Customer Reviews

Alamut

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First published sixty years ago, Alamut is a literary classic by Slovenian writer Vladimir Bartol, a deftly researched and presented historical novel about one of the world's first political terrorists, 11th century Ismaili leader Hasan ibn Sabbah, whose machinations with drugs and carnal pleasures deceived his followers into believing that he would deliver them to a paradise in the afterlife, so that they would destroy themselves in suicide missions for him. Flawless translated into English (and also published in eighteen other languages), Alamut portrays even the most Machiavellian individuals as human - ruthless or murderous, but also subject to human virtues, vices, and tragedies. An afterword by Michael Biggins offering context on the author's life, the juxtaposition of his writing to the rise of dictatorial conquest that would erupt into World War II, and the medly of reactions to its publication, both in the author's native Slovenia and worldwide, round out this superb masterpiece. An absolute must-have for East European literature shelves, and quite simply a thoroughly compelling novel cover to cover.

I can not deny that Alamut is a fascinating historical novel but it is also so much more. It is a hauntingly eloquent work that combines poetry and prose in perfect harmony without being heavy handed or prolix. Enrapt by the story, I was transported by the language. Alamut was easily one of the most beautifully written and articulately translated books I have ever read.

As the former reviewer states, Alamut is an excellent historical novel. I think any reader who is interested in what is obviously the burgeoning issue of contemporary global society, involving the clash between 'Western Society' and middle-eastern islamic cultures, should get a copy of this book. Alamut not only helps one realize how rich, varied, and old some of the cultures involved in this issue are, but helps remind one that there isn't really an 'us vs. them', and that there is as little a 'them' as there is an 'us'. On top of being historically informative and intriguing, this book is very entertaining. And not only is it a fairly quick read, but one that is broadly accessible to many ages and personalities. I would highly recommend this book to anybody who wants to know more about the history of an amazingly culturally-rich area of the world, or anybody who just wants a good book to read and likes stories about love, action, and intrigue.

My prediction is that this book will be read widely someday. A friend who turned me on to "Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree" by Tariq Ali (3-stars -- I'll add my Amazon review soon) lent me her copy at Thanksgiving. After the first couple of chapters of "set up," I devoured it.

The easy comparison would be to Osama bin Laden and terrorists and Iraq and so forth. But I read "Alamut" as a heart-breaking coming of age novel. A girl and boy, barely in puberty, are taken in by a "movement" (cult/army/regligion?) that they quickly become attached to. But when their eyes are lifted to the truth, they are changed forever. Alamut's leader -- a mix of madness and genius -- offers a couple of longwinded, but fascinating, monologues on the meaning of life, but the real meaning in the book is found in the fates of the girl and boy.

This book isn't perfect. It has a strange outdated "puritan" feel to it at times, especially with the sexual (lesbian/hetero) scenes, but it also has the feel of a classic. Meaning, that in 20 years it will still be in print and will be much more widely known than today. This book will be relevant for many, many years regardless of the political situation. From Illinois, a 5 stars.

although originally written many years ago, this book gives a whole new glimpse of present day realities. two intertwining stories manage to convey a world of ideas, ideals, intrigue and fascinating political ramifications. a delightful and light read, interesting and entertaining. a novel worth keeping, and so beautiful you'll want to keep it prominently!

He is mistaken who is searching in this book for a historical (reality), and is mistaken who reads it as a research or a dogmatic study.
Firstly , this work is a ( novel ) , id est. it tells , like any other novel , the story of characters , places , and epochs whose credibility rests on the script's frame .
Secondly, it is a (historical novel) that is the writer leans on history to tell his story.
This means by no chance that Bartol is re-reading history as a (fact), rather, he is creating a new narration which is this very novel that is read.

Alamut castle, the characters ibn-al-sabbah, Chajjam, Nizam-al-Molk, and the process of power degradation in Persia during 1092, all of these are elements that happened in history but in this novel they are merely narrative tools in a script that grabs its integrity from being read by us.

Vladimir Bartol ( 1906-1967 ) finished writing this novel in 1938 , in an era that was typified by the emergence of totalitarian theories and the existence of important political individuals who were aiming for a new world order set by their concepts.
Undebatably that special historical circumstance had a major role in leading the author towards the (sheik of the mountain)'s hypnotic nature to make of him the focal point of interest in his novel, supported by many stories written by historians, and by what their books implied of mythical propaganda that hailed one of the most cunning leaders of the Islamic political history in Iran.

"Alamut" should not be read as a historical document. It is, was, and will always be meant to be a work of fiction, and a pretty good one. The plot is divided into three interweaving stories: The first we are introduced to is about a girl named Halima, which has a lighthearted and dreamlike feel to it, complete with bizarre plot elements that seem to come out of nowhere and melodrama you'd expect to find in a girl's YA novel. The second is the story of Ibn Tahir, which is essentially a high school adventure with more stabbing. His scenes are the most action oriented of the three. Finally, we have the top dog Hasan Ibn Sabbah's, which is the most complex and cerebral, given it's eccentric protagonist. There are a couple of nagging issues that kept this book from being a real page turner, though. The main problem is the narration. You always feel like you're watching these events from the outside, there's no intimacy between the reader and the events on the page. Second is the god awful poetry sections. Poetry should never be translated, it will always sound forced and amateurish. All 'n all, Alamut's pretty good. The poor narration really weighs down the drama, and the triple-narrative makes for an uneven tone, but some readers, like myself, will really dig the experimental tinge of that kind of plot structure.

