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The Ruby in Her Navel
Set in the Middle Ages during the brief yet glittering rule of the Norman kings, The Ruby in Her Navel is a tale in which the conflicts of the past portend the present. The novel opens in Palermo, in which Latin and Greek, Arab and Jew live together in precarious harmony. Thurstan Beauchamp, the Christian son of a Norman knight, works for Yusuf, a Muslim Arab, in the palace’s central finance office, a job which includes the management of blackmail and bribes, and the gathering of secret information for the king.
But the peace and prosperity of the kingdom is being threatened, internally as well as externally. Known for his loyalty but divided between the ideals of chivalry and the harsh political realities of his tumultuous times, Thurstan is dispatched to uncover the conspiracies brewing against his king. During his journeys, he encounters the woman he loved as a youth; and the renewed promise of her love, as well as the mysterious presence of an itinerant dancing girl, sends him on a spiritual odyssey that forces him to question the nature of his ambition and the folly of uncritical reverence for authority.
With the exquisite prose and masterful narrative drive that have earned him widespread acclaim, Barry Unsworth transports the reader to a distant past filled with deception and mystery, and whose racial, tribal, and religious tensions are still with us today.
But the peace and prosperity of the kingdom is being threatened, internally as well as externally. Known for his loyalty but divided between the ideals of chivalry and the harsh political realities of his tumultuous times, Thurstan is dispatched to uncover the conspiracies brewing against his king. During his journeys, he encounters the woman he loved as a youth; and the renewed promise of her love, as well as the mysterious presence of an itinerant dancing girl, sends him on a spiritual odyssey that forces him to question the nature of his ambition and the folly of uncritical reverence for authority.
With the exquisite prose and masterful narrative drive that have earned him widespread acclaim, Barry Unsworth transports the reader to a distant past filled with deception and mystery, and whose racial, tribal, and religious tensions are still with us today.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
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1050 people want to read
About the author
Barry Unsworth
56 books187 followersBarry Unsworth was an English writer known for his historical fiction. He published 17 novels, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times, winning once for the 1992 novel Sacred Hunger.
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February 9, 2016
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Reading Barry Unsworth's account of life in 12th century Sicily brings forcefuly in focus the famous George Santayana quote I used as an epigraph.
What makes 12 century Sicily so special and so relevant today? It was, for a very short span of time, a viable multi-cultural, interfaith society, where Normans, Saracens, Byzantines, Jews and Papists lived together in almost harmony. It will be brought to ruin by greed, vanity and intolerance
The main character, whose name (Thurstan Beauchamp) is a clear indication of his mixed Norman and French blood, is a young clerk working in a ministry (Diwan) dominated by Muslims. He is an idealist, who seems ill suited for the actual job he is doing : a spy for the king, with a cover job as a purveyor of pleasures (hiring dancers, singers and acrobats for the king's entertainment). His naivety is endearing in the beginning of the story, when he expresses his admiration for the job the king is doing keeping the peace between the different ethnicities on the island, his respect for his Arab boss and his belief in the rule of law :
... I was swept by a familiar love for this city of Palermo, where I had spent most of my years, for the diversity these sounds expressed, the different faiths that lived together here, the different races that jostled in the markets and laboured on the buildings that were rising everywhere, praying apart and having their cases tried in their own tongues, but all held together in unity by our great King.
The best example Thurstan can give us about what the city of Palermo has to offer is in the description of the Royal Chapel, a key setting of the novel, "where Saracens had carved the wood of the ceiling, Latins made the marble inlays, Greeks set the stones of the mosaics, all working together to make a church where our Norman King could hear the mass."
As a first person narrator, Thurstan can be somewhat excused for trying to paint himself in a positive light, but his later actions speak louder about his envious and vain nature, his ambition to become a knight, his gullibility and the shallowness of his fine principles when confronted with life and death situations . Overall, his human weakness is what will probably reconcile the reader with the wrong decisions Thurstan makes and his youth might excuse his lack of subtlety in the cloak & dagger business and in the romantic dillema between the two women in his life : the elegant and sophisticated Lady Alicia, and the exotic (Yazidi) belly dancer Nesrin.
She could not have so deceived me if I had not deceived myself; she could not have played me false if I had not aided her in it. I had fashioned her in the form of my desires, I had made her shining, lustrous from our childhood and the time of my hope, bright with the future when she would make that hope come true, a creature of light, not her own, bestowed on her. She had no light of her own ...
All in all, this was an informative, multi-layered historical adventure, more serious than its unfortunately chosen title might suggest, that manages to recreate one of the most exciting moments in early Middle Age history, touching on still relevant issues regarding a multi-cultural society, coupled with a dramatic coming of age story of a young man who learns to see the rust, the dirt and the blood hiding under the shiny armours of the knights and under the immaculate robes of the monks. This disillusionment with both government and religion is another factor that remains relevant in the present day, when young men and women must find the strength and the moral guidance they need in other institutions or creeds.
[I have learned that] ... there had never been a silver barge to keep afloat, that this King to whom I had woved my service, was a man with a face like other faces I had seen, the face of one who lived with us in the dark water, among the other creatures feasting and fighting there.
Barry Unsworth captivated me previously with "The Songs of Kings" and with "Morality Play", and confirmed his status as one of the best in the field with the present historical novel. Next on my radar is "Sacred Hunger", dealing with another thorny subject - slavery.
onhold
March 20, 2017Description: Set in the Middle Ages during the brief yet glittering rule of the Norman kings, The Ruby in Her Navel is a tale in which the conflicts of the past portend the present. The novel opens in Palermo, in which Latin and Greek, Arab and Jew live together in precarious harmony. Thurstan Beauchamp, the Christian son of a Norman knight, works for Yusuf, a Muslim Arab, in the palace’s central finance office, a job which includes the management of blackmail and bribes, and the gathering of secret information for the king.
But the peace and prosperity of the kingdom is being threatened, internally as well as externally. Known for his loyalty but divided between the ideals of chivalry and the harsh political realities of his tumultuous times, Thurstan is dispatched to uncover the conspiracies brewing against his king. During his journeys, he encounters the woman he loved as a youth; and the renewed promise of her love, as well as the mysterious presence of an itinerant dancing girl, sends him on a spiritual odyssey that forces him to question the nature of his ambition and the folly of uncritical reverence for authority.
With the exquisite prose and masterful narrative drive that have earned him widespread acclaim, Barry Unsworth transports the reader to a distant past filled with deception and mystery, and whose racial, tribal, and religious tensions are still with us today.
Opening: W"hen Nesrin the dancer became famous in the courts of Europe, many were the stories told about the ruby the glowed in her navel as she danced.
CR The Ruby in her Navel
5* Sacred Hunger
4* The Quality of Mercy
5* Morality Play
4* Stone Virgin
4* Pascali's Island
3* The Hide
But the peace and prosperity of the kingdom is being threatened, internally as well as externally. Known for his loyalty but divided between the ideals of chivalry and the harsh political realities of his tumultuous times, Thurstan is dispatched to uncover the conspiracies brewing against his king. During his journeys, he encounters the woman he loved as a youth; and the renewed promise of her love, as well as the mysterious presence of an itinerant dancing girl, sends him on a spiritual odyssey that forces him to question the nature of his ambition and the folly of uncritical reverence for authority.
With the exquisite prose and masterful narrative drive that have earned him widespread acclaim, Barry Unsworth transports the reader to a distant past filled with deception and mystery, and whose racial, tribal, and religious tensions are still with us today.
Opening: W"hen Nesrin the dancer became famous in the courts of Europe, many were the stories told about the ruby the glowed in her navel as she danced.
CR The Ruby in her Navel
5* Sacred Hunger
4* The Quality of Mercy
5* Morality Play
4* Stone Virgin
4* Pascali's Island
3* The Hide
March 6, 2018
A novel of palace intrigue set in 12th century Palermo. We are at the court of King Roger II, a Norman, who rules an ethnically diverse realm in which he tries to balance the rights of Christian and Muslim and Jew. Only the Muslims, however, seem content with this arrangement, perhaps because they comprise King Roger's most trusted counselors. He mistrusts his own people, the Normans, and for good reason as events reveal. The Catholics have just lost the Second Crusade—ignominiously and with terrible loss of life—so they are hardly in a mood for pluralism. They seek closer alignment with the crown, greater control of its offices and pursestrings, and expulsion of all Muslims from Sicily. Thurstan Beauchamp, the narrator, works in the palace in the Diwan of Control. He is of Norman ancestry and a Christian. His supervisor, Yusuf Ibm Mansur, seeks to train him in the arts of intrigue, for the factions are constantly conspiring against each other and Thurston's face is an open book.
Some time before the present action, Thurston's dreams of knighthood were quashed when his father inexplicably turned ascetic and gave all of his worldly goods to the monastery he then entered. Thurston was thus promptly disinherited, and is understandably unhappy that his birthright should have been traded away solely for the comfort of his father's eternal soul. Now he must work for a living. His post, under Yusuf's guidance, involves travel. On his first trip of the novel he runs into his first love, Lady Alicia, who was torn from him when he was 15 or so and sent off to marry a corpulent crusader in the Holy Land. Now, 20 years later, here she is, newly widowed, on horseback, riding with groom and lady-in-waiting through some provincial backwater to which Thurston had been dispatched on an errand. His love for her and his dreams of knighthood are subsequently rekindled. In time, she expresses her belief that is was Providence that brought them together again and she announces her intention to make him her husband.
There is the larger political context which undergirds the intrigues at the palace. Most threateningly, King Conrad III of Germany and Emperor Manuel I Comnenus of Byzantium are allying as a means of dethroning Roger, whom they view as a usurper, and expelling all Muslims from Sicily. It is King Roger's hope to strike up a correpondence with Conrad in an effort to break his alliance with Byzantium. The writing is emotionally affecting and the deployment of suspense masterful. Unsworth's handling of the complex plot seems effortless. There are numerous plot twists and betrayals and other surprises that I am deliberately not discussing that will set your heart pounding and curl your hair. The title story of the ruby is just one of these. This is narrative of a very high order, and the tone is beautifully modulated throughout. I liked Unsworth's Booker-winning Sacred Hunger immensely, but The Ruby In Her Navel is the finer work. Comparisons are specious, but solely in terms of artistic achievement I put the book on a par with William Styron's Sophie's Choice. It is among the limited number of great novels that one will be privileged to read in this too brief life.
Some time before the present action, Thurston's dreams of knighthood were quashed when his father inexplicably turned ascetic and gave all of his worldly goods to the monastery he then entered. Thurston was thus promptly disinherited, and is understandably unhappy that his birthright should have been traded away solely for the comfort of his father's eternal soul. Now he must work for a living. His post, under Yusuf's guidance, involves travel. On his first trip of the novel he runs into his first love, Lady Alicia, who was torn from him when he was 15 or so and sent off to marry a corpulent crusader in the Holy Land. Now, 20 years later, here she is, newly widowed, on horseback, riding with groom and lady-in-waiting through some provincial backwater to which Thurston had been dispatched on an errand. His love for her and his dreams of knighthood are subsequently rekindled. In time, she expresses her belief that is was Providence that brought them together again and she announces her intention to make him her husband.
There is the larger political context which undergirds the intrigues at the palace. Most threateningly, King Conrad III of Germany and Emperor Manuel I Comnenus of Byzantium are allying as a means of dethroning Roger, whom they view as a usurper, and expelling all Muslims from Sicily. It is King Roger's hope to strike up a correpondence with Conrad in an effort to break his alliance with Byzantium. The writing is emotionally affecting and the deployment of suspense masterful. Unsworth's handling of the complex plot seems effortless. There are numerous plot twists and betrayals and other surprises that I am deliberately not discussing that will set your heart pounding and curl your hair. The title story of the ruby is just one of these. This is narrative of a very high order, and the tone is beautifully modulated throughout. I liked Unsworth's Booker-winning Sacred Hunger immensely, but The Ruby In Her Navel is the finer work. Comparisons are specious, but solely in terms of artistic achievement I put the book on a par with William Styron's Sophie's Choice. It is among the limited number of great novels that one will be privileged to read in this too brief life.
December 1, 2021
We are currently revisiting the 2006 Booker prize in the Mookse group, and this was one of the books I was most looking forward to - my fifth Unsworth and all of them have been interesting in different ways. Like most of them it is a historical narrator, with a setting that was not familiar to me - the 12th century Sicily of the Norman King Roger.
The narrator Thurstan Beauchamp is the son of a Norman knight who relinquished his land to become a monk, and an English/Saxon mother. He works in the Diwan (loosely a civil service) under a wise Arab Yusuf, and his role involves finding entertainers for the King and other state missions.
In the first part of the book he travels to mainland Italy (Calabria) to buy birds for the king and then to a clandestine meeting with a Serb in Bari. On the way he meets a group of Anatolian musicians and belly dancers, and arranges for them to come to Sicily. In Bari he also meets his first love Alicia, a Norman knight's daughter who he has not seen since she was married off as a teenager. He also falls under the spell of the youngest of the dancers, Nesrin, who gives the book its title.
For much of the book this appears to be a simple tale of chivalrous quest, but darker forces are at play - the fragile cosmopolitan society of Sicily in which Arabs, Greeks, Normans, Jews and Lombards coexist is increasingly threatened by plots of various kinds.
