0 reply
0 recast
5 reactions
A Farcaster Exclusive Book Review
Samarkand by Amin Maalouf is a luminous tapestry that weaves together the mystical poetry of Omar Khayyam with the shadowy world of the Assassins, creating something both intoxicating and profound. Maalouf captures the intoxicating blend of earthly passion and divine longing that defines Sufi thought, the wine, the beloved, and the eternal search for meaning becoming indistinguishable from one another.
The novel moves like a dream between medieval Persia and the modern world, with Khayyam’s verses serving as both compass and destination. Through the fortress of Alamut and the political intrigues that follow, there’s always that underlying current of mystical romance, not just between lovers, but between the soul and the infinite, between dialogue and words. The Assassins themselves become almost secondary to this deeper exploration of how beauty and truth survive across centuries to this day.
It’s the kind of book that makes you understand why you might want to read it again and again as I have, with each reading reveals new layers of gorgeous tension between the temporal and the eternal that makes Sufi literature so endlessly compelling. 1 reply
0 recast
0 reaction
0 reply
0 recast
1 reaction
