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A Poet of the Invisible World
A FINALIST FOR THE LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD
Winner of the FERRO-GRUMLEY AWARD
In the tradition of Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha comes a new spiritual novel that is a stunning feat of storytelling and imagination.
A Poet of the Invisible World follows Nouri, a boy born in thirteenth-century Persia with four ears instead of two. Orphaned as an infant, he’s taken into a Sufi order, where he meets an assortment of dervishes and embarks on a path toward spiritual awakening.
Along the way, Nouri will find himself in the sumptuous court of a sultan, a barren farm in the hills of Spain, a bustling city on the north coast of Africa, and a monastery perched high in the mountains. He will fall in love—and encounter
an adversary who will try to destroy that love.
As Nouri stumbles from one experience to the next, he grows into manhood. Each trial he endures will shatter another obstacle within—and lead him toward transcendence.
Michael Golding’s previous work has been described as “brilliant” (The Cleveland Plain Dealer) and “so lavish and so colorful, it’s like a meal in the open air, laid out on brocade” (Los Angeles Times). With this new novel, seven years in the writing, he has created a gripping tale that deals with many of life’s deepest questions. A Poet of the Invisible World will astonish readers as it awakens them to the poetry inside themselves.
Winner of the FERRO-GRUMLEY AWARD
In the tradition of Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha comes a new spiritual novel that is a stunning feat of storytelling and imagination.
A Poet of the Invisible World follows Nouri, a boy born in thirteenth-century Persia with four ears instead of two. Orphaned as an infant, he’s taken into a Sufi order, where he meets an assortment of dervishes and embarks on a path toward spiritual awakening.
Along the way, Nouri will find himself in the sumptuous court of a sultan, a barren farm in the hills of Spain, a bustling city on the north coast of Africa, and a monastery perched high in the mountains. He will fall in love—and encounter
an adversary who will try to destroy that love.
As Nouri stumbles from one experience to the next, he grows into manhood. Each trial he endures will shatter another obstacle within—and lead him toward transcendence.
Michael Golding’s previous work has been described as “brilliant” (The Cleveland Plain Dealer) and “so lavish and so colorful, it’s like a meal in the open air, laid out on brocade” (Los Angeles Times). With this new novel, seven years in the writing, he has created a gripping tale that deals with many of life’s deepest questions. A Poet of the Invisible World will astonish readers as it awakens them to the poetry inside themselves.
336 pages, Paperback
First published October 6, 2015
21 people are currently reading
633 people want to read
About the author
Michael Golding
5 books28 followersMICHAEL GOLDING was born in Philadelphia and educated at Duke, Oxford, and the University of California at Irvine. He began his career as an actor, appearing in numerous Off-Broadway shows. His first novel, SIMPLE PRAYERS, was published in 1994 and has been translated into nine foreign languages. BENJAMIN’S GIFT, his second novel, was published in 1999. His translation of Alessandro Baricco’s stage play NOVECENTO opened the 2002 Edinburgh Festival and his screenplay adaptation of the best-selling novel SILK was a Featured Selection at the 2007 Toronto Film Festival. His third novel, A POET OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD, was published by Picador in 2015. It was nominated for the Lambda Literary Award and was the recipient of the Ferro-Grumley Award. His new novel, QUICK BRIGHT THINGS, was published in April of 2023.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
June 23, 2016
As I type out these words the perfume of basil rises up from my fingers and makes me smile. Because the first thing I did upon reading the last words was go out in the garden. Time spent with my little ones is my calming down time, my dreaming time, my smiling time, my thinking time.
Because that is what this book is about for me. It’s about the journey, not the destination. It’s the journey that is important not the final destination. And it’s not how many times I fall or go off on tangents but what I learn from that falling or that deviation and then going on, living the moments, finding me, loving me and being me. A necessary tool to achieve this is to listen well, hence the four ears Golding graced his Nouri with. In this interview Golding describes this well.
Another great read with Lena
A Lambda Gay Fiction Finalist - 28th Awards 2016
August 3, 2017
A Fabulous Tale
For this is the story of a spiritual journey. By a miraculous accident, the baby Nouri Ahmad Mohammad ibn Mahsoud al-Morad (let's just say Nouri) literally falls into the hands of the porter of an order of dervishes, or Sufi monks. The porter, Habbib, tries to keep the baby secret, but eventually his presence is discovered, and the boy becomes a favorite of the brothers and grows up at the lodge. The leader of the order, Sheikh Bailiri, senses that Nouri is especially blessed by Allah and begins to train him in the Sufi discipline. He also notes the boy's remarkable fluency with words, and sets him on his path as a poet.