The denouement is rather cleverly constructed and the whole thing is rather impressive.
The narrator Thurstan Beauchamp is the son of a Norman knight who relinquished his land to become a monk, and an English/Saxon mother. He works in the Diwan (loosely a civil service) under a wise Arab Yusuf, and his role involves finding entertainers for the King and other state missions.
In the first part of the book he travels to mainland Italy (Calabria) to buy birds for the king and then to a clandestine meeting with a Serb in Bari. On the way he meets a group of Anatolian musicians and belly dancers, and arranges for them to come to Sicily. In Bari he also meets his first love Alicia, a Norman knight's daughter who he has not seen since she was married off as a teenager. He also falls under the spell of the youngest of the dancers, Nesrin, who gives the book its title.
For much of the book this appears to be a simple tale of chivalrous quest, but darker forces are at play - the fragile cosmopolitan society of Sicily in which Arabs, Greeks, Normans, Jews and Lombards coexist is increasingly threatened by plots of various kinds.
The denouement is rather cleverly constructed and the whole thing is rather impressive.
June 19, 2023
Tensiunile politice din secolul al XII-la, din Regatul Siciliei, le descoperim in aceasta carte prin povestea lui Thurstan Beauchamp, ce lucreaza intr-un minister dedicat finantelor si spionajului in guvernul regelui Roger al II-lea.
Pe mine nu m-a prins si nu pot spune ca este printre preferatele mele, dar nu pot sa o ignor total si cred ca merita o sansa. Cu siguranta or sa fie persoane care o sa o aprecieze mai mult decat mine.
Pe mine nu m-a prins si nu pot spune ca este printre preferatele mele, dar nu pot sa o ignor total si cred ca merita o sansa. Cu siguranta or sa fie persoane care o sa o aprecieze mai mult decat mine.
June 19, 2024
Set in the year 1149 in Palermo, Sicily during the reign of King Roger, protagonist Thurstan Beauchamp is a young man working in the Diwan of Control, the financial arm of the palace. Thurstan is the son of a Norman knight and a Saxon mother. His father donated all his wealth to the church, leaving Thurstan to bemoan his loss of status. He works under Yusuf Ibn Mansur, the leader of the Diwan of Control, who becomes a mentor to young Thurstan. The Pope and Bishop of Rome have refused to recognize King Roger. Both the ruler of the West, Conrad Hohenstaufen, and the ruler of the East, Manuel Comnenus, are threatening to invade. Palermo has always been tolerant to ethnic communities, but these recent power struggles have led to conflicts among Christians, Jews, Muslims, and others. The storyline is a complex combination of power struggles, deceits, betrayals, and coming-of-age.
Narrator Thurstan tells the tale of how the woman with the ruby in her navel became a legend. He alone knows the full story. It is obvious that Thurstan is a young man who values integrity; however, circumstances and machinations of others will put him into moral dilemmas. His mentor, Yusuf, is willing to help Thurstan become a man of substance and influence, but this relationship is also placed in jeopardy. One of Thurstan’s roles is to travel through Europe finding entertainments. He also acquires various supplies for the kingdom. While seeking herons to be used in hunting games, he discovers a group of five dancers, including Nesrin, a belly dancer of prodigious talent, and hires them to travel back to Palermo to perform for the King. He is attracted to Nesrin, but this attraction is sidelined when he meets his former great love, Lady Alicia, while on these travels. She has recently become a widow and is interested in renewing their relationship.
Obviously, it is difficult to succinctly summarize this book. It is a story of the idealism of youth shattered by power struggles that find Thurstan caught in the middle. It is beautifully written and provides a wonderful sense of time and place in 12th century Palermo. Thurstan is a likeable narrator, and the reader will want to warn him before he takes rash actions. It is a mystery with many threads, and requires close attention to follow them all. I found myself completely engrossed in it. I had previously read Unsworth's Morality Play, which motivated me to pick this one up, and I am very glad I did.
4.5
Narrator Thurstan tells the tale of how the woman with the ruby in her navel became a legend. He alone knows the full story. It is obvious that Thurstan is a young man who values integrity; however, circumstances and machinations of others will put him into moral dilemmas. His mentor, Yusuf, is willing to help Thurstan become a man of substance and influence, but this relationship is also placed in jeopardy. One of Thurstan’s roles is to travel through Europe finding entertainments. He also acquires various supplies for the kingdom. While seeking herons to be used in hunting games, he discovers a group of five dancers, including Nesrin, a belly dancer of prodigious talent, and hires them to travel back to Palermo to perform for the King. He is attracted to Nesrin, but this attraction is sidelined when he meets his former great love, Lady Alicia, while on these travels. She has recently become a widow and is interested in renewing their relationship.
Obviously, it is difficult to succinctly summarize this book. It is a story of the idealism of youth shattered by power struggles that find Thurstan caught in the middle. It is beautifully written and provides a wonderful sense of time and place in 12th century Palermo. Thurstan is a likeable narrator, and the reader will want to warn him before he takes rash actions. It is a mystery with many threads, and requires close attention to follow them all. I found myself completely engrossed in it. I had previously read Unsworth's Morality Play, which motivated me to pick this one up, and I am very glad I did.
4.5
August 4, 2018
Δεν υπήρχαν φυλετικές ή θρησκευτικές προϋποθέσεις για την ένταξη στο σώμα, κι αυτό βάσει της επιθυμίας του ίδιου του βασιλιά, ο οποίος εμπιστευόταν περισσότερο τη διαφορετικότητα, παρά την ομοιογένεια
Πριν από κανά χρόνο φαγώθηκα ν’ αγοράσω το Ρουμπίνι στον αφαλό, ψυχανεμιζόμενος πως θα είναι κάτι ανάμεσα στο Λευκό Κάστρο του Παμούκ, στον Περιπλανώμενο του Βαλτάρι ή στην Άβυσσο της Γιουρσενάρ και στις περιπέτειες του Στήβενσον. Μετά όταν το παρέλαβα δεν ήμουν ποτέ στην κατάλληλη διάθεση για τέτοιου είδους βιβλίο κι έτσι δε βρήκα την ευκαιρία να διαπιστώσω αν όντως είναι έτσι.
Το πρώτο βράδυ που το ξεκίνησα ναι μεν είχε το ιστορικό φινίρισμα κι ο Θέρσταν μου φάνηκε ενδιαφέρων ( όσο κι αν οι τόσο τονισμένες αναφορές στα ξανθά μακριά μαλλιά, τα γαλανά μάτια, το ύψος με ξένισαν κι όχι μόνο επειδή είμαι κοντός, μισοριξιά και καραφλόξανθος ), αλλά υπήρχε μια ιδέα ελαφρότητας που με ενοχλούσε και έτσι το άφηνα συχνά για να ξεφυλλίζω πάλι το Υπουργείο του φόβου, παρότι το είχα τελειώσει.
Την επόμενη ημέρα όμως πριν το ξεκινήσω τα συναισθήματα μου ήταν ανάμικτα. Δηλαδή απ’ τη μια περίμενα ότι θα ξαναβρώ την ίδια αλαφράδα και το ιστορικό υπόβαθρο, χωρίς ακόμα να έχω συναντήσει στοιχεία περιπέτειας και απ’ την άλλη μου δημιουργούσε αυτή την έλξη που συχνά μου δημιουργούν κάποια βιβλία που ενώ δε με τραβάνε ακριβώς, παράλληλα νιώθω κάτι καθησυχαστικό που θα τα διαβάσω, ότι με λίγα λόγια δεν είναι φούσκες. Και επίσης, με ιντριγκάρουν οι ομοιότητες με το εξαιρετικό μυθιστόρημα της ίδιας πάνω κάτω περιόδου και με παρεμφερείς θρησκευτικές αναφορές, του Τερζάκη, την Ιζαμπώ.
Στη σελ. 91 μου άρεσε πολύ η έκφραση ‘’αυτός που θα γινόταν ο αδερφός μου’’ αναφερόμενη σε ένα παιδί που πέθανε στην κοιλιά της μάνας του. Σκεφτείτε πόσο συχνά ακούμε ανθρώπους να λένε πως έχουν χάσει ένα αγοράκι, η ένα κοριτσάκι που όμως δε γεννήθηκαν ακόμα και προσωποποιούν ένα πόνο που ούτως ή άλλως είναι μεγάλη η απώλεια για ένα ζευγάρι, πόσο μάλιστα όταν το προσωποποιείς. Αυτή η αποστασιοποίηση μου άρεσε, Κατανοώ και τις δύο θέσεις, συμφωνώ όμως περισσότερο με τον Άνσγουορθ όσο κι αν στο περιβάλλον ενός γάμου, προτιμά κανείς να προσωποποιεί τον πόνο για όλα εκείνα που αντιπροσωπεύει.. Ακόμα και παιδιά το κάνουν για αδερφάκια που χάθηκαν στη γέννα, προσωποποιώντας μιας άλλης μορφής διάψευση που εσωκλείει ένα πόνο που δεν έχει γεννηθεί ακόμη και που θα σκάσει στην ενήλικη ζωή τους στην αρχή σαν αποστασιοποίηση και κάποιες στιγμές σαν μια βελόνη που μπήγεται οπουδήποτε.
Εν συνεχεία του μυθιστορήματος διαψεύστηκε η αρχική μου δυσθυμία αρκετές φορές. Αισθάνθηκα τέρψη διαβάζοντας το. Ο Άνσγουορθ είναι μεγάλο παραμυθάς. Κρύβει πολύ μεγάλη δεινότητα και πάθος η περιγραφή της μουσικής και του χορού στις σελ 107 – 114. Σχεδόν μύριζα τις μυρωδιές τους μαζί με το Θέρσταν, ιδρώτα, σκόνη και οσμές της φύσης… Όπως και λίγο αργότερα όταν περιγράφει με απίστευτα αστείο τρόπο τη σκηνή με τα μουλάρια μου γκαρίζουν, τους ερωδιούς που κάνουν γούλα γούλα στο λιμάνι κι εκεί που σταματούν, ηρεμούν κι οι κυνηγοί που τους παζαρεύανε και απ’ τις περιγραφές μοιάζουν κάτι παρόμοιο με τη μουρμουριστή φωνή των Αιγυπτίων και την κελαρυστή των Καλύμνιων μια γυναίκα τσιρίζει κι αρχίζουν όλα απ’ την αρχή … γούλα γούλα και δώστου!
Ήμουν σχεδόν προετοιμασμένος για σχόλια σχετικά με την αλλαγή που είχε σημειωθεί πάνω μου όταν γύρισα στο Παλέρμο, τόσο αλλαγμένο ένιωθα τον εαυτό μου μετά από τη συνάντηση με την Αλίσια, λες και υπήρχε ένα φώς γύρω μου. Εάν κάποιος το πρόσεξε δε μίλησε. Και καθώς οι μέρες περνούσαν και ξαναγύρισα στα συνηθισμένα μου καθήκοντα και δεν είχα νέα της, αυτό το φως άρχισε να ξεθωριάζει ώσπου δεν έμεινε παρά το κοινό φως της μέρας
Ένα απ’ αυτά που πρόσεξα μ’ ενδιαφέρον είναι η διάθεση του συγγραφέα να μη σου κρύψει πως αγαπάει το χαρακτήρα του, αλλά πως δεν παύει να είναι ένας νέος, αλαζόνας, ανειλικρινής σε μεγάλο βαθμό με τον εαυτό του, πληγωμένος απ’ τα κενά της πατρικής αγάπης, μπερδεμένος ανάμεσα στα θέλω και στα πρέπει και με μια τάση όλα αυτά να θέλει να αναπληρωθούν από αντικείμενα μωροφιλοδοξίας. Σε κάνει να νοιάζεσαι για το Θέρσταν, να εκτιμάς τα θετικά του και να εύχεσαι αυτό να είναι ένα ταξίδι ενηλικίωσης, για το καλό του και γιατί αυτό σου δημιουργεί μια σχέση μαζί του στοργική, ίσως κάτι σαν την πατρική. Νομίζω αυτό είναι, ο συγγραφέας σε πείθει να δεις τον ήρωα του με τα μάτια του γονιού που άλλοτε περήφανα, άλλοτε λυπημένα ακολουθεί νοερά τα βήματα του παιδιού του.
