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The Tales of Abu Nuwas: Setara's Genie by [Marva Dasef]

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Marva Dasef

The Tales of Abu Nuwas: Setara's Genie Kindle Edition

by Marva Dasef (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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A girl, a genie, a few demons. What could go wrong?

Abu Nuwas sits in the bazaar on his threadbare rug; a cup and sign proclaim him a teller of tales. For one small coin, he bids passers by to listen. A poor girl, Najda, sells spices from a tray. Would he, she asks, trade a tale for a packet of spice? Abu Nuwas agrees and begins the epic adventures of a girl and her genie.

As did Scheherazade before him, Abu leaves Najda hanging in the middle of each yarn to keep her coming back. Between stories, he questions the girl about her life. He discovers that she’s been promised in marriage to an old man whom she hates, but she must wed him to save her sick mother’s life. The rich bridegroom will pay for the doctors the mother needs. Meanwhile, Najda sells spices in the market to earn enough money to keep her mother alive.

He relates the adventures of Setara, the bored daughter of a rich merchant, and her genie, Basit, as they encounter the creatures of legend and folklore: a lonely cave demon seeking a home; a flying, fire-breathing horse who has lost his mate; a dragon searching for his family; an evil genie hunting for the man who put him in a lamp; and a merboy prince cast out of his undersea kingdom.

Reading age

10 - 18 years
Print length

192 pages
Language

English
Grade level

5 - 12
Publication date

January 2, 2011
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Marva Dasef takes us on an exciting adventure with the included stories as well as a touching story between the teller of tales and his audience. Don't miss this exciting read! --Elizabeth Brenaman, Amazon reader The stories are fast-paced, full of humor, and always positive in tone, without overt moralizing. The secondary plot, about the girl to whom the old storyteller relates his tales, also has a happy ending. Much of the humor lies in sly word-play, particularly in the chapter titles, such as Chapter Twenty-Two: In Which Setara Has a Bottle of Djinn. (Basit the Genie has been trapped in a bottle filled with an alcoholic beverage, which makes him so drunk nobody can get him out of the bottle.) TermiteWriter - Amazon Reviewer (review from Setara's Genie).

About the Author

Marva Dasef is a writer living in the Pacific Northwest with her husband. Retired from thirty-five years in the software industry, she has now turned her energies to writing fiction and finds it a much more satisfying occupation.

Marva has published more than forty stories in a number of on-line and print magazines, with several included in Best of anthologies. She has several already published print and ebooks, and is now turning them into audio books. Six audio books are currently available. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004HW6AWY
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Texas Boy Publications; 1st edition (January 2, 2011)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 2, 2011
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1522 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 192 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #1,975,934 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #690 in Children's General & Other Myth Books
- #6,523 in Children's Folk Tales & Myths (Kindle Store)
- #18,784 in Children's eBooks (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
10 ratings

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Marva Dasef

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Marva Dasef is a writer living in the Pacific Northwest with her husband. Retired from thirty-five years in the software industry, she has now turned her energies to writing fiction and finds it a much more satisfying occupation.

Marva has published more than forty stories in a number of on-line and print magazines, with several included in Best of anthologies. She has several already published print and ebooks, and is now turning them into audio books. Six audio books are currently available.

See a complete list of her published work at http://tinyurl.com/DasefAuthor/ and http://mgddasef.blogspot.com/

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5

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Wendy Conway

I liked this book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 28, 2011

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In The Tales of Abu Nuwas Marva Dasef, teller of tales, weaves the stories of two young girls together. Najda is the poor girl who is on the verge of being married off to a rich old man in order to secure a better future for her mother and Setara, the product of Abu Nuwas's imagination, is the cloistered daughter of a rich man about whose adventures Abu Nuwas ragails Najda with on a daily basis.

I decided to buy this book after seeing a pretty cool trailer for it on YouTube youtube.com/watch?v=3vhzWTXsqtU. It reminded me of The Dreamers which is one of my favorite tales from Isaak Dinesen's Seven Gothic Tales. The language in Abu Nuwas is not as lush as it is in The Dreamers but, that type of thing is not for everybody. And so, I tried to read the book with objective eyes.

The story reminded me more of The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship which was one of my favorite stories as a child. This is because the stories of Abu Nuwas portray a young girl learning about the world and herself as she gathers a group of magical friends around her. Though she has the use of a genie a flying horse and any number of other magical creatures the adventures and misadventures contained within require her to rely more on herself than any of her magical friends. I liked this and think that this is the main quality of the book.