But these are troubled times (I am assuming sometime in the Middle Ages) and the idyll cannot last. When the lodge is raided by a band of marauders, Nouri is kidnapped and lands in a Sultan's court, where his gifts are again discovered but now shine in a different light. This is only the first of Nouri's many translocations during the course of the novel. He will find himself in Andalusia, in North Africa, on the Hajj to Mecca, and once more back in the village of his birth. Not all of these will be times of enlightenment or prosperity; there are periods when he will lose himself almost completely. But what held it together was the sense that everything was part of a journey to God: the jacket compares A Poet to Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha, and I can see what it means. But what am I doing, as a former Christian turned atheist, finding fascination in a search for God, especially in an Islamic context so removed from my own? Perhaps it is the radiant simplicity of Golding's prose. Perhaps the fact that the religion as he paints it has nothing to do with restriction and exclusion, only personal enlightenment. Perhaps the Sufi teaching that to know God one must first know oneself. This is a spiritual quest that even humanists can embrace.
Nouri will encounter many obstacles in his journey. Some are outside himself, such as the marauding kidnappers and a dark monk who establishes himself as his personal nemesis. But most are inside him, facts of his nature. One of these is his sexuality, for Nouri discovers that his deepest love is for men. In every important way, Golding treats gay love as something beautiful, even holy, but he also realizes that it can be something difficult to accept and lead to self-doubt and persecution.
Nouri's other inner obstacle is oddly enough his poetry, which emerges surely as a divine gift but which can also get in the way, as yet another veil between him and God. There is a wonderful episode early in the novel when Nouri must choose between his career as a poet and his religious studies; I felt it especially acutely as an artist myself. This particular dilemma is eventually decided for him in yet another act of violence that once more sets Nouri wandering around the Mediterranean. There will be periods in his life when Nouri does not write at all, others in which he is prolific. We never see his poems, but we do believe their quality. And, whether he writes or not, we never cease to believe that Nouri has the vision of a poet, and that it is as a poet he will come to see God. Only after reaching the end do I see the importance of the word "inward" in the Milton epigraph:
Celestial light,Golding's epigraph and his opening sentence. Like most epigraphs, the first is almost a riddle whose full meaning will appear only after you have finished the book. But I was immediately captivated by the fabulous tone of the opening sentence, like a fairy story set in some distant time and place, anchored by mundane details such as making the tea and milking the cow, but containing already that one piece of magic: the boy with four ears. I admit that in another state of mind I might have dismissed the writing as trivial fantasy, but on this occasion I was inspired to read on. And on, and on. For I quickly realized that Michael Golding was an author I could trust to lead me anywhere. This is one of those books that will leave you in suspense at the end of one chapter, only to resolve it by a stroke of grace at the start of the next. I don't mean that every problem has a happy outcome, although this was mostly the case at the beginning, but that even suffering and setbacks can lead eventually to greater wisdom.
Shine inward… that I may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight.
— John Milton
No matter how tired they were from the week's labor, no matter how dull from too much baghali polo the night before, no matter how eager to praise God or make tea or milk the cow, there was no one in the tiny village of Al-Kashir who was not stunned the news that early that morning, in the slant-roofed shed behind the mud-walled house, Maleeh al-Morad had given birth to a bright-faced, screaming boy with two sets of ears.
— Michael Golding
For this is the story of a spiritual journey. By a miraculous accident, the baby Nouri Ahmad Mohammad ibn Mahsoud al-Morad (let's just say Nouri) literally falls into the hands of the porter of an order of dervishes, or Sufi monks. The porter, Habbib, tries to keep the baby secret, but eventually his presence is discovered, and the boy becomes a favorite of the brothers and grows up at the lodge. The leader of the order, Sheikh Bailiri, senses that Nouri is especially blessed by Allah and begins to train him in the Sufi discipline. He also notes the boy's remarkable fluency with words, and sets him on his path as a poet.