Σ’ αυτές τις αναμνήσεις από εκείνη που ήταν αληθινές, πρόσθετα κι άλλες που δεν μπορούσαν να είναι: το σχήμα του ποδιού της, την υφή του δέρματος της στη βάση του λαιμού, επινοημένες αναμνήσεις, που όμως δε συνοδεύονταν από πόθο, ήταν στοιχεία της θαυμαστής της ύπαρξης, η απόδειξη ότι υπήρχε. Όσο πιο ολοκληρωμένη μπορούσα να τη φέρω στο μυαλό μου, όσο μεγαλύτερη υπόσταση μπορούσα να της δώσω, τόσο περισσότερο μπορούσα να πιστέψω ότι θα συναντιόμασταν ξανά
Κάτι ακόμα που απ’ την αρχή μου δημιούργησε μια ευχάριστη αν και αψίθυμη διάθεση είναι η τάση του συγγραφέα κατά διαστήματα να χρησιμοποιεί τσιτάτα λογίων της εποχής ή και προγενέστερων, αναφέροντας τους π.χ. ‘’Ο Πέτρος Λομβάρδιος όπως πιστεύω μίλησε πρώτος γι’ αυτή την ικανότητα στο δεύτερο τόμο των αποφθεγμάτων του’’ σε κατακλείδες με μια κατ’ εξοχήν προζίστικη διάθεση, λίγο σα να κομπάζει διακωμωδώντας, λίγο σαν να χάρηκε που βρήκε κάπου να χρησιμοποιήσει ένα απόσταγμα ξένης σκέψης που του είχε μείνει στη μνήμη. Δεν ξέρω φαντάζει τίμιο, φαντάζει αστείο κατά κάποιο τρόπο και είναι σα να σε πιάνει και λίγο στα πράσα ο Άνσγουορθ τη στιγμή που βγάζεις μικρές κραυγούλες κι ετοιμάζεσαι να σημειώσεις την έξοχη φράση, σαν εκείνο το βλάκα από μια ελληνική σειρά που σημείωνε σε ένα μπλοκάκι τις ωραίες λέξεις.
Ένα τέτοιο μυθιστόρημα που έχει τη δυναμική να γίνει μια συναρπαστική περιπέτεια και όμως με σοβαρότητα επιμένει σε αυτό το μοντέλο πολιτείας πάνω από φυλές και θρησκείες και με καθαρή ματιά, σφαιρικά σου δείχνει τα αίτια που συνήθως οδηγούν τους λαούς όταν ζουν μόνοι να μπλέκουν σε εμφυλίου και μαζί με άλλους σε διχόνοια και σφαγές, ως αποτέλεσμα των πύργων της Βαβέλ που δημιουργούνται απ’ εκείνους που μπορούν να προκαλούν ασυνεννοησία, δεν παύει να είναι ένα μυθιστόρημα με βαρύ αμάξωμα, αλλά καλό ρεπρίζ. Κοινωνικό, ηθικό, πολιτικό, αλλά και συναρπαστικό ταξίδι ενήβωσης, με ατμόσφαιρα παραμυθιού.
Δεν αμφισβητώ τη δικαιοσύνη του βασιλιά. Είναι δίκαιος, άδικα πράγματα γίνονται στο όνομα του
Για πολλές σελίδες δε συνέβαιναν πολλά, αλλά διαρκώς με παράσερνε η φυσικότητα των διαλόγων, το μπρίο και η γραμμικότητα της αφήγησης, όσο και οι σκέψεις του Θέσταν, μαζί με το πανταχού παρόν βλέμμα του γονιού, που κληροδοτεί ο συγγραφέας, στον αναγνώστη. Για να ακριβολογώ, με έχει αφήσει έκθαμβο η δεξιοτεχνία του συγγραφέα να γεννήσει ένα χαρακτήρα, υποβάλλοντας με στο ρόλο του γονιού με ό,τι σημαίνει. Κατά τη διάρκεια αυτή, χάρηκα, ντράπηκα, καμάρωσα, λυπήθηκα, ένιωσα ματαίωση, όλα ως αποτέλεσμα των σκέψεων και των προσπαθειών του Θέρσταν. Κι ας μην έχω υπάρξει γονιός, μπορώ έστω να εικάσω.
Κι έτσι καθόμουν εκεί, χαμένος μέσα σ’ αυτή την αιώνια αντίφαση του ανθρώπινου είδους, τη λύπη για την απώλεια αυτού που δε μου άνηκε ποτέ
Γενικά υπάρχουν πολλές στιγμές που το γέλιο ρέει αβίαστα, στις σελίδες 294 – 295 αν και δεν έτρωγα φουντούνια να μου φεύγουν δεξιά – αριστερά απ’ το στόμα, απ’ τις τσιρίδες το τσιγάρο έκανε μπλουμ στην κόκα κόλα. Το αυτό επαναλήφθηκε και στη σελίδα 309, αλλά αυτή τη φορά δεν πήγαινε χαμένο το αναψυκτικό.
Ο Άνσγουορθ πετυχαίνει κάτι ακόμα που θεωρώ επίσης βιρτουόζικο χειρισμό. Αισθάνθηκα κούραση και δυσφορία απ’ τις τόσες πολυστρωματικές δολοπλοκίες, όσο κι αν κέρδιζαν το θαυμασμό μου οι μηχανισμοί που χρησιμοποιούνταν. Με τον ίδιο τρόπο που μ’ ενοχλεί μια μέρα στη δουλειά, τιγκαρισμένη από στιχομυθίες και τακτικισμούς καλοκαμωμένους να μοιάζουν με στρατηγικές που δεν κρύβουν άλλο, απ’ το διαίρει και βασίλευε. Κι όλοι αυυοί που ηθελημένα, ή αθέλητα, στηριζόμενοι στην ��φοσίωση ή τη φιλοδοξία μετέχουν πολύ συχνά, σε κάνουν να σκέφτεσαι διαρκώς τα λόγια του μεγάλου ποιητή, για τη συνάφεια.
Χωρίς το δικαίωμα κατοχής γης, ένας λαός απογυμνώνεται
Στη σελίδα 409 γεύτηκα μεγάλη στενοχώρια όχι απ’ τον χάρτινο Θέσταν, αλλά απ’ το χαρακτήρα που πια είχε γίνει τρισδιάστατος σα να βρισκόταν δίπλα μου, ώστε παραλίγο να κλείσω το βιβλίο και να το παρατήσω. Αλλά η ίδια απογοήτευση είναι κι αρετή του βιβλίου, γιατί ο Θέρσταν αποδεικνύει πέραν αμφιβολιών την ανθρώπινη φύση, που υπερβαίνει τα όρια του βιβλίου.
Μόνο ο πραγματικός αδυσώπητος πόνος φέρνει την ενηλικίωση, την επίγνωση και τότε μόνο οι θεοποιήσεις απομυθοποιούνται, ή αν κρατηθούν γίνεται με χάρτινη αφέλεια που στόχο έχει να ομορφύνει κάποιες άχαρες στιγμές. Αν δεν κρώξεις με απόγνωση που θα σου σκίσει το λαιμό δεν εκτιμάς ποτέ πως η φυσική κατάσταση του λαιμού σου είναι να λειτουργεί, χωρίς να πονά και τότε είναι που θα μπορέσεις να σπάσεις τα σχήματα και να δεις το Ρουμπίνι στο αφαλό.
- Σκεφτείτε το. Είναι σχεδόν απίστευτο. Ένας δικαστής, που ισχυρίζεται ότι είναι χριστιανός με ρωμαιοκαθολικό πιστεύω, να αποφασίσει υπέρ ενός άθρησκου μετανάστη, αγνοώντας την κατάθεση των ίδιων του των ομόθρησκων! Όμως δε θ’ αντέξουν για πολύ. Αυτή η γενιά των ερπετών, αυτοί οι διεφθαρμένοι δικαστές θα εξαφανιστούν. Οι άνθρωποι με ρωμαιοκαθολικό θρήσκευμα πληθαίνουν όλο και πιο πολύ στη Σικελία, αυξάνονται μέρα με τη μέρα.
- Κι αυτοί όμως είναι μετανάστες
Πριν από κανά χρόνο φαγώθηκα ν’ αγοράσω το Ρουμπίνι στον αφαλό, ψυχανεμιζόμενος πως θα είναι κάτι ανάμεσα στο Λευκό Κάστρο του Παμούκ, στον Περιπλανώμενο του Βαλτάρι ή στην Άβυσσο της Γιουρσενάρ και στις περιπέτειες του Στήβενσον. Μετά όταν το παρέλαβα δεν ήμουν ποτέ στην κατάλληλη διάθεση για τέτοιου είδους βιβλίο κι έτσι δε βρήκα την ευκαιρία να διαπιστώσω αν όντως είναι έτσι.
Το πρώτο βράδυ που το ξεκίνησα ναι μεν είχε το ιστορικό φινίρισμα κι ο Θέρσταν μου φάνηκε ενδιαφέρων ( όσο κι αν οι τόσο τονισμένες αναφορές στα ξανθά μακριά μαλλιά, τα γαλανά μάτια, το ύψος με ξένισαν κι όχι μόνο επειδή είμαι κοντός, μισοριξιά και καραφλόξανθος ), αλλά υπήρχε μια ιδέα ελαφρότητας που με ενοχλούσε και έτσι το άφηνα συχνά για να ξεφυλλίζω πάλι το Υπουργείο του φόβου, παρότι το είχα τελειώσει.
Την επόμενη ημέρα όμως πριν το ξεκινήσω τα συναισθήματα μου ήταν ανάμικτα. Δηλαδή απ’ τη μια περίμενα ότι θα ξαναβρώ την ίδια αλαφράδα και το ιστορικό υπόβαθρο, χωρίς ακόμα να έχω συναντήσει στοιχεία περιπέτειας και απ’ την άλλη μου δημιουργούσε αυτή την έλξη που συχνά μου δημιουργούν κάποια βιβλία που ενώ δε με τραβάνε ακριβώς, παράλληλα νιώθω κάτι καθησυχαστικό που θα τα διαβάσω, ότι με λίγα λόγια δεν είναι φούσκες. Και επίσης, με ιντριγκάρουν οι ομοιότητες με το εξαιρετικό μυθιστόρημα της ίδιας πάνω κάτω περιόδου και με παρεμφερείς θρησκευτικές αναφορές, του Τερζάκη, την Ιζαμπώ.
Στη σελ. 91 μου άρεσε πολύ η έκφραση ‘’αυτός που θα γινόταν ο αδερφός μου’’ αναφερόμενη σε ένα παιδί που πέθανε στην κοιλιά της μάνας του. Σκεφτείτε πόσο συχνά ακούμε ανθρώπους να λένε πως έχουν χάσει ένα αγοράκι, η ένα κοριτσάκι που όμως δε γεννήθηκαν ακόμα και προσωποποιούν ένα πόνο που ούτως ή άλλως είναι μεγάλη η απώλεια για ένα ζευγάρι, πόσο μάλιστα όταν το προσωποποιείς. Αυτή η αποστασιοποίηση μου άρεσε, Κατανοώ και τις δύο θέσεις, συμφωνώ όμως περισσότερο με τον Άνσγουορθ όσο κι αν στο περιβάλλον ενός γάμου, προτιμά κανείς να προσωποποιεί τον πόνο για όλα εκείνα που αντιπροσωπεύει.. Ακόμα και παιδιά το κάνουν για αδερφάκια που χάθηκαν στη γέννα, προσωποποιώντας μιας άλλης μορφής διάψευση που εσωκλείει ένα πόνο που δεν έχει γεννηθεί ακόμη και που θα σκάσει στην ενήλικη ζωή τους στην αρχή σαν αποστασιοποίηση και κάποιες στιγμές σαν μια βελόνη που μπήγεται οπουδήποτε.
Εν συνεχεία του μυθιστορήματος διαψεύστηκε η αρχική μου δυσθυμία αρκετές φορές. Αισθάνθηκα τέρψη διαβάζοντας το. Ο Άνσγουορθ είναι μεγάλο παραμυθάς. Κρύβει πολύ μεγάλη δεινότητα και πάθος η περιγραφή της μουσικής και του χορού στις σελ 107 – 114. Σχεδόν μύριζα τις μυρωδιές τους μαζί με το Θέρσταν, ιδρώτα, σκόνη και οσμές της φύσης… Όπως και λίγο αργότερα όταν περιγράφει με απίστευτα αστείο τρόπο τη σκηνή με τα μουλάρια μου γκαρίζουν, τους ερωδιούς που κάνουν γούλα γούλα στο λιμάνι κι εκεί που σταματούν, ηρεμούν κι οι κυνηγοί που τους παζαρεύανε και απ’ τις περιγραφές μοιάζουν κάτι παρόμοιο με τη μουρμουριστή φωνή των Αιγυπτίων και την κελαρυστή των Καλύμνιων μια γυναίκα τσιρίζει κι αρχίζουν όλα απ’ την αρχή … γούλα γούλα και δώστου!
Ήμουν σχεδόν προετοιμασμένος για σχόλια σχετικά με την αλλαγή που είχε σημειωθεί πάνω μου όταν γύρισα στο Παλέρμο, τόσο αλλαγμένο ένιωθα τον εαυτό μου μετά από τη συνάντηση με την Αλίσια, λες και υπήρχε ένα φώς γύρω μου. Εάν κάποιος το πρόσεξε δε μίλησε. Και καθώς οι μέρες περνούσαν και ξαναγύρισα στα συνηθισμένα μου καθήκοντα και δεν είχα νέα της, αυτό το φως άρχισε να ξεθωριάζει ώσπου δεν έμεινε παρά το κοινό φως της μέρας
Ένα απ’ αυτά που πρόσεξα μ’ ενδιαφέρον είναι η διάθεση του συγγραφέα να μη σου κρύψει πως αγαπάει το χαρακτήρα του, αλλά πως δεν παύει να είναι ένας νέος, αλαζόνας, ανειλικρινής σε μεγάλο βαθμό με τον εαυτό του, πληγωμένος απ’ τα κενά της πατρικής αγάπης, μπερδεμένος ανάμεσα στα θέλω και στα πρέπει και με μια τάση όλα αυτά να θέλει να αναπληρωθούν από αντικείμενα μωροφιλοδοξίας. Σε κάνει να νοιάζεσαι για το Θέρσταν, να εκτιμάς τα θετικά του και να εύχεσαι αυτό να είναι ένα ταξίδι ενηλικίωσης, για το καλό του και γιατί αυτό σου δημιουργεί μια σχέση μαζί του στοργική, ίσως κάτι σαν την πατρική. Νομίζω αυτό είναι, ο συγγραφέας σε πείθει να δεις τον ήρωα του με τα μάτια του γονιού που άλλοτε περήφανα, άλλοτε λυπημένα ακολουθεί νοερά τα βήματα του παιδιού του.
