Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #60271 in Books
• Published on: 1994-09-22
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Synopsis
From his chlidhood in Fez, having fled the Christian Inquisition, through his many journeys to the East as an itinerant merhcant, Hasans story is a quixotic catalogue of pirates, slave girls and princesses, encompassing the complexities of a world in a state of religious flux. Hasan too is touched by the instability of the era, performing his hadj to Mecca, then converting to Christianity, only to relapse back to the Muslim faith later in life. In re-creating his extraordinary experiences, Amin Maalouf sketches an irrisistible portrait of the Mediterranea world as it was nearly five centuries ago - the fall of Granada, the Ottoman conquest of Egypt, Renaissance Rome under the Medicis: all contribute to a background of spectacular colour, matched only by the picaresque adventures of Hasan's life.

Customer Reviews

Suffering in slow motion
Leo was chosen as a book club read and I make it a practice to be diligent in reading the books we're supposed to read and am usually respectful with my comments. But, OH, this one is drudging on like a funeral procession. It doesn't shed any light on women as people, just as objects to be used and rejected by men at will. Maalouf didn't trouble himself to fictate a personality for any of the women in this book or to even tell us what they look like under those veils but he certainly glorifies the men (praise be allah...Puh-leez). I think that taking a character from history and inventing a life for them is all right if you don't have imagination enough to create your own characters, but my first glimpse of Leo through the eyes of Maalouf shows him destined to be a real jerk. That's if he ever grows up. Because at mid-book, he's still a child. I guess we'll fast forward this trek to the graveyard as the pages turn. And my copy will be buried with the spines of books never to read again.

15th century Mediterranean through Leo's eyes
Leo the African is a beautifully written novel. Leo takes us through his life story from his early childhood in Spain down to his teenager times in Morocco and finalising with his adulthood in Cairo, Istanbul and Rome. His soul reflects the Mediterrenean culture and its connectedness within.

Leo is a survivor. Most of his charm, successes and failures in life come from his being a traveller. It is fascinating to see how connected the Mediterranean was at that time. Every culture's, empire's moves impacted the other and everyone was informed about each other. It is also surprising to see that Europe, at that time, was not a safe place for Araps and Jews. Not much changed! History repeated itself after 450 years in a much more dramatic way.

Another interesting point is the influence of Ottomans (The Great Turk as Leo calls them) in the European politics and how the Mediterranean people viewed them as saviours yet they have been pretty brutal at times to the same people. The fall of Istanbul from European politics during the 20th century must have been very dramatic not only for Turks but also for all Mediterrenean cultures.

I thought Maalouf's style of telling the story of an individual along with the political history of that time works perfectly in this novel. His way of explaining the politics involves no judgement and does not create any controversy because his main objective is to explain the impact of that on Leo's life, nothing more nothing less. Being a Mediterranean myself, Leo's life story really touched me. Leo is curious towards life and nonjudgmental about others. He sees life more about living new experiences and a search for unknown people and cultures than a meaningless struggle for materialistic and conformist values.

Leo The African
This has to be one of the most amazing books I have read in my life - Leo the African. It's a story of a 16th century Muslim traveller writer from Granada - Hassan Al Wazzan. What this book did for me was explain the place of Muslim history in that of 16th century European history. I studied 16th century history at school but this is a part history that was either omitted or just not given any importance. I could not put this book down and cried when I finished this book. I did not want this magnificent journey in to Islamic history to finish.

It shows how historically Muslims, Christian and Jews have not been just each other's enemies but in fact each other's most faithful allies. Muslims have also killed Muslims and Christians have killed Christians. On the whole due to land and power not for faith.

The main message I obtained from this book is that no matter what religion or belief system you may follow we are all intrinsically linked with one another as human beings. Tolerance and acceptance, generosity are the only way forward and it is up to each and everyone of us to leave a legacy of what is wonderful about every faith and belief system behind us, for our children and future generations.
What has really changed this century? Well nothing and everything.

This book has reminded me why I am proud to be a Muslim and why I am so proud to have friends of all religions and beliefs. If you have a thirst to know more about Islamic history, you wont be disappointed.