But these are troubled times (I am assuming sometime in the Middle Ages) and the idyll cannot last. When the lodge is raided by a band of marauders, Nouri is kidnapped and lands in a Sultan's court, where his gifts are again discovered but now shine in a different light. This is only the first of Nouri's many translocations during the course of the novel. He will find himself in Andalusia, in North Africa, on the Hajj to Mecca, and once more back in the village of his birth. Not all of these will be times of enlightenment or prosperity; there are periods when he will lose himself almost completely. But what held it together was the sense that everything was part of a journey to God: the jacket compares A Poet to Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha, and I can see what it means. But what am I doing, as a former Christian turned atheist, finding fascination in a search for God, especially in an Islamic context so removed from my own? Perhaps it is the radiant simplicity of Golding's prose. Perhaps the fact that the religion as he paints it has nothing to do with restriction and exclusion, only personal enlightenment. Perhaps the Sufi teaching that to know God one must first know oneself. This is a spiritual quest that even humanists can embrace.
Nouri will encounter many obstacles in his journey. Some are outside himself, such as the marauding kidnappers and a dark monk who establishes himself as his personal nemesis. But most are inside him, facts of his nature. One of these is his sexuality, for Nouri discovers that his deepest love is for men. In every important way, Golding treats gay love as something beautiful, even holy, but he also realizes that it can be something difficult to accept and lead to self-doubt and persecution.
Nouri's other inner obstacle is oddly enough his poetry, which emerges surely as a divine gift but which can also get in the way, as yet another veil between him and God. There is a wonderful episode early in the novel when Nouri must choose between his career as a poet and his religious studies; I felt it especially acutely as an artist myself. This particular dilemma is eventually decided for him in yet another act of violence that once more sets Nouri wandering around the Mediterranean. There will be periods in his life when Nouri does not write at all, others in which he is prolific. We never see his poems, but we do believe their quality. And, whether he writes or not, we never cease to believe that Nouri has the vision of a poet, and that it is as a poet he will come to see God. Only after reaching the end do I see the importance of the word "inward" in the Milton epigraph:
Celestial light,
Shine inward… that I may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight.
November 30, 2015
It is a beautiful story and contains quite a lot of background information on Sufism. The last few chapters seemed compressed or rushed to me. It covers the entire life of the main character "Nouri" who travels widely. It is a story of spiritual growth or individuation in Jungian terms that is reminiscent of Herman Hesse Siddhartha or Demian, but here is is spiritual growth in the Sufi Islamic tradition. It isn't as clear as in Siddhartha what the main character learns (or unlearns) from each phase of his life. The blurb for his books invites the comparison with Siddhartha which is quite a dangerous thing. I found this book interesting and beautiful but it is no Siddhartha. It does not have the beautiful repetitive simple prose of Hesse.
The main character happens to be gay, and though some important elements of the plot would not have been possible if that were not true, for example , Nouri's sexuality isn't a major element of the book.
The main character happens to be gay, and though some important elements of the plot would not have been possible if that were not true, for example , Nouri's sexuality isn't a major element of the book.
December 20, 2015
Enchanting, moving novel, almost like a beautiful, spellbinding folktale. Set in medieval Persia, it traces the life of a man, Nouri, who as a baby rejected by his parents for his four ears, is brought up by Sufis and then himself seeks union with God through his journey [both real and metaphorical] of life, learning through Sufi teachings and through his experiences of joy, sadness, humiliation, suffering, temptation, pain, pleasure, bliss in his dear friend's embrace--and finally, love of God. A story for the ages. I had tears in my eyes at Part 6: the last few chapters. The story came full circle.
I felt that Nouri's four ears were symbolic--say, of him as outcast. I learned something of Sufism. The author's concept reminded me somewhat of Buddhism, as the material world with its "veils" separating mankind from God [or the Buddhist "enlightenment", perhaps]. Most of the characters were two dimensional, other than Nouri himself. I appreciated the glossary of Persian foods, but wished there had been another glossary of other italicized terms for non-Muslims.
I felt that Nouri's four ears were symbolic--say, of him as outcast. I learned something of Sufism. The author's concept reminded me somewhat of Buddhism, as the material world with its "veils" separating mankind from God [or the Buddhist "enlightenment", perhaps]. Most of the characters were two dimensional, other than Nouri himself. I appreciated the glossary of Persian foods, but wished there had been another glossary of other italicized terms for non-Muslims.