Σ’ αυτές τις αναμνήσεις από εκείνη που ήταν αληθινές, πρόσθετα κι άλλες που δεν μπορούσαν να είναι: το σχήμα του ποδιού της, την υφή του δέρματος της στη βάση του λαιμού, επινοημένες αναμνήσεις, που όμως δε συνοδεύονταν από πόθο, ήταν στοιχεία της θαυμαστής της ύπαρξης, η απόδειξη ότι υπήρχε. Όσο πιο ολοκληρωμένη μπορούσα να τη φέρω στο μυαλό μου, όσο μεγαλύτερη υπόσταση μπορούσα να της δώσω, τόσο περισσότερο μπορούσα να πιστέψω ότι θα συναντιόμασταν ξανά
Κάτι ακόμα που απ’ την αρχή μου δημιούργησε μια ευχάριστη αν και αψίθυμη διάθεση είναι η τάση του συγγραφέα κατά διαστήματα να χρησιμοποιεί τσιτάτα λογίων της εποχής ή και προγενέστερων, αναφέροντας τους π.χ. ‘’Ο Πέτρος Λομβάρδιος όπως πιστεύω μίλησε πρώτος γι’ αυτή την ικανότητα στο δεύτερο τόμο των αποφθεγμάτων του’’ σε κατακλείδες με μια κατ’ εξοχήν προζίστικη διάθεση, λίγο σα να κομπάζει διακωμωδώντας, λίγο σαν να χάρηκε που βρήκε κάπου να χρησιμοποιήσει ένα απόσταγμα ξένης σκέψης που του είχε μείνει στη μνήμη. Δεν ξέρω φαντάζει τίμιο, φαντάζει αστείο κατά κάποιο τρόπο και είναι σα να σε πιάνει και λίγο στα πράσα ο Άνσγουορθ τη στιγμή που βγάζεις μικρές κραυγούλες κι ετοιμάζεσαι να σημειώσεις την έξοχη φράση, σαν εκείνο το βλάκα από μια ελληνική σειρά που σημείωνε σε ένα μπλοκάκι τις ωραίες λέξεις.
Ένα τέτοιο μυθιστόρημα που έχει τη δυναμική να γίνει μια συναρπαστική περιπέτεια και όμως με σοβαρότητα επιμένει σε αυτό το μοντέλο πολιτείας πάνω από φυλές και θρησκείες και με καθαρή ματιά, σφαιρικά σου δείχνει τα αίτια που συνήθως οδηγούν τους λαούς όταν ζουν μόνοι να μπλέκουν σε εμφυλίου και μαζί με άλλους σε διχόνοια και σφαγές, ως αποτέλεσμα των πύργων της Βαβέλ που δημιουργούνται απ’ εκείνους που μπορούν να προκαλούν ασυνεννοησία, δεν παύει να είναι ένα μυθιστόρημα με βαρύ αμάξωμα, αλλά καλό ρεπρίζ. Κοινωνικό, ηθικό, πολιτικό, αλλά και συναρπαστικό ταξίδι ενήβωσης, με ατμόσφαιρα παραμυθιού.
Δεν αμφισβητώ τη δικαιοσύνη του βασιλιά. Είναι δίκαιος, άδικα πράγματα γίνονται στο όνομα του
Για πολλές σελίδες δε συνέβαιναν πολλά, αλλά διαρκώς με παράσερνε η φυσικότητα των διαλόγων, το μπρίο και η γραμμικότητα της αφήγησης, όσο και οι σκέψεις του Θέσταν, μαζί με το πανταχού παρόν βλέμμα του γονιού, που κληροδοτεί ο συγγραφέας, στον αναγνώστη. Για να ακριβολογώ, με έχει αφήσει έκθαμβο η δεξιοτεχνία του συγγραφέα να γεννήσει ένα χαρακτήρα, υποβάλλοντας με στο ρόλο του γονιού με ό,τι σημαίνει. Κατά τη διάρκεια αυτή, χάρηκα, ντράπηκα, καμάρωσα, λυπήθηκα, ένιωσα ματαίωση, όλα ως αποτέλεσμα των σκέψεων και των προσπαθειών του Θέρσταν. Κι ας μην έχω υπάρξει γονιός, μπορώ έστω να εικάσω.
Κι έτσι καθόμουν εκεί, χαμένος μέσα σ’ αυτή την αιώνια αντίφαση του ανθρώπινου είδους, τη λύπη για την απώλεια αυτού που δε μου άνηκε ποτέ
Γενικά υπάρχουν πολλές στιγμές που το γέλιο ρέει αβίαστα, στις σελίδες 294 – 295 αν και δεν έτρωγα φουντούνια να μου φεύγουν δεξιά – αριστερά απ’ το στόμα, απ’ τις τσιρίδες το τσιγάρο έκανε μπλουμ στην κόκα κόλα. Το αυτό επαναλήφθηκε και στη σελίδα 309, αλλά αυτή τη φορά δεν πήγαινε χαμένο το αναψυκτικό.
Ο Άνσγουορθ πετυχαίνει κάτι ακόμα που θεωρώ επίσης βιρτουόζικο χειρισμό. Αισθάνθηκα κούραση και δυσφορία απ’ τις τόσες πολυστρωματικές δολοπλοκίες, όσο κι αν κέρδιζαν το θαυμασμό μου οι μηχανισμοί που χρησιμοποιούνταν. Με τον ίδιο τρόπο που μ’ ενοχλεί μια μέρα στη δουλειά, τιγκαρισμένη από στιχομυθίες και τακτικισμούς καλοκαμωμένους να μοιάζουν με στρατηγικές που δεν κρύβουν άλλο, απ’ το διαίρει και βασίλευε. Κι όλοι αυυοί που ηθελημένα, ή αθέλητα, στηριζόμενοι στην ��φοσίωση ή τη φιλοδοξία μετέχουν πολύ συχνά, σε κάνουν να σκέφτεσαι διαρκώς τα λόγια του μεγάλου ποιητή, για τη συνάφεια.
Χωρίς το δικαίωμα κατοχής γης, ένας λαός απογυμνώνεται
Στη σελίδα 409 γεύτηκα μεγάλη στενοχώρια όχι απ’ τον χάρτινο Θέσταν, αλλά απ’ το χαρακτήρα που πια είχε γίνει τρισδιάστατος σα να βρισκόταν δίπλα μου, ώστε παραλίγο να κλείσω το βιβλίο και να το παρατήσω. Αλλά η ίδια απογοήτευση είναι κι αρετή του βιβλίου, γιατί ο Θέρσταν αποδεικνύει πέραν αμφιβολιών την ανθρώπινη φύση, που υπερβαίνει τα όρια του βιβλίου.
Μόνο ο πραγματικός αδυσώπητος πόνος φέρνει την ενηλικίωση, την επίγνωση και τότε μόνο οι θεοποιήσεις απομυθοποιούνται, ή αν κρατηθούν γίνεται με χάρτινη αφέλεια που στόχο έχει να ομορφύνει κάποιες άχαρες στιγμές. Αν δεν κρώξεις με απόγνωση που θα σου σκίσει το λαιμό δεν εκτιμάς ποτέ πως η φυσική κατάσταση του λαιμού σου είναι να λειτουργεί, χωρίς να πονά και τότε είναι που θα μπορέσεις να σπάσεις τα σχήματα και να δεις το Ρουμπίνι στο αφαλό.
- Σκεφτείτε το. Είναι σχεδόν απίστευτο. Ένας δικαστής, που ισχυρίζεται ότι είναι χριστιανός με ρωμαιοκαθολικό πιστεύω, να αποφασίσει υπέρ ενός άθρησκου μετανάστη, αγνοώντας την κατάθεση των ίδιων του των ομόθρησκων! Όμως δε θ’ αντέξουν για πολύ. Αυτή η γενιά των ερπετών, αυτοί οι διεφθαρμένοι δικαστές θα εξαφανιστούν. Οι άνθρωποι με ρωμαιοκαθολικό θρήσκευμα πληθαίνουν όλο και πιο πολύ στη Σικελία, αυξάνονται μέρα με τη μέρα.
- Κι αυτοί όμως είναι μετανάστες
September 19, 2008
A Ruby in Her Navel is yet another superb historical novel by Barry Unsworth. By his phenomenal standards, this book might at first appear somewhat one-paced, even one-dimensional, with its action set firmly in the place and time of its main character, Thurston Beauchamp, a young man in the service of King Roger of Sicily in the twelfth century. But if A Ruby in Her Navel might lack the immediacy and complexity of Stone Virgin, it approaches the beautifully portrayed picture of medieval life presented in Morality Play. Indeed, a group of travelling players also features in this novel, as in Morality Play, but this time it’s a troupe of belly dancers from Anatolia, on tour in southern Italy. The ruby and navel of the title both belong to Nasrin, the youngest, most beautiful and most provocative member of the group. But having written that they were touring Italy, a country name that in our eyes is merely mundane and perhaps innocuous, I am reminded of one of the most enduring features of Barry Unsworth’s book, which is its ability to re-draw one’s understanding of who we were.
It was Alison Weir who first did this for me, if you see what I mean. I read her biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine, the marriageable lady who became King Henry the Second of England’s queen. Again, there’s the name of a country… You see, at school we British school children learned a variety of history that filtered everything through a sieve of contemporary national requirements. I can remember being taught that during the medieval era, the English ruled most of France and largely held onto it until the Wars of the Roses (I was brought up in Yorkshire, another irrelevant aside). Possessions remained until Queen Mary finally gave up Calais with a cardiac etch. Alison Weir undid a school lifetime of history when she described the Angevin Empire, part of the pan-European expansion of the Franks. Based in Anjou, this empire comprised what we now call southern, western and northern France, plus all of England and Wales, and other bits at times (though never Scotland, hence that nation’s long-lasting alliance with the rival empire based on the Ile de France). When interpreted this way, it wasn’t English kings that ruled France, or vice-versa. It was an empire with its own lingua franca, langue d’oc. The countries, and with them the geographical, ethnic and cultural assumptions upon which we falsely base our interpretation of the past, simply did not exist. Thus the paradigms upon which we base our understanding of English-ness or French-ness become both irrelevant and inapplicable. And thus the troupe of belly dancers in A Ruby in Her Navel weren’t, therefore, in Italy. They were in the Kingdom of Sicily, a small but powerful and ambitious little Norman empire created out of the same Frankish expansion that spurned the enduring conquest of the Anglo-Saxons in 1066.
In A Ruby in her Navel Barry Unsworth presents medieval Europe in a way that brings the historical issues into focus and gives them life. Lands were conquered and their Muslim leaders deposed. But the new rulers had to politic their way to continued incumbency, recognising the interests of land-hungry knights, only temporarily defeated Muslim predecessors with friends nearby, Jewish merchants who did pragmatic business with anyone and everyone. And even within these groups there were divisions. Amongst the Christians there were two competing blocks, the Germanic Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine remnants of Imperial Rome. And then there was the Pope with his own empire, interests and ability to raise an army. And then there were those who aspired to power from within and sought to depose a rival in their own house. The Crusades that primary school history presents has having something to do with religion thus become mere wars of conquest for booty.
In A Ruby in Her Navel Barry Unsworth thus gives immediate, tangible life to the feudalism of the time. We really do understand the politics, the interests, the motivations of the era. But we are led to it by our experience of the characters’ lives, not via instruction or polemic. And the message is more powerful for Thurston Beauchamp, because he aspires to the knighthood his father relinquished in favour of monasticism. Thurston is currently King Roger’s entertainments manager and has to travel to Italy (I am doing it again!) to buy herons, caged prey for the King’s peregrines. He does his deal, but meets the troupe of dancers and the resulting stirrings of the spirit provoke him to ship them back home to do the same for his master. He falls in love with Nasrin, one of the group. Meanwhile Alicia, Thurston’s childhood sweetheart, suddenly reappears in his life. They were at school together until she was whisked away at a marriageable fourteen to be conjoined to a knight with a big sword and real estate in the Middle East, the Norman Outremer. Alicia’s husband, it seems, has now snuffed it, and again Thurston’s spirits rise when he realises that she is again available, again an unaccompanied, unclaimed, newly-vacated vessel.
The belly dancers go down well at home, of course, and so Thurston’s star is in the ascendant. He gets a new mission, commissioned by he knows not who and which causes accounting difficulties for the Muslim “head of civil service” to whom he reports.
