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A review by mediaevalmuse
Leo Africanus by Amin Maalouf
4.0
I picked up this book as part of my quest to read more historical fiction featuring people of color or set in places outside of England. OVerall, it met many of my qualifications for good historical fiction: it didn’t try to exaggerate or invent historical events to meet our current standards of “entertaining” or “thrilling” fiction. The only things that really displeased me were the handling of characterization in various places. This novel is really more history-driven than character-driven, so I’d mainly recommend the book if you’re a history buff.
Things I Liked
1. Variety of Settings: I loved that this book took readers to different settings. Moving between cities emphasized the differences in culture: the culture in Fez is not the same as the culture in Cairo, and both are very different from the culture in Rome. Because Leo (real name Hasan) is an outsider to every city, we experience everything just as he does - which helps if you don’t like historical fiction that expects you to have prior knowledge before reading the book.
2. Relationships: I actually really liked the relationships Hasan forms with various characters in the novel. He never seems to have enemies, and even when he’s captured, he makes friends in Rome (side note: this doesn’t mean I liked his lack of resentment towards his kidnapping, but I did like that he was able to find people he could rely on for support). I liked the brotherhood he had with Harun and with various travelers that were able to help him when he was in a tight spot. It was such a relief after reading a lot of fiction where everyone seemed to be waiting to betray everyone else.
3. Islam vs Christianity: This book didn’t try to demonize either religion, and I actually think it did a good job of representing the way both religions were at once sources of comfort to people, but also ways by which people can use religion as a weapon. As a result, religion felt very embedded within people’s daily lives as opposed to something that’s treated as superstition or infantalizing nonsense by modern authors.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Characterization: Because of the focus on historical events, much of the novel felt very detached to me. I didn’t get much of a sense of Hasan’s investment in a lot of things, and I didn’t get a good sense of his emotional connections with his various wives.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in travel narratives, history of Spain (including Granada War, Islamic rebellion), history of Egypt (including the Ottoman-Mamluk War),and European history (including the Italian War of 1521-26, Sack of Rome, Lutheran schism).
Things I Liked
1. Variety of Settings: I loved that this book took readers to different settings. Moving between cities emphasized the differences in culture: the culture in Fez is not the same as the culture in Cairo, and both are very different from the culture in Rome. Because Leo (real name Hasan) is an outsider to every city, we experience everything just as he does - which helps if you don’t like historical fiction that expects you to have prior knowledge before reading the book.
2. Relationships: I actually really liked the relationships Hasan forms with various characters in the novel. He never seems to have enemies, and even when he’s captured, he makes friends in Rome (side note: this doesn’t mean I liked his lack of resentment towards his kidnapping, but I did like that he was able to find people he could rely on for support). I liked the brotherhood he had with Harun and with various travelers that were able to help him when he was in a tight spot. It was such a relief after reading a lot of fiction where everyone seemed to be waiting to betray everyone else.
3. Islam vs Christianity: This book didn’t try to demonize either religion, and I actually think it did a good job of representing the way both religions were at once sources of comfort to people, but also ways by which people can use religion as a weapon. As a result, religion felt very embedded within people’s daily lives as opposed to something that’s treated as superstition or infantalizing nonsense by modern authors.
Things I Didn’t Like
1. Characterization: Because of the focus on historical events, much of the novel felt very detached to me. I didn’t get much of a sense of Hasan’s investment in a lot of things, and I didn’t get a good sense of his emotional connections with his various wives.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in travel narratives, history of Spain (including Granada War, Islamic rebellion), history of Egypt (including the Ottoman-Mamluk War),and European history (including the Italian War of 1521-26, Sack of Rome, Lutheran schism).