October 20, 2015
Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
Oh, what a beautiful, heartbreaking story! The quest to find union with God is full of turmoil...can ONLY be so. This book illuminates one of an infinite number of paths to Oneness. Breathtaking.
Oh, what a beautiful, heartbreaking story! The quest to find union with God is full of turmoil...can ONLY be so. This book illuminates one of an infinite number of paths to Oneness. Breathtaking.
October 23, 2015
I really enjoyed the story but wondered about the need for the homosexual aspect. the story telling, language and historical geography were all outstanding as was the Sufi religious information.
August 12, 2016
It was quite interesting coming face to face with the Sufis--their initiation, devotion and rites. Then the endless herbs and spices that seemed to abound in every chapter. Nouri embodies everyone's search for the meaning of life and it was slightly disappointing when the last chapters made me feel rushed. It still is a beautiful read.
November 10, 2019
Such an amazing read. Feeling somewhat shellshocked now as I try to reconnect with the world outside of the book.
June 23, 2016
A finalist of the 28th Lambda in the category Gay Fiction
"He did not know what it meant to be normal. He only knew what it meant to be Nouri.
Who had four ears.
And was far from home.
And was trying to find his way back to God."
"For though he knew by now that words could never enter the invisible world, they could carry him to the threshold. And despite what he'd been through, he still felt the need to praise."
Beautifully written
A very eloquent prose
A flowery language
Full of truly amazing wisdom
About faith, life and love
Very educational
Spiritual and philosophical
Lyrical and soulful
Easy to read and easy to feel with...
** BR with my buddy Sofia.
August 4, 2016
This book was beautiful. Just like the title, the author knows how to weave poetry into prose. I found myself unable to put it down, following this beautiful boy named Nouri through the tragic events of his life, before finally gaining the spiritual meaning he longed for as a child. Being born with four ears as well as being gay, it was hard seeming him go on a journey where he was an outcast to many people because of his differences. Yet, in the end, it is because of these differences and the suffering he went through that he was able to achieve peace.
My only critique is that most of the character besides Nouri seemed two-dimensional and the author would have benefited by adding more depth to these side characters.
Overall, a highly recommended book.
My only critique is that most of the character besides Nouri seemed two-dimensional and the author would have benefited by adding more depth to these side characters.
Overall, a highly recommended book.
August 7, 2018
Nouri was born with four ears. He falled into Habib's arms from the sky. Later was the story of his journey in sufism, to be closer with his creator. Interesting. So I picked this book and at first, the story was intriguing.
It was followed by a series of unfortunate events happened to Nouri. Golding tried so hard to make the story mystical but I felt like while all of these happened, Nouri did not really exist. The turning point was when the writer explicitly linked homosexuality with deeper love towards God while trying to portray sufism. It was a failed attempt and I felt it was unnecessary.
Two stars for the engaging storytelling that keep me reading till end.
It was followed by a series of unfortunate events happened to Nouri. Golding tried so hard to make the story mystical but I felt like while all of these happened, Nouri did not really exist. The turning point was when the writer explicitly linked homosexuality with deeper love towards God while trying to portray sufism. It was a failed attempt and I felt it was unnecessary.
Two stars for the engaging storytelling that keep me reading till end.
March 19, 2016
To think I grabbed this book from the library just because of the title. How is it that I never heard a peep about it before, when people should be shouting from the rooftops, what an, amazing, tender and mesmerizing book, multiply satisfying yet terminally sad.
I will write something more when I have regained my senses
I will write something more when I have regained my senses
September 10, 2016
A story a bit like a leaf blowing around, landing here and there for a year or ten years but I did have to keep reading to see what would happen. Very engaging writing style and good characterization but a bit mystic for me.
If Sufism is as depicted in this story, it is an interesting approach to life but there seemed to be no role for women in it.
If Sufism is as depicted in this story, it is an interesting approach to life but there seemed to be no role for women in it.
January 2, 2017
4.5 Stars
Absolutely beautiful. With a personal interest in the world of sufism, I deeply appreciated the "sacred" being human, being filled with nuances and the imperfection being the ultimate form of love.
The characters are loveable and unforgettable.
Absolutely beautiful. With a personal interest in the world of sufism, I deeply appreciated the "sacred" being human, being filled with nuances and the imperfection being the ultimate form of love.