By now you have probably guessed that there is a plot. And it’s a vast one, involving insiders, outsiders, a pope or two, Muslims, Germans, Jews, Byzantines and all the other interests competing their share of or their consolidation of feudal power. This really is top-down government, but the trick, once power is achieved, clearly is just to hold on. And sometimes you consolidate your home base by having a fiddle or two on foreign soil, a political strategy not unknown in our own times.
Our Thurston analyses the plot, works it all out and then acts to influence the outcome. Along the way he grapples with his rising dilemma in relation to Nasrin and Alicia, and thus his life is eventually transformed. As in all ages, he follows his heart (by which, of course, I mean his brain). A Ruby in Her Navel thus reveals that, as ever with Barry Unsworth, it is a multi-layered, complex, surprising and yet deeply human tale.
It was Alison Weir who first did this for me, if you see what I mean. I read her biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine, the marriageable lady who became King Henry the Second of England’s queen. Again, there’s the name of a country… You see, at school we British school children learned a variety of history that filtered everything through a sieve of contemporary national requirements. I can remember being taught that during the medieval era, the English ruled most of France and largely held onto it until the Wars of the Roses (I was brought up in Yorkshire, another irrelevant aside). Possessions remained until Queen Mary finally gave up Calais with a cardiac etch. Alison Weir undid a school lifetime of history when she described the Angevin Empire, part of the pan-European expansion of the Franks. Based in Anjou, this empire comprised what we now call southern, western and northern France, plus all of England and Wales, and other bits at times (though never Scotland, hence that nation’s long-lasting alliance with the rival empire based on the Ile de France). When interpreted this way, it wasn’t English kings that ruled France, or vice-versa. It was an empire with its own lingua franca, langue d’oc. The countries, and with them the geographical, ethnic and cultural assumptions upon which we falsely base our interpretation of the past, simply did not exist. Thus the paradigms upon which we base our understanding of English-ness or French-ness become both irrelevant and inapplicable. And thus the troupe of belly dancers in A Ruby in Her Navel weren’t, therefore, in Italy. They were in the Kingdom of Sicily, a small but powerful and ambitious little Norman empire created out of the same Frankish expansion that spurned the enduring conquest of the Anglo-Saxons in 1066.
In A Ruby in her Navel Barry Unsworth presents medieval Europe in a way that brings the historical issues into focus and gives them life. Lands were conquered and their Muslim leaders deposed. But the new rulers had to politic their way to continued incumbency, recognising the interests of land-hungry knights, only temporarily defeated Muslim predecessors with friends nearby, Jewish merchants who did pragmatic business with anyone and everyone. And even within these groups there were divisions. Amongst the Christians there were two competing blocks, the Germanic Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine remnants of Imperial Rome. And then there was the Pope with his own empire, interests and ability to raise an army. And then there were those who aspired to power from within and sought to depose a rival in their own house. The Crusades that primary school history presents has having something to do with religion thus become mere wars of conquest for booty.
In A Ruby in Her Navel Barry Unsworth thus gives immediate, tangible life to the feudalism of the time. We really do understand the politics, the interests, the motivations of the era. But we are led to it by our experience of the characters’ lives, not via instruction or polemic. And the message is more powerful for Thurston Beauchamp, because he aspires to the knighthood his father relinquished in favour of monasticism. Thurston is currently King Roger’s entertainments manager and has to travel to Italy (I am doing it again!) to buy herons, caged prey for the King’s peregrines. He does his deal, but meets the troupe of dancers and the resulting stirrings of the spirit provoke him to ship them back home to do the same for his master. He falls in love with Nasrin, one of the group. Meanwhile Alicia, Thurston’s childhood sweetheart, suddenly reappears in his life. They were at school together until she was whisked away at a marriageable fourteen to be conjoined to a knight with a big sword and real estate in the Middle East, the Norman Outremer. Alicia’s husband, it seems, has now snuffed it, and again Thurston’s spirits rise when he realises that she is again available, again an unaccompanied, unclaimed, newly-vacated vessel.
The belly dancers go down well at home, of course, and so Thurston’s star is in the ascendant. He gets a new mission, commissioned by he knows not who and which causes accounting difficulties for the Muslim “head of civil service” to whom he reports.
By now you have probably guessed that there is a plot. And it’s a vast one, involving insiders, outsiders, a pope or two, Muslims, Germans, Jews, Byzantines and all the other interests competing their share of or their consolidation of feudal power. This really is top-down government, but the trick, once power is achieved, clearly is just to hold on. And sometimes you consolidate your home base by having a fiddle or two on foreign soil, a political strategy not unknown in our own times.
Our Thurston analyses the plot, works it all out and then acts to influence the outcome. Along the way he grapples with his rising dilemma in relation to Nasrin and Alicia, and thus his life is eventually transformed. As in all ages, he follows his heart (by which, of course, I mean his brain). A Ruby in Her Navel thus reveals that, as ever with Barry Unsworth, it is a multi-layered, complex, surprising and yet deeply human tale.
November 24, 2014
The conundrum for the writer of historical novels, especially ones set centuries ago, is that people did things very differently then. When Dickens wrote of Revolutionary Paris or Tolstoy of Napoleon's march on Moscow, they were writing about people who relatively close to them in time and customs; those events had shaped the lives of the readers, whose grandparents had lived through them. The task that a novelist like Barry Unsworth sets for himself in writing about the brief period when the Normans ruled medieval Southern Italy is in many ways much more difficult. Norman Sicily far remote even from those who are conversant with Italian history. The people who lived through it are much further removed from our consciousness than the Romans who preceded them by a millennium or the Renaissance artists and princes who followed them. It was a time when Sicily, which we now know as a poverty- and crime-sricken island off the toe of Italy, was a glittering court where Latins, Byzantine Greeks and Arabs traded and even governed together. Palermo was a cosmopolitan, polyglot mercantile city with a public building and artistic program. Unsworth does very well with this, particularly with the Muslim head of a government bureau. He also seeds the plot, less successfully, with the owner of the navel of the title, dancer of the Yazidi religion (here I pause to remember the plight of the Yazidis besieged by ISIL, and fervently hope that their travail ends soon). The plot of the novel sort of lumbers along with a kind of a mystery that enmeshes the hero, Thurstan Beaumont, but the principal character is not engaging enough to make it suspenseful. In the end, Unsworth is defeated by this problem: in a time and place so radically different from our time and place, how does one create a central character who is both accessible and credible? Unsworth leans -- overmuch, in my estimation -- toward the former. Thurstan thinks and sounds relatively modern, which is to say not very medieval. In action, he is a bit truer to his time, but that is a function of the situations and decisions that Unsworth sets out for him. And perhaps the problem -- given such a remote time and place -- is insoluble, that a relatively modern-sounding narrator is inevitable. After all, Unsworth could probably not have mimicked the formality of language and religious, political and romantic ideas that appear in writing from the period and written an appealing novel at all. The example that is most galling occurs when Thurstan's king travels to meet the French Louis VII, returning from the disastrous Second Crusade with his then-wife, the very famous Eleanor of Aquitaine. An informant reliably fills Thurstan in on the travails of the crumbling marriage; Unsworth's understanding of the sacrality of medieval kingship prevents any closer proximity to the royal couple. A treatment of Eleanor was likely farther than Unsworth felt he could go, and he is probably right. But it sticks with me as the kind of opportunity lost when opening the door to such a poorly-known yet fascinating period but leaving so much unexplored.
April 23, 2009
Oh I love this book so much! I was so thirsty for one good historical novel and Unsworth never disappointed me so far.
This book is telling story about 12th century Sicily during the rule of Normans. Curiously I watched few days ago on History channel one series about this subject and it helped me to get wider perspective about what Unsworth wrote here.
12th Century Sicily was perfect place of harmony between Muslims (Saracens) and Christians (both Catholic and Byzantine) under the rule of King Roger II of Sicily. Roger drew round him distinguished men of various races, such as the famous Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi. The king welcomed the learned, and he practiced toleration towards the several creeds, races and languages of his realm. He organized a multiracial, multinational kingdom in which Arabic, Byzantine, Lombard, Jewish, and Norman cultures produced a brilliant cosmopolitan state. As such he was probably the most able ruler in 12th-century Europe.
This harmony is lovely metaphor of the present days views of multiculturalism and the reasons for its end 9 centuries ago are sadly the same ones why nowadays multiculturalism can’t find fertile soil.
We can see how some of the magnificent monuments that still exist have been built under the influence of all three religions which is undoubtedly the reason why are so beautiful. Also we can see glimpse of medieval politics: and there Serbs are entering on the stage (I was quite surprised). Indeed Unsworth is great historian, Serbs were preparing rebellion against Byzantines. The story goes that King Roger financially supported that rebellion to distract Manuel I Komnenos, Emperor of the Byzantine Empire to attack Sicily. Indeed Serbs haven’t been presented in such a perfect light but then, who could be completely positive in 12th century, age of bribes, lies, intrigues...?
Unsowrth beautifully paints emotion in Christian hearts after disaster of Second Crusade as well as perfectly clear picture how greedy, bloodthirsty crusaders were and how their reasons and actions were non-Christian. I’m glad they lost it (I know this must sound silly) and I am Christian. On the other hand I always had huge respect toward Arab culture and their contribution to the science. After this novel, even more.
You really have to ask yourself how on earth those men of church thought they are leading Christian life? All what they’ve done was lies, bribes and murders. There is one fantastic scene when man of Church, near Pope is convincing one of the character to do something very non-Christian under the fresco that is showing King Constantine how he kneels before the Pope offering him Eastern Kingdom. What Unsworth didn’t tell (and how could he considering that he would jump out of the entire book) and what I’ve saw at that series on History channel is that the same fresco have been used as a proof that Catholic Christianity and the Pope have legal right to take Eastern Empire and few centuries later it has been proved that the fresco is a fake. Knowing that, the scene of convincing that character to do something (I’m avoiding spoilers) under the same fresco has quite profound and obviously hidden meaning.
And of course there is personal story of love, loyalty, betrayal, dreams, lust … oh you name it! But all this (no matter how previous sentence sounds) couldn’t be more far from cliché.
Beautiful novel! I’m highly recommending it!
This book is telling story about 12th century Sicily during the rule of Normans. Curiously I watched few days ago on History channel one series about this subject and it helped me to get wider perspective about what Unsworth wrote here.
12th Century Sicily was perfect place of harmony between Muslims (Saracens) and Christians (both Catholic and Byzantine) under the rule of King Roger II of Sicily. Roger drew round him distinguished men of various races, such as the famous Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi. The king welcomed the learned, and he practiced toleration towards the several creeds, races and languages of his realm. He organized a multiracial, multinational kingdom in which Arabic, Byzantine, Lombard, Jewish, and Norman cultures produced a brilliant cosmopolitan state. As such he was probably the most able ruler in 12th-century Europe.
This harmony is lovely metaphor of the present days views of multiculturalism and the reasons for its end 9 centuries ago are sadly the same ones why nowadays multiculturalism can’t find fertile soil.
We can see how some of the magnificent monuments that still exist have been built under the influence of all three religions which is undoubtedly the reason why are so beautiful. Also we can see glimpse of medieval politics: and there Serbs are entering on the stage (I was quite surprised). Indeed Unsworth is great historian, Serbs were preparing rebellion against Byzantines. The story goes that King Roger financially supported that rebellion to distract Manuel I Komnenos, Emperor of the Byzantine Empire to attack Sicily. Indeed Serbs haven’t been presented in such a perfect light but then, who could be completely positive in 12th century, age of bribes, lies, intrigues...?
Unsowrth beautifully paints emotion in Christian hearts after disaster of Second Crusade as well as perfectly clear picture how greedy, bloodthirsty crusaders were and how their reasons and actions were non-Christian. I’m glad they lost it (I know this must sound silly) and I am Christian. On the other hand I always had huge respect toward Arab culture and their contribution to the science. After this novel, even more.
You really have to ask yourself how on earth those men of church thought they are leading Christian life? All what they’ve done was lies, bribes and murders. There is one fantastic scene when man of Church, near Pope is convincing one of the character to do something very non-Christian under the fresco that is showing King Constantine how he kneels before the Pope offering him Eastern Kingdom. What Unsworth didn’t tell (and how could he considering that he would jump out of the entire book) and what I’ve saw at that series on History channel is that the same fresco have been used as a proof that Catholic Christianity and the Pope have legal right to take Eastern Empire and few centuries later it has been proved that the fresco is a fake. Knowing that, the scene of convincing that character to do something (I’m avoiding spoilers) under the same fresco has quite profound and obviously hidden meaning.
And of course there is personal story of love, loyalty, betrayal, dreams, lust … oh you name it! But all this (no matter how previous sentence sounds) couldn’t be more far from cliché.
Beautiful novel! I’m highly recommending it!