The book is perfectly structured to be read on a nightly basis before bed (short chapters with cliff hangers). I would guess that this book would be ideally suited for a girl in the 9-10 year old range. I think the Tales of Abu Nuwas are perfect for a young girl who is just on the verge of adulthood or maybe even on the verge of the verge because it portrays girls as taking control of the male dominated world around them and teaches them that they have control of their lives. I think that this is probably a book that could become a childhood favorite as it contains many examples that the reader can refer back to for advice and encouragement when she encounters her own adventures in reality. While this book is not what I typically read, I liked it and would recommend it.

3 people found this helpful

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doc peterson

Scheherazade was better

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 26, 2013

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Abu Nuwass earns his living telling stories in the bazzar. A young girl selling spices in the bazzar, Najda, becomes his regular customer. Nuwass' tales build one after the other on previous stories, and the two become friends. As Nuwass spins his yarns, he gradually becomes more of a father figure to his young audience, his stories eventually serving to not only inspire her but also offer her salvation from an arranged marriage the young Najda wants to avoid, but feels an obligation to follow through.

The stories and their telling are strongly reminiscent of Scheherazade's The Arabian Nights, Complete (Annotated) - tales of djinn, demons, bandits and flying horses and are entertaining, but they fall short of the skill and structure of _1001 Nights_. In fact, the way in which the stories were written was a problem for me - they seemed almost sophomoric in their telling. The parallel story of Nuwass and Najda similarly felt trite. Honestly, I am disappointed - I had hoped for something a little more complex and a lot more different from _1001 Nights_, which does a much better job relating similar stories in a similar structure.

2 people found this helpful

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ABookUnopened

A modern day Arabian Nights for the modern day pre-teen/young teen.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 25, 2017

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The first Abu Nuwas book. Abu Nuwas is a story teller. In this novel, he tells an eager audience the stories of Setara's Genie. Setara finds a genie (of the magic lamp type), but he is remarkably reluctant to do for her anything she can do for herself. Some of the magical things he actually does result in great hilarity, like when she asks for, and gets, a handsome prince who loves her madly. Setara grows from a teen you would roll your eyes at to someone whom you really like.

A great book for pre-teens/young teens.

One person found this helpful

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Anita Lewis

Light, fun read for adults or children

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 15, 2015

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A light read with lots of humor and creativity. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It would also be a great book to read to children reading one story at a time.

One person found this helpful

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Clayton Bye

Setara's Genie

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 3, 2012

Setara's Genie by Marva Dasef
Posted on September 3, 2012 by Clayton Bye

The Tales of Abu Nuwas (Setara's Genie)
by Marva Dasef
Publisher: Texas Boy Publications
Date: January 5, 2011
ISBN-13: 978-0578003788
Trade Paperback: 190 pages
Genre: Children's Stories

Abu Nuwas sits in the bazaar telling stories to the passersby he can tempt to pay. When Najda, a poor girl, offers him a packet of spice for a story, Abu Nuwas launches into a tale about a girl named Setara and her genie. However, being a clever man he leaves the girl hanging in the middle of each yarn to keep her coming back for more. While relating the fantastical accounts, Abu Nuwas learns more of the spice girl's life. He then finds a way to save her from a forced marriage, and he helps her to discover a better life.

The teller of tales relates the adventures of a girl and her genie as they encounter the creatures of legend and folklore: a lonely cave demon seeking a home; a flying, fire-breathing horse who has lost his mate; a dragon searching for his family; an evil genie hunting for the man who bottled him; and a merboy cast out of his undersea kingdom.

While impeccably written and portrayed in a suspenseful style, I find myself wondering if the book will hold the attention of a child in today's world. Due to the reading level required, it should be noted that The Tales of Abu Nuwas will need to be read to the audiences the stories are most appropriate for. Will they sit still for the relaxed pace and lack of pyrotechnics? And what of the children capable of reading the book: will they choose it over the latest Twilight type read? I have my doubts.

So this book that's in the process of being rebranded as Setara's Genie presents itself as a bit of a conundrum--it's a marvelous tale of a girl coming of age in a magical place but also where women are given little freedom, yet it's a story that belongs in an earlier, more simple era. I fear (and hope I'm wrong) that The Tales of Abu Nuwas/Setara's Genie will be lost amidst the shinier choices of the day.

Copyright © 2012 Clayton Clifford Bye

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