The characters are loveable and unforgettable.
April 1, 2017
The story starts with the birth of Nouri. What is notable about his birth is that he is born with 4 ears. Because of his ears he is more sensitive to the comings and goings of the invisible world. On our own spiritual paths we experience them a day at a time. With the story of Nouri we experience the extreme ups and downs of his journey in a compact period of time. Sometimes harsh and other times painful, this is story of one man in search of the truth on the Sufi path.
March 29, 2024
A great book. Well written and interesting. Part fable, part story about a life journey undertaken by a baby born with an unusual physical distinction it tells the story of Nouri and his life within a Sufi ( whirling dervishes) order.
Whilst Nouri moves along the Sufi path yearning for peace and understanding the wise and gentle words of the Sufi master provide Nouri and the reader with reflections to be integrated into daily life.
I will definitely look for other books by this author.
Whilst Nouri moves along the Sufi path yearning for peace and understanding the wise and gentle words of the Sufi master provide Nouri and the reader with reflections to be integrated into daily life.
I will definitely look for other books by this author.
October 2, 2022
I bought this book at a second-hand store in Amsterdam, purely for the cover and title, and it didn't disappoint.
October 1, 2018
A Poet of the Invisible World is a gorgeously written coming of age story that will transport you to the 13th century Middle East and Spain, a mysterious world where you will want to get lost. The story was so compelling that I read most of it in one day. Nouri, the protagonist of this tale, is born with four ears. Is this a sign of the devil's curse (as is the consensus of most of Nouri's contemporaries), or is the accute sense of hearing it offers him a gift from Allah (as Sufi Sheik Bailiri believes)? In true Siddhartha-esque style, Nouri is thrown from one setting to another in an odyssey where he spends his lifetime searching for answers to this, among several other questions, and learning more than he bargained for about himself along the way. This story reads like a fairy tale, an epic quest, and a story of love, heartbreak, and hope all rolled into one. This is the story of Nouri becoming a Sufi poet. Is it based on the life of Rumi? I should know the answer to this question, I suppose. Also, I am not sure if I am giving anything away by mentioning this, but Poet of the Invisible World is not a heterosexist tale, so if that is a problem for you as a reader, this is not the book for you. It was not a problem for this reader because I prefer to read about people different from myself in order to learn, grow, and increase my capacity for empathy (which is the whole point of reading IMO). However, my only criticism of the book were some of the turns of phrase and overall storyteller's perspective that seem a bit too 21st century for this subject matter, which was the only thing standing in the way between me and the deserts, crowded bazaars, fishing villages, and mountaintop retreats of the 13th century so beautifully described in these pages. Moreover, this story was darker than I had expected it to be, but it was worth reading, and it will give readers a great deal to discuss.
February 18, 2016
I know I need to pull my weight around here and write some reviews or I run the grave risk of being defriended.
This book is filled with lovely prose and makes me wish I knew a little more about Islamic Sufism. It's certainly not a plot line you're likely to encounter again. Set in medieval Persia, the book's protagonist Nouri is born to a beautiful woman who risks her life to flee her home when the villagers suspect evil spirits are behind Nouri's unusual disfigurement. He lands literally in the arms of a crippled youth who raises him among a group of Sufi dervishes. Nouri's journey may be mostly symbolic, but it is filled with colorful characters such as his lugubrious nemesis Sharoud and a collection of other Sufi clerics.
The story is centered around Nouri's spirituality and his painful journey to transcendence. He suffers tremendously along that path. He finds love, yet is many times victimized by those who hate his form and existence as a matter of principle. The book contends with issues such as homosexuality, addiction, loss, abuse, and social rejection. Nouri was very endearing to me and Golding's subtle writing is so genuine I found it easy to become wrapped up in this story emotionally. I couldn't put it down, actually. Golding's beautiful details and periodic lightheartedness balance the deeper spiritual message in Nouri's suffering, and make the book an enchanting read.
This book is filled with lovely prose and makes me wish I knew a little more about Islamic Sufism. It's certainly not a plot line you're likely to encounter again. Set in medieval Persia, the book's protagonist Nouri is born to a beautiful woman who risks her life to flee her home when the villagers suspect evil spirits are behind Nouri's unusual disfigurement. He lands literally in the arms of a crippled youth who raises him among a group of Sufi dervishes. Nouri's journey may be mostly symbolic, but it is filled with colorful characters such as his lugubrious nemesis Sharoud and a collection of other Sufi clerics.