June 20, 2011
i really like the way barry unsworth writes historical fiction. his research never overwhelms his story, and threads into the ideas he explores through the backdrop of another time: in this novel, the beauty of the mosaic art, the blend of multiple indistinguishable stones coming together in a particular shape to create beauty, is as the diverse populace of sicily in the twelfth century: some identifying as muslim, christian, others as greek, norman, german all contribute to the culture, all people, and all vie for ascendancy under the crown. the novel follows the royal purveyor, thurstan who has lost his chance at knighthood, and flounders as he attempts to find some kind of future, juggling loyalties and he narrates the story as his past to reveal the secret of the ruby.
i can't give the novel the four stars that i had originally hoped. eventually i found that the repeated and clunky foreshadowing got to me (please people, stop using multiple variations of "had i only spoken then, it might all have been different" -- i get it, you're telling the story in the future, and you want me to feel anxiety but you do this too much and all i want to do is punch the book in the face.) the pacing is a little off -- the book takes a while to unfold, and then there's a lovely mid-section, and then unsworth seems to feel an urgent need to wrap things up quickly -- the ending felt a little abrupt.
this isn't a perfect novel, but it's quite enjoyable, and i will be reading more unsworth.
i can't give the novel the four stars that i had originally hoped. eventually i found that the repeated and clunky foreshadowing got to me (please people, stop using multiple variations of "had i only spoken then, it might all have been different" -- i get it, you're telling the story in the future, and you want me to feel anxiety but you do this too much and all i want to do is punch the book in the face.) the pacing is a little off -- the book takes a while to unfold, and then there's a lovely mid-section, and then unsworth seems to feel an urgent need to wrap things up quickly -- the ending felt a little abrupt.
this isn't a perfect novel, but it's quite enjoyable, and i will be reading more unsworth.
November 27, 2018
This novel is set in 1149 Palermo, Sicily, where power struggles between East and West have left King Roger hard pressed to maintain his throne. Both the Pope and the Bishop of Rome refuse to recognize his rule, and Conrad Hohenstaufen (ruler of the west) and Manuel Comnenus (ruler of the east) are threatening to invade Sicily to secure their powers. Palermo has always been tolerant to various ethnic communities, but a Christian group is making false accusations against Muslims, Jews, and other "outsiders" to take over power.
Thurstan Beauchamp narrates this story. He is a young man still, the son of a Norman knight and a Saxon mother. He works in the Diwan of Control, the central financial office at the palace, where his employer is Yusuf Ibn Mansur, a Muslim man with political savvy and of unimpeachable honesty who is willing to help Thurstan become influential if he can avoid falling into one of the dangerous political games the various factions are playing against each other. Traveling throughout Europe as "Purveyor of Pleasures and Shows," Thurstan finds a group of five Yazidis, including Nesrin, a belly dancer with uncommon talent, and immediately hires them to come to Palermo to perform for the king. He is drawn to Nesrin's great beauty and allure, but things take yet another turn when he meets again with the Lady Alicia on the same trip, once his great love when he was still a boy and she then just a girl also. Now she has returned from the land of Jerusalem as a widow of considerable wealth, and seems just as taken with Thurstan, who finds his love for her has not abated over the years.
Further complicating matters, we learn early on that Thurstan's most cherished dream has been to become a knight and fight in the crusades, as his father has done before him, though this opportunity was taken away from him just when it seemed about to be realised. Now with Lady Alicia's return on the scene, many opportunities beckon. The novel builds up at a moderate pace, all the while filled with period details which inform us about aspects of daily life in 12th century Palermo. Thurstan, narrating in the first person from the vantage point of a period after the events have taken place, is a personable main character, whom we cannot help but empathise with though he makes many grave gaffes and mistakes, and much as his naivety and youth show he has yet much to learn, we see the events though his eyes before he had gained the advantage of hindsight, so that the reader is offered only glimpses of the whole, until a complex mystery is revealed.
A jewel of a book which I can't wait to reread to pick up on all the fine intricate details I may have missed the first time. I also loved Andrew Sachs' narration in the audio version. A well-earned five stars for this gem.
November 2014
Thurstan Beauchamp narrates this story. He is a young man still, the son of a Norman knight and a Saxon mother. He works in the Diwan of Control, the central financial office at the palace, where his employer is Yusuf Ibn Mansur, a Muslim man with political savvy and of unimpeachable honesty who is willing to help Thurstan become influential if he can avoid falling into one of the dangerous political games the various factions are playing against each other. Traveling throughout Europe as "Purveyor of Pleasures and Shows," Thurstan finds a group of five Yazidis, including Nesrin, a belly dancer with uncommon talent, and immediately hires them to come to Palermo to perform for the king. He is drawn to Nesrin's great beauty and allure, but things take yet another turn when he meets again with the Lady Alicia on the same trip, once his great love when he was still a boy and she then just a girl also. Now she has returned from the land of Jerusalem as a widow of considerable wealth, and seems just as taken with Thurstan, who finds his love for her has not abated over the years.
Further complicating matters, we learn early on that Thurstan's most cherished dream has been to become a knight and fight in the crusades, as his father has done before him, though this opportunity was taken away from him just when it seemed about to be realised. Now with Lady Alicia's return on the scene, many opportunities beckon. The novel builds up at a moderate pace, all the while filled with period details which inform us about aspects of daily life in 12th century Palermo. Thurstan, narrating in the first person from the vantage point of a period after the events have taken place, is a personable main character, whom we cannot help but empathise with though he makes many grave gaffes and mistakes, and much as his naivety and youth show he has yet much to learn, we see the events though his eyes before he had gained the advantage of hindsight, so that the reader is offered only glimpses of the whole, until a complex mystery is revealed.
A jewel of a book which I can't wait to reread to pick up on all the fine intricate details I may have missed the first time. I also loved Andrew Sachs' narration in the audio version. A well-earned five stars for this gem.
November 2014
December 28, 2015
Although this is one of my favourite genres - the historical novel with a bit of intrigue thrown in - I just didn't really get on with this book. I don't know if it's because I didn't much warm to the narrator, a young, ambitious civil servant in the court of King Roger of Sicily, who was just a bit too whiney and self-pitying - or whether it was because of an uncomfortable sensation right from the beginning that things were going to go pear-shaped. Which they did. And because of his part in this, I wasn't particularly happy with the way things ended, I didn't feel that enough remorse was felt. I think i would have liked it better if somebody had booted him up the backside. Oh well.
August 2, 2013
Ako volite povijesne knjige u kojima ima svega, dakle ljubavi, čulnosti i romantike, ali i spletki i intriga, svakako pročitajte ovaj roman. Radnja se odvija na Siciliji u 12. stoljeću, a pisana je očima mladog Normana koji je rasrgan između dvije žene. Priča me od početka zainteresirala, Unsworth piše jako zanmljivo tako da me je do samog kraja radnja držala u napetosti. Neke rečenice sam si čak i prepisala. Ja mu dajem čistu peticu!
February 19, 2014
The story is very predictable, from the beginning the author practically tells you how it ends. The story's background is very well carried, but the main character is naive to the point of stupid. He aspires to a position in which politcs and intrigue are a must but he falls in a clumsy trap that everybody can see miles aways but not him. His personality is very tiresome, as is his voice in the narrative.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 2, 2017
Unsworth draws me in like no other writer in his genre. His narrator isn't himself unreliable, but his ego wreaks havoc on everyone, not least himself. And you can count on Unsworth to make you feel just how heartbreaking betrayal is.
November 8, 2011
During the Middle Ages in Italy, Thurstan Beauchamp, a Christian Yusuf, an Arab, in the palace's finance office. Thurstan not only deals with the King's money, but also gets sent on errands that involve bribes and blackmail. On one of these errands, Thurstan meets his childhood sweetheart, whose husband has recently died. Thurstan believes that at last he will have everything he ever wanted, but there are dark times approaching for the kingdom of Sicily, and things are not as they appear.
Every now and then I like to read an adult book. You know, just to prove I can. Oh, and I can. I just chose not to most of the time. My mother had given me this one. When I was almost done with it she informed me she didn't think it was that great. To which I said, "Why are you giving me bad books to read? Don't you know my to-read list is a million books long?" But at that point I was almost finished. And I guess I didn't hate it enough to give up part way through. Although, to be honest, there was some skimming.
Despite the cover, this book is not racy. Like, at all. What was most interesting about the story was the time it was set in. Sicily was quite interesting during the Middle Ages. It had that period where many different religions were living fairly peacefully together under the king. Keep in mind that this was a time when the Crusades were going on, so that was a pretty big deal. Unfortunately, this period didn't last forever. This story is being told right at the time when everything was beginning to deteriorate, and there were emerging feelings of hatred toward the Arab population.
Thurstan is a naive little twit who thought he was much cleverer than he actually was and for most of the book I just felt sorry for him, because it was pretty clear to me from fairly early on where things were going. I wanted to cry, "You're being played for a fool! Obviously." But he didn't listen. Sigh. They never listen. So I was hardly at the edge of my seat as there wasn't much of a mystery. I did keep reading to see how everything would wrap up, and it got wrapped up awfully tidily.
There's a side plot with some dancers that Thurstan finds and brings to court and his relationship with one of them. That's where the title comes from. It seemed an odd choice. Perhaps something that sounded kind of racy was wanted? Even though it wasn't?
So it was fine. The romance wasn't all that romancy, the intrigue wasn't all that intriguing, and the mystery wasn't all that mysterious. So...yeah. It was fine. It was no Mistress of the Art of Death. Or Brother Cadfael. But nothing ever could be.
Every now and then I like to read an adult book. You know, just to prove I can. Oh, and I can. I just chose not to most of the time. My mother had given me this one. When I was almost done with it she informed me she didn't think it was that great. To which I said, "Why are you giving me bad books to read? Don't you know my to-read list is a million books long?" But at that point I was almost finished. And I guess I didn't hate it enough to give up part way through. Although, to be honest, there was some skimming.
Despite the cover, this book is not racy. Like, at all. What was most interesting about the story was the time it was set in. Sicily was quite interesting during the Middle Ages. It had that period where many different religions were living fairly peacefully together under the king. Keep in mind that this was a time when the Crusades were going on, so that was a pretty big deal. Unfortunately, this period didn't last forever. This story is being told right at the time when everything was beginning to deteriorate, and there were emerging feelings of hatred toward the Arab population.
Thurstan is a naive little twit who thought he was much cleverer than he actually was and for most of the book I just felt sorry for him, because it was pretty clear to me from fairly early on where things were going. I wanted to cry, "You're being played for a fool! Obviously." But he didn't listen. Sigh. They never listen. So I was hardly at the edge of my seat as there wasn't much of a mystery. I did keep reading to see how everything would wrap up, and it got wrapped up awfully tidily.
There's a side plot with some dancers that Thurstan finds and brings to court and his relationship with one of them. That's where the title comes from. It seemed an odd choice. Perhaps something that sounded kind of racy was wanted? Even though it wasn't?
So it was fine. The romance wasn't all that romancy, the intrigue wasn't all that intriguing, and the mystery wasn't all that mysterious. So...yeah. It was fine. It was no Mistress of the Art of Death. Or Brother Cadfael. But nothing ever could be.
June 5, 2022
The Ruby in her Navel is historical fiction at its best. Set just after the disastrous second crusade, it tells the story of an inexperienced but extravagantly romantic young man of many talents who is frustrated in his desire to be a knight. At the court of King Roger of Sicily a delicate balance persists between Frankish, Lombard, Norman and Saracen factions, a balance that the failure of the crusade has thrown into crisis.
Young Norman, Thursten, was trained for the knighthood and is awash in fantasies of its chivalrous nature and the key role its virtues play in preserving and furthering the spiritual and temporal power of the King, as ordained by God. When fate throws insurmountable obstacles that interrupt his path to knighthood, he sets his mind to learning Greek, Arabic and improving his Latin and makes himself indispensable to his Saracen master, Yusuf, in the Diwan of Control. His inexperience and overarching false idealism is a splinter in his eye that obscures the threats that surround him and those he holds dear. A chance encounter with some Yazidi dancers from the Seljuk Kingdom of Rum are the spark that sets him on the painful path to self-knowledge.
Unsworth's writing is sublime and his themes of intercultural cooperation and competition are clearly as relevant in the Middle East of today as they were during the times of the crusades. His descriptions of the harrowing flight from defeat on the battlefield and the trauma it wreaked on some survivors is extremely moving but his sympathies are evenly distributed and the world of political machinations that spawned these tragedies is brilliantly described. Unsworth has written brilliantly about the slave trade and medieval morality players too. There seems to be no world he cannot illuminate with brilliance and I will look out everything else he's written.
Young Norman, Thursten, was trained for the knighthood and is awash in fantasies of its chivalrous nature and the key role its virtues play in preserving and furthering the spiritual and temporal power of the King, as ordained by God. When fate throws insurmountable obstacles that interrupt his path to knighthood, he sets his mind to learning Greek, Arabic and improving his Latin and makes himself indispensable to his Saracen master, Yusuf, in the Diwan of Control. His inexperience and overarching false idealism is a splinter in his eye that obscures the threats that surround him and those he holds dear. A chance encounter with some Yazidi dancers from the Seljuk Kingdom of Rum are the spark that sets him on the painful path to self-knowledge.
Unsworth's writing is sublime and his themes of intercultural cooperation and competition are clearly as relevant in the Middle East of today as they were during the times of the crusades. His descriptions of the harrowing flight from defeat on the battlefield and the trauma it wreaked on some survivors is extremely moving but his sympathies are evenly distributed and the world of political machinations that spawned these tragedies is brilliantly described. Unsworth has written brilliantly about the slave trade and medieval morality players too. There seems to be no world he cannot illuminate with brilliance and I will look out everything else he's written.
