Customer Reviews

The Rock of Tanios

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`In our village, the rocks had names.' With the first words I knew that I was going to delve into this book and would not bring myself to put it down until I had finished!
Set in 19th century Lebanon, The title "The Rock of Tanios" refers to a peculiar rock formation, looking like a great stone chair, that dominated the Lebanese village of Kfaryabda. The central characters are Sheikh Francis, a Christian Arab, and the sheikh's illegitimate offspring, Tanios. When I first started reading the book, I was on the quest to find why the rock was named after Tanios. Little did I know that that was the last thing that I was going to learn from this gripping tale. Through the fates and legends of these characters Maalouf creates a historical romance filled with local myths, political games, treachery, and love.
I would have to say that one of Maalouf's main themes is lost or forbidden love; how we fall in love with what's different from us, and discover we're different from what we thought we were.
And, it is forbidden love, which tears Tanios' family apart and drives him into exile.
Deceiving as hope might be, a twist in fate and luck brings Tanios back to his mother's bosom. Ironically, as he finally makes it to his beloved home, Tanios is left yet again as the estranged boy who did not truly know his own identity, or did he?
An amazing read, Maalouf has done it again. A prize well deserved for his fascinating imagination to mix true life with fiction.

This book is a terrific example of historical fiction and well deserving of the Prix Goncourt. It contains the two most important aspects of historical fiction. First, great historical fiction must contain a great deal of information on the era and the people in which the story is told. It really must convey the `feel' of the period. This story takes place (primarily) in a Druze village of Lebanon in the early to mid 1800s. You'll learn quite a bit about the complexities of 19th century Lebanese society and the larger scale geopolitical machinations between the French, British, Ottomans, and Egyptians, of which the proto-Lebanese state is caught helplessly in the middle. Second, the story contains a thoughtful tale about human ideals and relationships that is relevant and meaningful today. Maalouf succeeds admirably on both counts. The plot centers around a Druze youth who may or may not be the illegitimate child of the local sheik. This is a story about life's lessons and frustrations, and determining one's role in the world. Without giving too much away, the ending is extremely well done. Tanios (the main character) comes full circle, going from outcast to power broker, and realizes that being at the top isn't all that he thought it would be. Highly recommended.

A wonderfull work by a good writer. Being Lebanese my self, I appreciate the way Amin shows the way of life in Lebanon during the era of Shiks and Emirs. He presented a fiction that addressed the human nature from different prespective: greed, power, ambition, love, respect, revenge, anger, lust, and above all the inner peychological confusion of a kid realising that his father may not be his real father, and all its results. I greatly enjoyed the inclusion of the Lebanese words in the book, though translated into English, you have to be Lebanese to truly feel the meaning.

For me also, this fiction shows that the way of life in the Lebanese village's life of the 1800s in its reality still have echos in the daily political life of today's Lebanon.

This is the first book for Maalouf that I've read and he's since become my favourite author.

Make sure that you read Leo Africanus and Samarkand... I think they're somewhat better than Rock of Tanios as they have more fact and substance.

Like all his other books, the The Rock of Tanios by Amin Maalouf is a masterpiece.

Back at school we had to learn history from boring black and white books full of dates (of wars or treaties etc) we had to learn by heart which was not that much fun.
I started to enjoy History after reading Amin Maalouf's books. The Rock of Tanios is so exciting and fascinating, that you will start and finish reading this book within hours.

There are also some messages Mr. Maalouf has sprinkled throughout his book such as this wonderful one on page 360:

'Wherever you are , some will want to ask questions about your skin or your prayers. Beware of gratifying their instincts, my son, beware of bending before the multitude! Muslim, Jew or Christian, they must take you as you are, or lose you. When men's minds seem narrow to you, tell yourself that the land of God is broad; broad His hands and broad His heart. Never hesitate to go far away, beyond all seas, all frontiers, all countries, all beliefs.'


Read any book you get hold of by Maalouf, you wont regret it!

I just finished reading this book and, as expected with Maalouf, I was enchanted. It reads like a fairy tale only much closer to reality (at least for myself). All vices from hate to lust are represented with such vivid imagery, The kind of book that makes you reflect after every page.

This book was by all means a gripping one which I didn't put down until the very end.... Maalouf has a sensitive way of producing a combination of romance and reality and one has no way of knowing how much of it is actually contrived...mainly because of Maalouf's convincing. sensitive and confident style. This was a book I really enjoyed reading and I am looking forwarding to reading more of his work.

this novel is complete: history, romance, ethics, drama, comedy. all are present in a superb text with an easy and clear language.
it took me to a different world in all its details. it documents for a different trend of life many people want to remember, be it for its misery or its happiness.
i strongly recommend it .