The story is centered around Nouri's spirituality and his painful journey to transcendence. He suffers tremendously along that path. He finds love, yet is many times victimized by those who hate his form and existence as a matter of principle. The book contends with issues such as homosexuality, addiction, loss, abuse, and social rejection. Nouri was very endearing to me and Golding's subtle writing is so genuine I found it easy to become wrapped up in this story emotionally. I couldn't put it down, actually. Golding's beautiful details and periodic lightheartedness balance the deeper spiritual message in Nouri's suffering, and make the book an enchanting read.
April 27, 2016
Written at a lovely pace that unfolds the story to draw the reader in, this book is a gentle meditation on life, on striving to be better than human and yet accept ourselves with our flaws in order to transcend them. It was calming to read, with the main character, Nouri, a peaceful guide.
I didn't glean any nuggets of enlightenment for myself from it, but enjoyed the journey nonetheless.
I didn't glean any nuggets of enlightenment for myself from it, but enjoyed the journey nonetheless.
December 12, 2015
Quick read, interesting subject but not all that inventive and poor character
Development, good for a "beach read" or plane flight where you don't have to really pay attention
Development, good for a "beach read" or plane flight where you don't have to really pay attention
July 13, 2020
More than a decade ago, I read Michael Golding's Simple Prayers. It is one of the most charming, delightful, passionate novels I've ever read. Subsequently, I read his Benjamin's Gift, which I also appreciated, though it had less of the passion and sensual delights of the earlier novel. This wonderfully strange novel once again reflects the passion of that first novel. The publisher's blurb led me to fear that it would be something like Paulo Coehlo's drivel, but it's a spiritual quest of a quite different sort. It seems to me almost like a sort of anti-Candide, full of fanciful events and one misfortune after another in the course of travels all over the Mediterranean world at an indeterminate time, with characters who meet at one place coincidentally reconnecting in another remote, far-flung place. But this has none of Candide's cynicism. It's an earnest spiritual quest (with only a few faint traces of New Age sappiness) in which the protagonist adds to his depth of experience with each misfortune. It perhaps adds to the depth by being grounded not in some vague spirituality but in the disciplines of Sufism. It is not, however, despite lavishly displaying precise sights, sounds, tastes, and smells, grounded in any particular place or time. This is not a book for all tastes, but for the right readers it will surely provide delight and stimulate reflection.
July 8, 2017
If Khaled Hosseini, Paulo Coelho, and Hermann Hesse had a gay child together, it'd likely produce A Poet of the Invisible World . Through beautiful prose, and an epic, winding plot, Mochael Golding tells the life-story of Nouri Ahmad Mohammad ibn Mahsoud al-Morad, a Persian boy born with four ears. After both parents die, Nouri is taken into a Sufi order and begins training under dervishes. As time passes, the boy with four ears treks across barren landscapes, over oceans, and through villages big and small, on a path to spiritual and personal awakening. At once far-reaching and deeply intimate, Golding reveals the universe's most treasured intricacies, and the other world's biggest promises, in memorable tones.
I found this book in the Sea-Tac airport on the way home from spring break and, from the first few pages, I knew this book was special. Though, at times, it became just a bit too repetitive and drawn out, the overall experience was lovely. My biggest critique was a similar one to Lifted by the Great Nothing, though not quite to the same extent. Towards the end of the book, there's several moments between Nouri and another character that were a bit... disturbing. Golding handled it well enough that I wasn't too uncomfortable (as I was with Lifted...) but I still would have gone without it, personally. It reinforced some negative (and thankfully a tad outdated) stereotypes about gay men, and it was a bit jarring and shocking to read it. Overall, though, Golding really delivers in this cultural melting pot of a journey.
I found this book in the Sea-Tac airport on the way home from spring break and, from the first few pages, I knew this book was special. Though, at times, it became just a bit too repetitive and drawn out, the overall experience was lovely. My biggest critique was a similar one to Lifted by the Great Nothing, though not quite to the same extent. Towards the end of the book, there's several moments between Nouri and another character that were a bit... disturbing. Golding handled it well enough that I wasn't too uncomfortable (as I was with Lifted...) but I still would have gone without it, personally. It reinforced some negative (and thankfully a tad outdated) stereotypes about gay men, and it was a bit jarring and shocking to read it. Overall, though, Golding really delivers in this cultural melting pot of a journey.