October 15, 2013
There are books that aren't good, but because of their well written ending we end up liking them (Life of Pi for one). The Ruby in Her Navel isn't one of those books. The ending, while trying desperately to be profound - wasn't. The biggest chunk of the story was compressed and rushed at the end as a well written yet garbled mess, while the primary 2/3 of the book was littered with loooong descriptions of clothes, tedious thoughts of the hero and insipid conversations.
In the middle of the book I was plain bored. It droned on and on about some emotions and experiences I didn't care about in the slightest. And then I came to hate the hero.
I think it was author's intention for the reader to hate the hero, but no, I didn't hate him, I loathed him. I wished he would commit suicide and the book would end.
The hero didn't commit suicide, instead the author decided that after 300 pages of monotonous boredom he should stuff and squeeze in 70% of the story still untold.
Even though the author only recently passed away, his language is that of the classics. After reading "modern" language for many years, it was nice to read in a language we all know very well, but never use.
Still, the book is crippled and the hero is unlovable. He's angry, educated, but very stupid, selfish, empty, pompous and naive. (SPOILER AHEAD) He didn't deserve the good fate he got in the end. He should have died in some ditch, unknown and unwanted. But the author took a poetic route, which was incongruent to the universe he'd created.
1,5 stars
In the middle of the book I was plain bored. It droned on and on about some emotions and experiences I didn't care about in the slightest. And then I came to hate the hero.
I think it was author's intention for the reader to hate the hero, but no, I didn't hate him, I loathed him. I wished he would commit suicide and the book would end.
The hero didn't commit suicide, instead the author decided that after 300 pages of monotonous boredom he should stuff and squeeze in 70% of the story still untold.
Even though the author only recently passed away, his language is that of the classics. After reading "modern" language for many years, it was nice to read in a language we all know very well, but never use.
Still, the book is crippled and the hero is unlovable. He's angry, educated, but very stupid, selfish, empty, pompous and naive. (SPOILER AHEAD) He didn't deserve the good fate he got in the end. He should have died in some ditch, unknown and unwanted. But the author took a poetic route, which was incongruent to the universe he'd created.
1,5 stars
June 8, 2015
A very interesting and well-developed central character and plot line set in a time and place that I knew very little about -- I will be reading more by this author.
September 18, 2010
FBC review below:
INTRODUCTION: "The Ruby in Her Navel" is a 2006 (Booker longlisted) historical fiction novel by Booker prize winner Barry Unsworth that showcases why fantasy lovers should try the genre. Like last year's Father of Locks, "The Ruby in Her Navel" transports one into a familiar but also exotic milieu that is exquisitely rendered. This time it is the multiethnic and multireligious Norman Kingdom of Sicily at its apogee in 1149 under King Roger II. The blurb below gives a flavor of the novel's subject:
"It is 1149, and all is not well in Norman Sicily. The Second Crusade's disastrous failure has turned opinion against Palermo's Muslims, but King Roger's magnanimity toward his multicultural populace keeps the land in harmony--or so it seems. Thurstan Beauchamp, a Norman Christian, works at the government office overseeing finances, accounting, and bribes. Still smarting at the loss of his inheritance, he jumps at the chance to reconnect with Alicia, his noble childhood sweetheart. But what of Nesrin, the Anatolian belly dancer who stirs his lust? The undercurrents of political and romantic intrigue prove too much for naive, idealistic Thurstan, whose chivalrous inner core begins to crack as he travels on missions for his king..."
FORMAT/CLASSIFICATION: "The Ruby in Her Navel" stands at about 400 pages divided into 30 numbered chapters and is narrated by Thurstan Beauchamp. "The Ruby in Her Navel" is an adventure novel of intrigue, introspection, conspiracies and love, all in a superbly rendered atmosphere of a long lost culture that is both familiar and exotic.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Instead of a lengthy overview, the first page of the novel which hooked me on the story tells it better:
"When Nesrin the dancer became famous in the courts of Europe, many were the stories told about the ruby that glowed in her navel as she danced. Some said it had been stolen by a lover of hers - who had gone to the stake for it - from the crown of King Roger of Sicily, others that it had been a bribe from Conrad Hohenstaufen for her help in a plot to kill that same king. The plot had failed, they said, but she had kept the ruby and paid for it in a way that contented Conrad even more than the death of his enemy, vindictive as he was.
As time passed the stories ranged further and grew wilder: the gem was a gift from the Caliph of Bagdad, it was sent her by secret courier from the Great Khan of the Mongols with promises of more wealth if she would only come and dance for him and share his bed. And of course there were those who said that Nesrin was a shameless woman and the ruby was the reward of her pledge with the Devil. The troubadour who accompanied her made songs about the ruby, some happy, some sad, and this confused people even more. Neither of these two ever told the truth of it, no matter who asked, whether prince or peasant. I am the only one who knows the whole story, I, Thurstan.
Any human life lies in the future as well as the past, of however short duration that future may prove to be; they are hinged together like a door that swings, and that swinging is the present moment. To begin a story one must choose a time when the door swings wide, and this came for me on a day late in the April of 1149 when Yusuf Ibn Mansur asked me to remain with him at the end of what we called the majlis, the gathering of officials that was held twice-monthly in the royal palace of Palermo.
He asked me quite openly, rather carelessly, as if it were an afterthought, something that might easily been overlooked. But it was rare indeed that Yusuf overlooked anything. What better way of disarming suspicion than to speak in the hearing of all? There was nothing strange about my remaining there, about our having things to say in private: he was the Lord of the Diwan of Control and I was his subordinate in the same chancery. But secrecy was ingrained in him; and he knew, as I knew - indeed it was one of the things he had striven to teach me in the years I had served under him - that secrecy is best served by an appearance of openness.
The majlis itself has stayed in my memory because it was enlivened by a quarrel. I had only recently returned from Naples, where I had made an attempt to bribe the Count's jester, a dwarf named Leo, to return with me to Palermo as a gift to the King. He had refused, though much tempted, being afraid of the Count's wrath, of being followed and strangled. This mission I had undertaken in my capacity as Purveyor of Pleasures and Shows, my official title in the Diwan of Control, a resounding one, but in fact there were only myself and my clerk and bookkeeper Stefanos and the doorman. I did not speak of this failure at the majlis; it was my practice in any case to say as little as possible at these meetings.
I was distrusted as a man who belonged nowhere. I worked for a Moslem lord, I was not a Norman of France, being born in Northern England of a Saxon mother and a landless Norman knight. My father brought us to Italy in the year of Our Lord 1128, when I was still a child. He hoped to find advancement under the Norman rule, and he did so. My mother died some years later, struggling to give me a brother. My father… But more of my father later."
So if the excerpt above does not hook you on the story, why read the novel?
While Thurstan's voice is absolutely compelling to the end, the story itself is quite interesting, full of twists of turns and with foreshadowing that is quite subtle since while it gives a hint of where the story goes, the path is not straightforward.
The novel is immersive and it is hard to put down until the end with the last 100 pages being non-stop suspense. The secondary characters shine throughout: the most notable is Yusuf the Moslem lord who plucked the 17 year old Thurstan whose life has just spun out of control and away from his knighthood path that he seemed firmly set on from literally childhood, out of obscurity as a King's bodyguard. Despite cultural and religious differences, Yusuf is almost like a father to Thurstan and the relationship between the two is key to the novel.
Dreams die hard though and the novel illustrates this brilliantly when rich and widowed - so more or less free to choose a new husband - Thurstan's teenage flame Alicia appears seemingly out of nowhere and the old longings of the hero are resurrected to conflict with his desire of succeeding Yusuf as Diwan leader when the later ascends in the court hierarchy as well as with his infatuation with the free spirited Nesrin of the cover...
The title is a bit of a red herring and the first several lines quoted above embody this misdirection, but I leave to the reader to find out why. The novel has dastardly conspirators with nefarious plots, deadly assassins, rebels and loyalists and the action interweaves seamlessly in the rich tapestry of world building and medieval discourse.
"The Ruby in Her Navel" (A+) is another novel that came out of nowhere for me; opened by chance I just got hooked from the first page and could not stop reading it until finished, so I definitely plan to try more by the author, including his most celebrated novel the 1992 Booker winning novel Sacred Hunger that moves the scene to the 18th century and the slave trade.
INTRODUCTION: "The Ruby in Her Navel" is a 2006 (Booker longlisted) historical fiction novel by Booker prize winner Barry Unsworth that showcases why fantasy lovers should try the genre. Like last year's Father of Locks, "The Ruby in Her Navel" transports one into a familiar but also exotic milieu that is exquisitely rendered. This time it is the multiethnic and multireligious Norman Kingdom of Sicily at its apogee in 1149 under King Roger II. The blurb below gives a flavor of the novel's subject:
"It is 1149, and all is not well in Norman Sicily. The Second Crusade's disastrous failure has turned opinion against Palermo's Muslims, but King Roger's magnanimity toward his multicultural populace keeps the land in harmony--or so it seems. Thurstan Beauchamp, a Norman Christian, works at the government office overseeing finances, accounting, and bribes. Still smarting at the loss of his inheritance, he jumps at the chance to reconnect with Alicia, his noble childhood sweetheart. But what of Nesrin, the Anatolian belly dancer who stirs his lust? The undercurrents of political and romantic intrigue prove too much for naive, idealistic Thurstan, whose chivalrous inner core begins to crack as he travels on missions for his king..."
FORMAT/CLASSIFICATION: "The Ruby in Her Navel" stands at about 400 pages divided into 30 numbered chapters and is narrated by Thurstan Beauchamp. "The Ruby in Her Navel" is an adventure novel of intrigue, introspection, conspiracies and love, all in a superbly rendered atmosphere of a long lost culture that is both familiar and exotic.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Instead of a lengthy overview, the first page of the novel which hooked me on the story tells it better:
"When Nesrin the dancer became famous in the courts of Europe, many were the stories told about the ruby that glowed in her navel as she danced. Some said it had been stolen by a lover of hers - who had gone to the stake for it - from the crown of King Roger of Sicily, others that it had been a bribe from Conrad Hohenstaufen for her help in a plot to kill that same king. The plot had failed, they said, but she had kept the ruby and paid for it in a way that contented Conrad even more than the death of his enemy, vindictive as he was.
As time passed the stories ranged further and grew wilder: the gem was a gift from the Caliph of Bagdad, it was sent her by secret courier from the Great Khan of the Mongols with promises of more wealth if she would only come and dance for him and share his bed. And of course there were those who said that Nesrin was a shameless woman and the ruby was the reward of her pledge with the Devil. The troubadour who accompanied her made songs about the ruby, some happy, some sad, and this confused people even more. Neither of these two ever told the truth of it, no matter who asked, whether prince or peasant. I am the only one who knows the whole story, I, Thurstan.
Any human life lies in the future as well as the past, of however short duration that future may prove to be; they are hinged together like a door that swings, and that swinging is the present moment. To begin a story one must choose a time when the door swings wide, and this came for me on a day late in the April of 1149 when Yusuf Ibn Mansur asked me to remain with him at the end of what we called the majlis, the gathering of officials that was held twice-monthly in the royal palace of Palermo.
He asked me quite openly, rather carelessly, as if it were an afterthought, something that might easily been overlooked. But it was rare indeed that Yusuf overlooked anything. What better way of disarming suspicion than to speak in the hearing of all? There was nothing strange about my remaining there, about our having things to say in private: he was the Lord of the Diwan of Control and I was his subordinate in the same chancery. But secrecy was ingrained in him; and he knew, as I knew - indeed it was one of the things he had striven to teach me in the years I had served under him - that secrecy is best served by an appearance of openness.
The majlis itself has stayed in my memory because it was enlivened by a quarrel. I had only recently returned from Naples, where I had made an attempt to bribe the Count's jester, a dwarf named Leo, to return with me to Palermo as a gift to the King. He had refused, though much tempted, being afraid of the Count's wrath, of being followed and strangled. This mission I had undertaken in my capacity as Purveyor of Pleasures and Shows, my official title in the Diwan of Control, a resounding one, but in fact there were only myself and my clerk and bookkeeper Stefanos and the doorman. I did not speak of this failure at the majlis; it was my practice in any case to say as little as possible at these meetings.
I was distrusted as a man who belonged nowhere. I worked for a Moslem lord, I was not a Norman of France, being born in Northern England of a Saxon mother and a landless Norman knight. My father brought us to Italy in the year of Our Lord 1128, when I was still a child. He hoped to find advancement under the Norman rule, and he did so. My mother died some years later, struggling to give me a brother. My father… But more of my father later."
So if the excerpt above does not hook you on the story, why read the novel?
While Thurstan's voice is absolutely compelling to the end, the story itself is quite interesting, full of twists of turns and with foreshadowing that is quite subtle since while it gives a hint of where the story goes, the path is not straightforward.
The novel is immersive and it is hard to put down until the end with the last 100 pages being non-stop suspense. The secondary characters shine throughout: the most notable is Yusuf the Moslem lord who plucked the 17 year old Thurstan whose life has just spun out of control and away from his knighthood path that he seemed firmly set on from literally childhood, out of obscurity as a King's bodyguard. Despite cultural and religious differences, Yusuf is almost like a father to Thurstan and the relationship between the two is key to the novel.
