Book Review: Forty Rules of Love

Simply put, 40 Years of Love is a story of Ella, 40 years old housewife who have started a job at publishing house, falling in love with a writer, Aziz, a self-proclaimed Sufi travelling around the world and trying to publish a book. Parallel to their story runs story of two famous Sufis and Islamic philosopher- Sham of Tabriz and Rumi- written by Aziz in form of book titled Sweet Blasphemy and reviewed by Ella as a part of her job.

Beyond the plot, the book is symbolic and philosophical. The 40 rules of love by Sham of Tabriz stated all over the book as the story progress deals about very simple thing like self-care to sensitive issue like the meaning of Quran. Parallelism runs between the two stories set in two different world letting writer to effortlessly touch on the centuries long debates- religious intolerance, misinterpretation of religious text to the contemporary issues- the lack of love, identity crisis, social pressure and more.

Even with the lessons on everything possible in life and world, the book is not preachy. The language is lucid, story flows effortlessly and the messages are just there to be picked by readers in conjunction with that melody of language and story. Even if the readers know the end of Rumi and Sham of Tabriz love from the beginning, the story doesn’t give away much and we are hooked to know how. For Ella and Aziz- the story is simple but runs slow separated by the story of Sham of Tabriz and Rumi but the same slowness keep readers hooked. When reading Ella and Aziz, readers want to shift to Sham of Tabriz and Rumi and vice-versa.

It is a long read- not because the book is not the page turner but because it is rich in its contents. The book is not the kind you could just skim through, follow the character and understand the plot-line. It demands your attention and to comprehend it, you need to stop turning the pages after a while and ponder over the meaning of those seemingly simple words.

The book refers Quran as a river with four currents within. First current being the superficial meaning of the holy book where most of the people are struck but rest of the current are about the deeper meaning. People should dare to plunge in the river get to flow with the rest of the current and unravel the true meaning of Quran. The book is similar to Quran, you can be satisfied with the first current and leave there or decide to take the plunge and understand more which will surely keep you occupied for long and bring changes in your life.