“Every night, Shahrazad begins a story. And every morning, the Sultan lets her live another day – providing the story is interesting enough to capture his attention. After almost one thousand nights, Shahrazad is running out of tales. And that is how Marjan’s story begins . . .” (from the dust jacket)
Shahrazad’s need to find a thousand and one tales pulls Marjan into a desperate search to help Shahrazad find a new tale, and continue her brave ploy to save the lives of the women of Persia from the Sultan, who was killing a new wife every morning because he had been betrayed by an adulterous wife. It isn’t enough that the tale be amusing. Shahrazad deliberately chooses tales to teach the Sultan about human nature, in hopes that he will learn not to judge all women by one woman’s betrayal.
Shahrazad’s ambition exploits a major purpose of fiction. We read fiction because it tells stories about us, about people like us, and about people not like us. Fiction may not be true in the sense that the stories really happened, but the stories are true when they honestly explore motivations, actions and consequences. Through fiction, we get inside others’ heads in a way that is impossible in real life. Understanding others’ motivations leads us to see them as individuals, instead of as members of a group that we can judge, dismiss, and despise from a comfortable distance. That is Shahrazad’s goal. If she can only tell the Sultan enough stories, he will understand that not all women are the same. Not all women will be false to him, as his wife was. Then the killing can stop permanently, even if Shahrazad runs out of stories.
All those long paragraphs, and I haven’t even mentioned the main character! Even while risking her life for Shahrazad, Marjan struggles with her fear of a blighted future, and with forgiving someone she loved for not protecting her. Her story works like Shahrazad says a story should work. Marjan’s story holds up a mirror to let the reader look at her own fears or grudges.
It’s only fitting that a book about a storyteller would be so well told. The characters are strong and consistent. They confront moral issues and motivations we see in our own lives, but they do it without sounding like twenty-first century women plunked down in ancient Persia. The plot keeps you turning the pages. It takes a good author to bring both a tense plot and well-rounded characters together in the same book.
Book clubs would have a good time discussing Shadow Spinner. Young adult readers would like reading it as well.
3 comments:
Fascinating...I will have to read it! It's great that you have time to do something more that take care of two precious babies all day long (and entertain us with their cute pictures!)
My Neice and I were talking about great reads this weekend. The Master Quilter is a great book that talks about a group of ladies with each chapter telling the same events told from that persons perspective. It is amazing to see how one person sees somethings that is so different to the person it is happening too. It was very eye opening. Another book that was very good, though tragic and a hard read in that really tragic things occurred was kite runner. It is beautifully written and explores motives and emotions and redemption. You might find it interesting as it is about Afghanistan and Dirk is there at the present.
Susan, I've got a copy if you want to borrow it.
Kris, I read "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by the author who wrote "The Kite Runner." That was an amazing book. I've never read a book where an author managed to convey so much hope through such tragic events. I want to read "The Kite Runner," but it's always been checked out at the library and I haven't put a hold on it.
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