Dreams die hard though and the novel illustrates this brilliantly when rich and widowed - so more or less free to choose a new husband - Thurstan's teenage flame Alicia appears seemingly out of nowhere and the old longings of the hero are resurrected to conflict with his desire of succeeding Yusuf as Diwan leader when the later ascends in the court hierarchy as well as with his infatuation with the free spirited Nesrin of the cover...
The title is a bit of a red herring and the first several lines quoted above embody this misdirection, but I leave to the reader to find out why. The novel has dastardly conspirators with nefarious plots, deadly assassins, rebels and loyalists and the action interweaves seamlessly in the rich tapestry of world building and medieval discourse.
"The Ruby in Her Navel" (A+) is another novel that came out of nowhere for me; opened by chance I just got hooked from the first page and could not stop reading it until finished, so I definitely plan to try more by the author, including his most celebrated novel the 1992 Booker winning novel Sacred Hunger that moves the scene to the 18th century and the slave trade.
November 18, 2023
This is my 4th Barry Unsworth novel (Sacred Hunger, Losing Nelson, After Hannibal) and it did not disappoint. There are few authors I have found who can move around in such a variety of historical settings and create credible stories and characters to inhabit them. This setting is mid-12th century Palermo and this might be a good book to read if you were planning a trip to Sicily (I wish I was!). The complexity and variety of Sicilian history is on full display with the Normans (King Roger) now ruling the island for some time after having supplanted the Saracens (Muslims) in 1130 but now mired in their own conflicts with the Byzantine Empire (Comnenus), Holy Roman Empire (Conrad) and Papal forces under Pope Eugene III. Larger events, mainly the disastrous (from the Christian standpoint) failure of the Second Crusade (1145-1149) roil the fragile Sicilian political landscape with the defeated forces of Louis exiting the Holy Land and some ending up in Sicily. Pressure on the fragile ruling structure of Sicily is intense amidst the shifting geopolitical landscape and the plot is likewise somewhat convoluted. I won't say it is the greatest story ever told but the characters are interesting and there are many insights into the Medieval world with references to theological and political debates of the time as well as mundane concerns such as survival and even love! 3.5 stars rounded up for some really interesting historical insights.
December 30, 2023
I read Unsworth’s ‘The Songs of the Kings’ earlier this year and loved it, so had high hopes for this book. What was most fascinating about it was the vivid depiction of life in twelfth century Sicily, under King Roger - the political intrigue, the glittering churches and palaces, the clothes and way of life of the elite, the meeting of many languages and cultures in one small island. I wish I had known about ‘The Ruby in her Navel’ when I visited Sicily a few years ago - that would have been the perfect place to read it. As a story I found it lacking - I found it difficult to engage with Thurstan, the first person narrator, and was not drawn in by the plot until very near the end of the book. And then a lot happened quickly and somewhat melodramatically, with a predictable (and uninspiring) ending.
July 22, 2016
Unsworth not quite at the top of his form with this one, but the setting was fascinating to me: the Norman kingdom of Sicily in the 12th century under Roger II. Under Roger's rule Greek and Latin Christians, Jews and Muslims all live in harmony.
The protagonist, Thurstan, son of a landless Norman knight and a Saxon mother works in the Diwan of Control--the finance office, but some call it the Diwan of Secrets. His superior is a Muslim, Yusuf. Thurstan is the Purveyor of Spectacles [obtains entertainment for the king] and also on Yusuf's orders will carry money for payment for information from one place to another. On one journey from Palermo to Calabria, Thurstan finds a marvellous troupe of belly dancers and musicians he sends back to dance for the king. One dancer, Nesrin, catches his eye. When a boy, Thurstan had been fostered by another noble family to prepare for knighthood. In Calabria, he and his childhood sweetheart meet each other after years. Meddling Latin clergy and Frankish nobility enter the kingdom and try to upset the balance by influencing the king to suppress the minorities. There is much treachery, spying, and deceit. Suffice it to say, things are not as straightforward as they seem . The story was boring for long stretches. The climax was certainly a surprise to me!
It was very well written and we got a feel for the opulence of the royal court, the nobility, and the palaces. Thurstan was naive, but certainly engaging. Yusuf was the perfect mentor.
The protagonist, Thurstan, son of a landless Norman knight and a Saxon mother works in the Diwan of Control--the finance office, but some call it the Diwan of Secrets. His superior is a Muslim, Yusuf. Thurstan is the Purveyor of Spectacles [obtains entertainment for the king] and also on Yusuf's orders will carry money for payment for information from one place to another. On one journey from Palermo to Calabria, Thurstan finds a marvellous troupe of belly dancers and musicians he sends back to dance for the king. One dancer, Nesrin, catches his eye. When a boy, Thurstan had been fostered by another noble family to prepare for knighthood. In Calabria, he and his childhood sweetheart meet each other after years. Meddling Latin clergy and Frankish nobility enter the kingdom and try to upset the balance by influencing the king to suppress the minorities. There is much treachery, spying, and deceit. Suffice it to say, things are not as straightforward as they seem . The story was boring for long stretches. The climax was certainly a surprise to me!
It was very well written and we got a feel for the opulence of the royal court, the nobility, and the palaces. Thurstan was naive, but certainly engaging. Yusuf was the perfect mentor.
Read
July 31, 2011With his brilliant novel, Songs of the Kings, Unsworth moved into one of my three favorite contemporary writers. He has an eye for period detail in his historical novels, but his strength is the subtle context that comments vividly on 21st-century events.
For example, Songs of the Kings, when it appeared in 2003, used Odysseus to demonstrate the madness of kings, and the relative ease with which they use saga to lead individuals to their doom. Three months after its release, the Iraq War began.
In The Ruby in her Navel, Unsworth brings to life a multi-cultural, multi-religious Sicily. It is one of the great European kingdoms, but there is trouble brewing. The utter failure of the 2nd Crusade has raised suspicions against Palermo's muslim population. Latin Lombards are moving in to challenge the Norman elite. The Byzantine Empire has Sicily in its sights, too.
It makes for a lousy time for Thurstan Beauchamp to fall in love. Seeking advancement--a possible knighthood--for himself as well as his Saracen patron: his naievete about the church and the king is put to the test. When his loyalty to king isn't tested, his loyalty to two ladies is.
For the last 250 pages, I just couldn't put this book down. I enjoyed it better than Unsworth's Booker-winning Sacred Hunger--almost as well as SOTK.
For example, Songs of the Kings, when it appeared in 2003, used Odysseus to demonstrate the madness of kings, and the relative ease with which they use saga to lead individuals to their doom. Three months after its release, the Iraq War began.
In The Ruby in her Navel, Unsworth brings to life a multi-cultural, multi-religious Sicily. It is one of the great European kingdoms, but there is trouble brewing. The utter failure of the 2nd Crusade has raised suspicions against Palermo's muslim population. Latin Lombards are moving in to challenge the Norman elite. The Byzantine Empire has Sicily in its sights, too.
It makes for a lousy time for Thurstan Beauchamp to fall in love. Seeking advancement--a possible knighthood--for himself as well as his Saracen patron: his naievete about the church and the king is put to the test. When his loyalty to king isn't tested, his loyalty to two ladies is.
For the last 250 pages, I just couldn't put this book down. I enjoyed it better than Unsworth's Booker-winning Sacred Hunger--almost as well as SOTK.
August 4, 2015
A contracapa diz que o livro é tão intenso como “O Nome da Rosa”. Hummm, isto interessa-me, pensei eu. Fiquei à espera de uma história com um acumular de suspense, com uma reviravolta no final… Mas tal não aconteceu.
O autor leva-nos até à Sicília da Idade Média, algum tempo depois da derrota dos Cristãos na Terra Santa. Aparentemente, a ilha é um paraíso para os diferentes credos, pois o rei promove o entendimento entre cristãos, judeus e árabes. No entanto, os normandos, magoados com o fracasso da última Cruzada, começam a conspirar, utilizando um jovem aspirante a cavaleiro, Thurstan Beauchamp, que trabalha para o Camareiro árabe do rei.
Barry Unsworth é muito bom a recriar os ambientes da época – o bulício das cidades, as caçadas dos nobres, as peregrinações aos locais santos, o amor cortês – e gostei dos detalhes que tornaram os locais tão vivos. Porém, em termos de conspirações e suspense, foi tudo extremamente previsível. Eu, que não sou grande detetive, consegui descobrir logo quem era o traidor e quem ia morrer no final. Assim, a leitura ficou um pouco “desenxabida”…
O autor leva-nos até à Sicília da Idade Média, algum tempo depois da derrota dos Cristãos na Terra Santa. Aparentemente, a ilha é um paraíso para os diferentes credos, pois o rei promove o entendimento entre cristãos, judeus e árabes. No entanto, os normandos, magoados com o fracasso da última Cruzada, começam a conspirar, utilizando um jovem aspirante a cavaleiro, Thurstan Beauchamp, que trabalha para o Camareiro árabe do rei.
Barry Unsworth é muito bom a recriar os ambientes da época – o bulício das cidades, as caçadas dos nobres, as peregrinações aos locais santos, o amor cortês – e gostei dos detalhes que tornaram os locais tão vivos. Porém, em termos de conspirações e suspense, foi tudo extremamente previsível. Eu, que não sou grande detetive, consegui descobrir logo quem era o traidor e quem ia morrer no final. Assim, a leitura ficou um pouco “desenxabida”…
December 29, 2012
Whilst the historical setting was fascinating, well-researched and described in a way that compliments rather than overwhelms the story, I simply didn't find this book a 'page-turner'. I think this is largely because Thurstan, the lead character and narrator, simply annoyed me. He is negative, whiny and pretty shallow. I just couldn't bring myself to care enough about him to worry about his fate - particularly as most of his misfortune is self-created and others suffer more for his poor decisions, and yet he continues to wallow in self-pity. That said, Unsworth does a great job of allowing the reader to explore the similarities, with regards to racial/faith tension, between 12th Century and 21st Century Europe - without insulting the intelligence or rubbing it in the reader's face. Definitely worth a read, although I enjoyed 'Morality Play' more and will be searching out 'Sacred Hunger' in the near future to see how it compares.
November 28, 2016
Jde o dobu prvních křížových výprav, což mě zajímalo, a o Sicilském království jsem toho také moc nevěděl.
Příběh vypráví mladý sekretář královského vezíra. Je to syn šlechtice, který veškerý svůj majetek odevzdal klášteru. Vlastně tak připravil svého syna o příjmy, pozemky i rytířskou budoucnost.
A mladý Thurstan chce být rytířem víc, než cokoliv jiného. Je to trochu až naivní donquijotovská postava, která touží po lásce krásných panen, boji proti nevěřícím atd. Sicilský král je pro něj bohem na zemi, čest své vyvolené je připravený bránit proti celému světu atd.
Jeho touhy a naivitu ale využijí spiklenci k tomu, aby jednak zásadně omezili vliv muslimských rádců sicilského krále Rogera, jednak zavraždili samotného krále.
Kniha je to docela zajímavá, na takového Cornwella a podobně ale nemá, místy je vyprávění zdlouhavé, o historickém pozadí se také až tak moc nedozvíte.
Příběh vypráví mladý sekretář královského vezíra. Je to syn šlechtice, který veškerý svůj majetek odevzdal klášteru. Vlastně tak připravil svého syna o příjmy, pozemky i rytířskou budoucnost.
A mladý Thurstan chce být rytířem víc, než cokoliv jiného. Je to trochu až naivní donquijotovská postava, která touží po lásce krásných panen, boji proti nevěřícím atd. Sicilský král je pro něj bohem na zemi, čest své vyvolené je připravený bránit proti celému světu atd.
Jeho touhy a naivitu ale využijí spiklenci k tomu, aby jednak zásadně omezili vliv muslimských rádců sicilského krále Rogera, jednak zavraždili samotného krále.
Kniha je to docela zajímavá, na takového Cornwella a podobně ale nemá, místy je vyprávění zdlouhavé, o historickém pozadí se také až tak moc nedozvíte.
August 13, 2011
Although a winner of a Booker Prize (for the excellent Sacred Hunger), Barry Unsworth seems little known and under-appreciated. This may be because some are 'sniffy' about 'historical novels'. But Unsworth lifts the genre to a higher plane. There is the attention to historical detail that you would expect. But his central character always has a complex inner life; time and place are vividly described; and story lines are strong. All this is true of The Ruby in her Navel, a tale of 12th century duty, love and betrayal.
February 10, 2017
The story of a twelfth February noble man and his relationship with a court dancer. The story is set in various locations around Europe and contains a wealth of information historical, geographical and religious. It is the level of detailed research that gained it a 3 star review from me as I really didn't think much of the story.
This book was tedious. It was technically well written but , in my veiw, boring. The relationship between the main characters felt flat and passionless. There was possibly to much focus on detail of history and too little character development for my liking.
This book was tedious. It was technically well written but , in my veiw, boring. The relationship between the main characters felt flat and passionless. There was possibly to much focus on detail of history and too little character development for my liking.
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