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The Enchantress of Florence: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Salman Rushdie
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy New: $11.20
You Save: $2.80 (20%)
Rating:  56 reviews
Sales Rank: 18990
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
ISBN: 0679640517
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780679640516
ASIN: 0679640517
Publication Date: January 6, 2009 (In 32 Days)
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Not yet published
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Product Description
The Enchantress of Florence is the story of a mysterious woman, a great beauty believed to possess the powers of enchantment and sorcery, attempting to command her own destiny in a man’s world. It is the story of two cities at the height of their powers–the hedonistic Mughal capital, in which the brilliant emperor Akbar the Great wrestles daily with questions of belief, desire, and the treachery of his sons, and the equally sensual city of Florence during the High Renaissance, where Niccolo Machiavelli takes a starring role as he learns, the hard way, about the true brutality of power. Profoundly moving and completely absorbing, The Enchantress of Florence is a dazzling book full of wonders by one of the world’s most important living writers.
Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best of the Month, June 2008: Trying to describe a Salman Rushdie novel is like trying to describe music to someone who has never heard it--you can fumble with a plot summary but you won't be able to convey the wonder of his dazzling prose or the imaginative complexity of his vision. At its heart, The Enchantress of Florence is about the power of story--whether it is the imagined life of a Mughal queen, or the devastating secret held by a silver-tongued Florentine. Make no mistake, it is Rushdie who is the true "enchanter" of this story, conjuring readers into his gilded fairy tale from the very first sentence: "In the day's last light the glowing lake below the palace-city looked like a sea of molten gold." At once bawdy, gorgeous, gory, and hilarious, The Enchantress of Florence is a study in contradiction, highlighted in its barbarian philosopher-king who detests his bloodthirsty heritage even while he carries it out. Full of rich sentences running nearly the length of a page, Rushdie's 10th novel blends fact and fable into a challenging but satisfying read. --Daphne Durham
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| Customer Reviews: Read 51 more reviews...
 Enchantress doesn't enchant November 24, 2008
The Enchantress of Florence: A Novel
While the lyrical language in Salman Rushdie's latest novel is erudite and beautiful, the story line is incredibly hard to follow. Character's names change, as do the plot locations. Terminology from multiple languages are included. Sentences go on for a quarter page. In short, the reader can easily get lost in a sea of beautiful language.
I read this book for my long-running book club -- a group of people who are normally very conscientious about completing the books we select. None of us finished this one because we just couldn't slog through it. Too bad, because it's pretty to read -- just incomprehensible.
 India and Italy in the 16th Century October 25, 2008
Finally a book from Salman Rushdie that I could read and enjoy! I had tried a couple of his earlier works including the 'Midnight's Children' but found them too confusing and complex.
This is a wonderful story based in 16th century India during the time of Akbar the Great, the most well known Mughal emperor. The visitor from Florence, Italy comes to the Mughal court with a secret to tell to the emperor and the story keeps the reader enthralled throughout. The contrasting lifestyles and philosophies of the western and eastern world is beautifully brought out by the author. Mr.Rushdie's in depth understanding of history, religion, culture and philosophy is obvious and his ability to mesh them all together to bring out a great book is outstanding. Every line contains so much information that I am astounded on how much research that must have gone into this book.
This one deserves many prizes!! (maybe a Nobel?)
The history of the Mughals from Babar to Akbar is brought out well and Akbar's reign is covered in detail. The construction of the city Fatehpur Sikri and its final desertion is built into the story of this book. Akbar's famous courtiers such as Birbal and Abul Fazl makes the story even more appealing to Indian readers. Since I had visited Fatehpur Sikri recently, I found the references to this city (which is well preserved even now) even more interesting.
Some pictures from Fatehpur Sikri are in my blog [...]
 The Enchantress of Florence October 24, 2008
I kept thinking I must be missing something. It was so hard to follow all of the differenct stories within the same book. I did't experience suspense, joy, or any of the other feelings descriped in the forward. I could not reccommend this book.
Decameron & Arabian Tales rolled into one October 18, 2008
Western tales with Eastern characters (Qara Koez - "Kara Goez" in Turkish spelling, "Lady Black Eyes") meet Eastern tales of Western characters (the yellow haired European traveller -- a la Marco Polo). The plot follows Silk Road, and sometimes goes as slow as a camel. The language is pretty impressive though.
If you liked Eco's The Island of the Day Before and Pamuk's My Name Is Red, you will also like this book.
a little hard to follow, but beautiful poetic writing October 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
To start with, I envy anyone who can put together words in such a beautiful way. But I had a pretty hard time following the story. I really didn't care, though, because the writing was so beautiful. If you're someone who has to understand what is going on in every aspect of the story, you might be frustrated reading this. If you can get over it and just enjoy the writing and the parts you understand, then it's definitely worth it. I loved the descriptions and the fable quality of the story.
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