Writing Portfolio

“The Forty Rules of Love” by Elif Shafak

The book I have chosen for my review is "Forty Rules of Love" by a Turkish writer, Elif Shafak. The book has an interesting beginning to it, chapter one, as it describes a child who seems to be different from the rest of his siblings and people he has been surrounded by. He claims to his father but nobody understands him, so he turns to walk away on a quest to find God and the true meaning of his existence and later turns to Sufism. The character described is Shams of Tabriz. The following chapter two sheds light on a family of five, twins, elder sister and husband and wife. The wife, Ella seems to be in a conflicted state of mind, she does not know what she wants, yet. But she is a housewife with responsibilities.

She describes herself as not very happy in the marriage and lacks the passion she is looking for, with her husband cheating on her. She faces issues with her daughter, who is twenty and wants to get married to a guy from her college. Ella tries to distract herself from enrolling herself into a book review job, she is given a book to write a review on, Sweet Blasphemy. Ella looks into the novel but she is occupied with her personal problems that cannot focus much on it. Later reviewing the chapters and reading about an old 13th-century character whose words seem to make an impact on Ella's thoughts and mind, she starts enjoying the book and looks up for the author of the book, A. Z Zahara, and later on, she finds herself emailing him and just trying to know him. Later in the book, Ella and A. Z Zahara develop a communication bond and email each other every now and seem to be enjoying each other's company.

Surrounded by her own family issues, Ella seeks an escape by writing to A. Z Zahara and developing a sense of understanding with him. The character Shams of Tabriz in the book, Sweet Blasphemy, is described as someone who is on a quest to find himself and his purpose in life, he turns into a wandering dervish. Lands himself in different places and with different people. His appearance seems to be messy, with long hair and a beard. In the further part of the book, the dervish's search continues to seek the purpose of his life, Ella and A.Z Zahara continue to get to know each other and keep emailing.

The reason I chose this book, was to have a deep understanding of a differently inspired story. The three main characters I have come across so far, Ella, A.Z Zahara and Shams of Tabriz have a different outlook on life and love. Shams who turned to Sufism and seeks the true meaning of his life, give life experiences that are worthy to hold on to, as they help in understanding the true meaning of life. This books has given me a purpose to think and has changed my perspectives towards love and life.

When I started reading the book, I was a little skeptical to continue reading this book, but as the chapters went by, I developed a sense of understanding and the character of Shams made sense to me, the way he looked at life and the experiences he has described in the book. One thing that I would like to draw attention upon, is the way this book has been written. If one reads upon this book, one does not just read this very book, but there is another book within, Sweet Blasphemy, that has a story of its own. I would encourage anyone who has an interest in Sufism and seeks to look for something that is different than the rest of the literature.

References

(2018). Kkoworld.com. Retrieved 17 September 2018, from http://www.kkoworld.com/kitablar/elif-safak-esq-kko-eng.pdf