There are certain novels, such as George Orwell's 1984 or Herman Hesse's Siddhartha, which merges philosophy, religion, social commentary, and parable in fairytale-like narrative. This is the case with Alamut by Vladimir Bartol. The novel was written in 1938 and at the time may have referred to the forces of Hitler and Mussolini but now is seen as more related to Al Qaida and current terrorist activity We are told a very compelling story with a traditional chronologically ordered narrative structure. In other words, in many ways this novel reads as an old fashioned page-turner populated with characters that for the most part are not emotionally complex except for the main character, Hasan Ibn Sabbah.

Hasan Ibn Sabbah is a highly calculating strategic thinker who gains power through assassination rather than through conventional combat. However he is also a master at conventional combat and the motivation of young troops and strategy. It is just that he sees that so much more can be accomplished by assassination of a single head of state rather than through the clash of armies. Bartol often allows us into the head of Hasan ibn Sabbah thought his dialogue with his generals and other military commanders. Sometimes these dialogues reminded me of the dialogues in Albert Camus' play Caligula, where we are uncertain if we are hearing the brilliant strategies of an insane man or the nihilistic strategies of an overconfident man.

Contrasted against Hasan ibn Sabbah are young innocent slave girls taught to act like houris in an imaginary paradise, handsome and dashing young soldier who are tricked into becoming suicide terrorists, and then some more subtle characters who actually share some of the traits of Hassan ibn Sabbah such as the brilliant and devote village boy ibn Tahir and the coolly calculating and manipulative Miriam. The novel is highly visual in that scenes are well described and it would be easy to imagine a film based on this novel.

Hasan ibn Sabbah is recognized for his use of political terrorism and he may have been one of the first to extensively use this strategy, however I strongly suspect more would use it if possible. The feature that keeps heads of state from using it more often is the fear that it will be turned upon them and their family.

For me personally one of the highlights of the book was the discussions of the Islamic empire with competing sultans and emirs and struggles between Sunni and Shiite factions even in the year 1000.

A long parable or long fable might be a way to characterize the writing style, yet the interplay of the characters and the ever flowing narrative make it an enjoyable read.

Alamut, by Vladimir Bartol, is apparently one of the great works in the Slovenian language. It has, according to Wikipedia, been translated into many other languages and is even compulsory reading on the curriculum of Slovenian schools. This translation into English is the second, the first done in 2004 by Scala House Press.

The novel is historical fiction dealing with the Ismaili "Old man of the mountain" who imbued his followers with immense faith and zeal, partly through the use of hashish, and developed the fearsome clandestine fighting force known to the world as Assassins. The story here, relates the personal experiences of some of his early recruits as well as the women he used to seduce them, his commanders, their families and various sundry other characters. The schizophrenic point of view is a little unusual since we never get a sense of who the main characters are - you get insight into everyone's internal state which can be very distracting. However, the main story line is fairly clear as Hasan, the Old Man himself, builds gardens to resemble paradise, brings young men into his camp, tests their faith and finally sends them to the gardens to "Paradise" after dosing them with hashish. When they return, they are completely loyal to him and don't fear death. You also get the story from the point of view of the Houris - the young women in the gardens specially trained to pretend they are in paradise.

The plot is deceptively simple, the philosophy transparent and the reader is generally treated like an idiot who needs everything explained. At least this is what I thought originally. The last fifty pages of the book turn everything on its head and leave you confused about right and wrong, moral ambiguity and who the protagonists really are. This sudden lack of a sense of moral compass is actually something of a redeeming quality in the novel, since until that point, everything seems like a morality play on the horrors of fascism. At the end you are left wondering if this book really was against ideology, or at a deeper level, in support of some higher ideal - what exactly it is is left to the reader as an exercise.

I would still have to complain that the translation seems targeted at the reader's digest condensed version crowd. Not that it reads in a badly stilted way, it just seems really dumbed down. Perhaps this is the way the original reads in Slovenian too, although it makes it unlikely to have claimed the crown of Slovenian literacy. I imagine it's difficult to find a good Slovenian-English translator - but really - some of the poem translations here make me want to jump off cliff with the Assassins.

This brings me to another problem I have with the book - its cover. Since I have an advance readers copy, I can't be certain that this is the book's final public face, however, the blurbs on the outside cover are highly misleading. They make reference to Osama Bin Laden with vague claims that the book somehow relates to modern day terrorism. I guess on a superficial level there are similarities but I can't say they're great. It also mentions the new computer game, Assassin's creed. I'm not sure who the target audience is but they're going to be disappointed. If, like me, they were interested in the book due to its status as a literary work in Slovenian, and its reputation as a metaphor for fascism, they're going to be surprised at the simplistic translation. If they're looking for great historical fiction with excellent plotting and attention to detail, they will be bored by the less than exciting plot and plodding philosophical discussions,.

That said, the story, if you can win through to the end, does have some literary merit as it raises a lot of questions about moral behaviour, rational manipulation and the meanings of ideology. Not a beautiful read, nor a deeply inspiring one, but one that raises more questions than it answers.

I thought this book was very well written and truly opens the mind to different viewpoints. A good read.