December 19, 2017
As I was reading, I realized that this was a story about how this kid became a Sufi poet — like Rumi! And I was excited to find things out about the calligraphy in all the Islamic artworks in the shows at the local Islamic Cultural Center, and about whirling dervishes, and about how, possibly, Rumi came to create his own poems. And even though I avidly read the book last night, even during the intermission of a play I was attending, I started to feel like something wasn’t adding up. Like Golding was trying too hard to make the story mystical or profound. And it’s true. It’s basically “this happened to Nouri, and then this, and then this,” moving from place to place and scenario to scenario but Nouri never really seems to have agency. And ultimately I decided I wouldn’t recommend this book.
November 6, 2025
A Poet of the Invisible World is one of those rare stories that lingers long after the final page. Michael Golding writes with a kind of quiet radiance, every sentence feels like a prayer, every moment a step toward awakening.
Nouri’s journey from innocence through exile and spiritual discovery touched something deep within me. His path mirrors the yearning in all of us, the desire to understand, to belong, and to finally dissolve into love itself.
This isn’t just a novel; it’s a meditation on what it means to be human, to suffer, and to transcend. Golding’s prose is luminous and compassionate, reminding us that even in the darkest moments, light is always waiting to return.
A truly transformative read, one I’ll return to often, especially during quiet seasons like Christmas when the heart longs for stillness and meaning.
Nouri’s journey from innocence through exile and spiritual discovery touched something deep within me. His path mirrors the yearning in all of us, the desire to understand, to belong, and to finally dissolve into love itself.
This isn’t just a novel; it’s a meditation on what it means to be human, to suffer, and to transcend. Golding’s prose is luminous and compassionate, reminding us that even in the darkest moments, light is always waiting to return.
A truly transformative read, one I’ll return to often, especially during quiet seasons like Christmas when the heart longs for stillness and meaning.
May 9, 2025
I didn't read the summary of the book (as per usual) but was drawn by the title and knew it involved Sufism. I was stoked. Well, it wasn't what I wanted it to be, but it was really well written and the story tugged at my heartstrings. It'd be a good Book Club book for those that are legit Book Clubs. ;)
As someone who has super sensitive hearing (noise causes me great pain), is a poet, and is deeply spiritual, I had moments where I felt understood. Just moments. But those moments were beautiful.
I read the physical book and finished by listening to the last chapters on Spotify. The narration was amazing!
Note to self: listen to more audiobooks read by Kirby Heybourne.
3.5 stars
As someone who has super sensitive hearing (noise causes me great pain), is a poet, and is deeply spiritual, I had moments where I felt understood. Just moments. But those moments were beautiful.
I read the physical book and finished by listening to the last chapters on Spotify. The narration was amazing!
Note to self: listen to more audiobooks read by Kirby Heybourne.
3.5 stars
March 20, 2018
I picked up this book on a whim but when the first quote on the back was from the author of the book I was reading at the time it seemed like a promising omen. this is a captivating story beautifully told, all about love and letting go as told through the journeys of nouri and his foil sharoud. though nouri's path is often shaped by extraordinary circumstances the periods of doubt and loss he goes through are universal.
August 30, 2021
My best friend sent me this book because she thought I’d love it, and of course she was right. It’s such a touching, tender book that I couldn’t put down. It’s spiritual, it’s heartbreaking, it’s a reminder of embracing the simple beauty of nature and solitude. Nouri deals with so much loss and pain, but he manages to always forge ahead and recreate himself constantly. Bonus points that he is gay, because Lord knows we need more literature about LGBTQ+ characters.
March 25, 2017
I finished this a couple months ago. When I was done, I felt like it left something to be desiered. However, as I go on with my daily life, I find myself reliving parts of the book. I think about the main character a lot actually and the things he has gone through to get to where he is. I would recomend this book to someone.
July 4, 2017
Engrossing Bildungsroman about the spiritual journey of Nouri, its protagonist, from his begginings as a foundling to becoming a Sufi master in the Muslim world of the 13th C. Deals with self acceptance, overcoming loneliness and discrimination and the conflict between the baser instincts of humanity and the quest for spiritual wholeness and purity
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