Another one bites the dust! I’ve finished my second of 20 books that I’m planning to read this year. A mixed up the order a little from my original list, as I’ve decided to just read as the mood strikes me. After smashing Crunchy Cons faster than anticipated, I figured I’d tackle Tales of the Arabian Nights. Honestly, it felt 1,001 nights-long alright.
Spoiler alert: This review contains spoilers for the main plot, but not the many, many, many other tales that make up the bulk of the book.
Summary
It’s a classic tale: the sultan finds his wife cheating on him and cuts off her head. He vows that all women are unfaithful. Therefore, he will marry a virgin every day and cut off her head the next morning to avoid being cheated on again. This state of affairs continues until there are almost no virgins left, save the daughter of his advisor (for whom he had granted an exemption). Scheherazade bravely offers herself as the next victim to the dismay of her father.
But there’s method in her madness. She gets her younger sister admitted into the palace and begins to tell her stories, ostensibly to stop her mourning Scheherazade’s impending doom. The king, however, in intrigued by each tale, and grants his wife another day to live in order that he might hear the rest of the story. This state of affairs goes on for (you guessed it) 1,001 nights. At this point, Scheherazade has had several children by the King, proven her intelligence and loyalty and there’s a happy ending all round.
The bulk of the book is made up of all the stories told by the queen. At times there are stories-within-stories-within-stories, which can get a little mind-bendy. Some of these tales include the classics like ‘Alibaba and the Forty Thieves’ and ‘Aladdin and the Lamp’. There are also many less well known tales which were a fascinating glimpse into another era and another culture.
What I loved: learning about another culture through story
These Arabian fairy tales are certainly different to those from Europe. I was caught off guard by some stories which feature beating women, marrying girl children and aggressively killing other characters. These are shown as virtuous deeds and that was a little hard to read. As with many older stories, there was some overt racism, with black people being cast as villains in many of the tales.
The style of the writing and conversation was also very different to Western works. While not always the easiest to read, it was fascinating to learn about their culture. Story telling gives you a glimpse into what is important at the core of a culture, and this collection definitely provided some insight for me.
It was also interesting to read the original stories for ‘Aladdin and the Lamp’. Disney has definitely taken a bit of license with Aladdin, for example. The magic carpet and the name Jafar are actually taken from another one of the tales, while the name Jasmine doesn’t feature at all. The princess takes a back seat for much of the tale. Aladdin isn’t an orphan and I have to say the Genie isn’t anywhere near as love-able as Robin William’s immortal rendition. He does, however, give unlimited wishes, which is a bonus.
What I struggled with: The tales can become repetitive
The Eastern way of telling tales seems to include a lot of description, complex greetings and repetition. Reading this at speed, I did find the tales began to blur together a bit. There was a lot of retelling of information from one character to the other which felt unnecessary. I believe this comes from the oral tradition of storytelling. Interesting historically but a bit hard to read.
I have to say, this did feel 1,001 nights-long. Perhaps there was some cultural divide, but I can’t say it held my attention through all 760 pages. Luckily, it was still a light read, without complex ideas, so you can read it pretty quickly. While this might not be making my favourite books list, I have enjoyed learning about a new culture and picking up some literary imagery of the ancient East.
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