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The Woman Upstairs
Claire MessudClaire Messud 9780307596901

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Ali and Nino: A Love Story

by Kurban Said

ISBN13: 9780385720403
ISBN10: 0385720408
Condition: Standard
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

First published in Vienna in 1937, this classic story of romance and adventure has been compared to Dr. Zhivago and Romeo and Juliet. Its mysterious author was recently the subject of a feature article in the New Yorker, which has inspired a forthcoming biography. Out of print for nearly three decades until the hardcover re-release last year, Ali and Nino is Kurban Said's masterpiece. It is a captivating novel as evocative of the exotic desert landscape as it is of the passion between two people pulled apart by culture, religion, and war.

It is the eve of World War I in Baku, Azerbaijan, a city on the edge of the Caspian Sea, poised precariously between east and west. Ali Khan Shirvanshir, a Muslim schoolboy from a proud, aristocratic family, has fallen in love with the beautiful and enigmatic Nino Kipiani, a Christian girl with distinctly European sensibilities. To be together they must overcome blood feud and scandal, attempt a daring horseback rescue, and travel from the bustling street of oil-boom Baku, through starkly beautiful deserts and remote mountain villages, to the opulent palace of Ali's uncle in neighboring Persia. Ultimately the lovers are drawn back to Baku, but when war threatens their future, Ali is forced to choose between his loyalty to the beliefs of his Asian ancestors and his profound devotion to Nino. Combining the exotic fascination of a tale told by Scheherazade with the range and magnificence of an epic, Ali and Nino is a timeless classic of love in the face of war.

Synopsis:

First published in 1937, "Ali and Nino" has been hailed as one of the most romantic epic novels of all time. Against a gloriously exotic backdrop is portrayed a doomed but enduring love between childhood friends divided by their separate cultures. "The alien yet immensely human characters draw one into their world with vivid conviction".--Mary Renault.

About the Author

Kurban Said was the pseudonym of Lev Nussimbaum, who grew up in Baku and died in Italy in 1942.

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:

: Shoshana, May 31, 2010 (view all comments by Shoshana)
There's a lot of nice language in this 1937 novel by Kurban Said. This is a pseudonym for Lev Nussimbaum--or is it? Though the novel stands nicely on its own, half the fun is the mystery of its authorship.

The novel itself is about Ali Khan, an Azeri Muslim, and his love, Nino Kipiani, a Christian Georgian girl. Their relationship is emblematic of both the fruits and strain of the meeting of Europe and Asia. Said does a good job of beginning with a simple narrative from the perspective of a youth and gradually increasing the complexity as he ages and as his city of Baku, Azerbaijan is pulled into the Bolshevik Revolution.
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: Sharif, July 31, 2007 (view all comments by Sharif)
Brilliantly written love story by Kurban Said whose real name is Lev Nussimbaum. A love story between a Muslim boy and Georgian Christian girl shorty before Russian revolution. Nice and simple style yet profound, makes me want to go to Baku.
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Product Details

ISBN:: 9780385720403
Translator:: Graman, Jenia
Afterword:: Theroux, Paul
Translator:: Graman, Jenia
Author:: Said, Kurban
Afterword by:: Theroux, Paul
Afterword:: Theroux, Paul
Author:: Theroux, Paul
Publisher:: Anchor Books
Location:: New York
Subject:: Literary
Subject:: Historical
Subject:: Historical - General
Subject:: Historical fiction
Subject:: Love stories
Subject:: Muslims
Subject:: Christian women
Subject:: Literature-A to Z
Edition Description:: Trade paper
Series Volume:: 00-R12
Publication Date:: 20001031
Binding:: TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:: General/trade
Language:: English
Illustrations:: 1 MAP
Pages:: 288
Dimensions:: 8.01x5.25x.66 in. .47 lbs.

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