Today was a bank holiday in England so rather than doing the planned list of things that are desperately calling my name, I curled up and read this in its entirety.
The Blood of Flowers is written in the first person, the young girl tells the tale of her teenage years living in 17th Century Iran.
The book opens with the fortelling of a bad year brought by the arrival of a comet to the skies. The comet's fate leaves her father dead, and her and her mother fated to live a poor relatives in an unknown city in that vital year that she should be marrying.
After moving to the city of Isfahan the girl ad her mother are fated to servitude and compliance at the hands of distant rich relatives. Whilst their the girl is able to work on her skills as a carpet maker under the guidance of her uncle, the Shah's main carpet maker.
Being headstrong and defiant she upsets the rich relatives and has no choice but to have a sigheh - a 3 month long marriage - to a rich man. A man that helps her discover a world she never knew.
She then has to make that fatal decision stay with the rich man and gain his favours to keep her and her mother from poverty's grip or chance life as a carpet maker.
This tale is gripping and is interspresed with Iranian fables, told to explain the fates, would be good as a holiday read. My only problem with the novel was that the young girl was far too modern, she stood up to men, was defiant and bold all things which surely in 17th Century Iran wouldn't have been allowed, and would have been stopped by her parets long before she got to the age of 14.
Challenges:
Orbis Terrarum
Olympic Challenge
Chunkster Challenge
4 comments:
It seems strange to read a book set in the 17th century in Iran. I only ever come across ones set in England or America. I find this book fascinating and will definitely look into reading it. Great review.
katrina - I tried to send you an email,but I can't get through on the address you gave me. Here is mine
vivienne_dacostaathotmaildotcom
I own this one! I'm glad it's good, I want to read it for OT challenge this year too :)
I just finished this book last night and I loved it. I thought at times the girl was a little wise beyond her years, and yes she was modern, but I don't see how that is not accurate. Her ambition and "modernness" was scorned by most people in her life. But it is not as if every woman who has ever lived in under such conditions has only ever been oppressed and fit the mold. History is ripe with examples of women from all over the Eastern world who are light years ahead of their time and stand up against social rules and conventions. While the story is obviously fiction, there were such women who lived around that time who were very independent and modern compared to everyone else.
anyway, my review is here: http://ruinedbyreading.wordpress.com/2009/05/19/the-blood-of-flowers/
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