Book: The Forty Rules of Love
Author: Elif Shafak
Publication: Penguin Random House
Price: Rs 499
Pages: 350
Plot: Ella Rubinstein, a housewife and a mother of three teenage children, she has a beautiful life, at least it is beautiful for the society. But Ella is not happy with this ‘beautiful’ life, there are problems in her married life, there is no love, there is an emptiness in her heart. To fill this emptiness she decided to do a part-time job, she decides to write a review of a manuscript for a company.
So when she gets this manuscript and started reading it the emptiness in her life started filling with joy. The reason behind this happiness is not just the manuscript but is the author of the manuscript too. She gets in contact with the author and slowly all the emptiness in her life was filled with love. She wants to start her life afresh, she wants to leave the husband who has always cheated on her. But there are many problems, will she ever get her happily ever after?
The novel does not consist of only one love story, you will get to read the manuscript written by the author, Aziz with whom Ella fell in love. This manuscript is the story of Shams of Tabriz and Rumi. It’s the story of their love and companionship. And in both the love stories, there is one common problem, ‘society’.
Will their love overcome all these problems? And what are these forty rules of love? As you guys know, you have to read the book to know all this.
My Views: The book has a beautiful plot, a great story with an equally beautiful backdrop. Two different time periods, two different countries, four people and their enchanting love stories. I loved the story and fell in love with the characters too.
But there are some things which I did not like much. There were times when I felt that rules were forced in the story, there was no point of talking about the rule in the given situation but for the sake of telling a rule, they were just written.
When it comes to the writing style of the author, the book is written beautifully and is really easy to read. Good for beginners too.
Overall, I would say that I really loved the story and like Ella, I fell in love with Aziz’s personality. Phew, my unrealistic book crushes. 😉
Recommendations: If you like books which are a little bit on the spiritual side then this is a good read. A perfect love story, written beautifully.
Ratings: 4/5
Have you guys read my ‘Why should one start reading’ post yet? If not then read it here.
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