I have read. Tariq Ali is a talented storyteller, but each book seems to follow a distinct pattern of characters: cheating wives, beautiful women, frigid women, wise old randy men(destined to die within the novel), religious zealotry, the token gay and a smogasbord of different religious and ethnic characters. The Stone Woman certainly doesn't disappoint. The Stone Woman is a lonely statue to which characters in the book purge their secrets. Perhaps she is also a metaphor for the inflexibility of the Ottoman Empire. The Stone Woman follows her family and its servants over several month's course as they gather at her father's bedside following his stroke. The patriarch of the family changes in character as his body and mind recover from the loss of speech and mobility. When not talking to the Stone Woman, or plotting the overthrow of the Empire, the family meets every evening in a salon atmosphere to discuss politics, religion and literature.The Stone Woman is sure to please most readers- sex, love and deception for those of us easily entertained, and enough erudite references to intrigue our more cultivated friends.
—Constance
Life in the times of the Persian Empire. Family and politics playing roles in center stage. The tradition of culture are everything in daily life. Who can one confide in when the going gets rough. There is a stone statue in the family compound courtyard which has been there for as long as anyone can remember. traditionally only available for the women,it was an oracle of sorts, or maybe more along the lines of a sounding board for ones deepest feelings and secrets. Great descriptions on ancient times and the life and struggles of the people.
—Lisa
Novel ini berkisah tentang keluarga bangsawan, pada masa peralihan pemerintahan Turki, dari monarki ke republik. Kebiasaan keluarga ini berbicara pada perempuan batu (patung batu yang berbentuk seperti perempuan) menjadi penyambung kisah dalam novel ini. tutur kisah para tokoh-tokoh novel ini pada perempuan batu, mebuat novel ini seperti kumpulan cerita. Dari keseluruhan novel ini, menurutku BIASA SAJA. Tidak ada sesuatu yang menggugah kemanusiaan di dalamnya. Tariq Ali seperti mencoba menggambarkan kehidupan di masa itu melalui kehidupan bangsawan Pasha. Namun antara politik dan intrik-intrik percintaan, yang disuguhkannya, yang terakhir yang lebih menonjol....love melulu!
—Pera
