The Dark Side of Love Mass Market Paperback – 5 Jan. 2010

Spanning eight hundred and ninety-six pages and three sprawling generations of Syrian families, 'The Dark Side Of Love' is a massive, monumental paean to passion in all its tragic glory.Decades in its creation, Schami's work consists of three hundred and four separate fragments ordered together in the same intricate manner as the mosaics which adorn the Arab world's most splendid mosques. 'Each of these pieces tells a story, and when you have read them they show you their own secret colours,' says the author in his afterword, relaying the vivid dream he says finally presented him with the concept for this narrative form. 'As soon as you have read all the stories, you will see the picture.'Seldom have books this long and exhaustive remained so utterly compelling from the first page to the last. Schami has not left as much as a single tile out of place.'The Dark Side Of Love' starts with a murder and ends with its solution. But this is no detective novel. This is first and foremost a book about Syrian love, unfurled in startling vignettes of tragic, forbidden trysts that sprinkle its pages like the sugar-coated fennel seeds which fall onto the streets of Damascus one night as if by magic.Two strangers gallop into the remote, mountain village of Mala in 1907, fugitives from a brutal arranged marriage, and inadvertently begin a feud between the Mushtak and Shahin clans which will spill the blood of generations to come. Some seventy years later in Damascus, the teenaged Farid Mushtak will meet and fall in love with a girl whom fate cruelly dictates is a Shahin. Their choice is stark: to deny their passion, or face death.Embracing a breathtaking array of characters, but managing to retain a clarity characteristic of so much translated Arabic fiction, Schami proceeds to fill in the gap of those three-score years, revealing why Farid and Rana's nascent love is doomed.Schami's work is in itself a love letter to a Damascus which in the course of his book survives the turmoil of occupation by the French, the terror of a never-ending series of brutal dictators and their Secret Service goons, short-lived union with Egypt and the birth of Israel. Yet so richly painted is Schami's picture of Damascene life that through all its turmoil and tragedies, the city never loses its allure.The novel develops through countless doomed affairs and periods of suppression, both individual and collective. In the 'Book Of Laughter', there are beautiful anecdotes about Damascene childhood; in the 'Book Of Hell', a nightmarish portrayal of life in Syria's secret prisons. It involves an extraordinary amount of sex, but this is not the kind of gratuitous or perfunctory copulation prevalent in so many philosophical modern novels - there are no 'Bad Sex Awards' here: the sex in this book is straight-forward and stallion-esque, which only the most tiresome prude would deny is not entirely in keeping with Schami's exploration of passion's extremes: the price for such ecstasy is often certain death.Schami's prose is simple and his outlook avowedly realist: beyond the occasional dream, he squeezes the whims of fate and fantasy from life itself. This realism makes 'The Dark Side Of Love' deeply affecting: haunting, heart-breaking and undeniably pertinent given the tragedy centred on Schami's beloved city today.Others have been right to question Schami's choice of title for his book, for this is not simply about love's 'dark side', but about love in all its glory - the kind of love that conquers all, even death.An old storyteller tells his rapt audience:"A woman once loved a man with a large wart on his nose. She thought him the most handsome man in the world. Years later, however, she noticed the wart one morning. 'How long have you had that wart on your nose?' she asked. 'Ever since you stopped loving me,' said the man sadly."Some say this is the great Syrian novel. I haven't read enough Syrian novels to venture an opinion beyond declaring it almost unfathomable that many, if any, Syrian novels could possibly be this good. It's the kind of book you truly wish will never end, and mercifully it takes a long time to do just that. Like the mosaics in the mosque, its intricate colours will shine out for generations to come.

I have just finished this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. Although it is a very long book it kept you interested and it was a page turner. I loved the way that the main story was interspersed by almost short stories in themselves which really captured the characters and atmosphere of Damascus at that time. Sometimes I would wonder how everything would come together but it did beautifully. I noticed on one of the previous reviewers did not like the amount of sex in the book. Whilst I probably would not give this book to my 80 year old mother in law, I did not mind it at all - in a way it is refreshing as sex is a part of life (although some of it in the book was a tad unusual to say the least) and other cultures are more open than our own in discussing it or writing about it. A magical book which I could see myself revisiting in a couple of years.

This book, which I am reading in a swedish translation, is just something else! In his final chapter Rafik Schami describes how he wrote the book; he compares it with making a mosaic, where each tiny piece has to be perfect in it's own right and in the whole. The book, which is very long, has very many chapters that are very short, and are little stories in their own right. They give flavour, are often funny and add to the richness of life in Damascus. The book has a main character, Farid, but then describes his family background, his own life and the life of many characters around him. It contains humour, sensuality, sadness, brutality, helplessness and power. And much more! It is an absolute favourite of mine!

I loved this book, all 853 pages. The story, and all its winding narratives, was fascinating. It was a bit confusing at first with the fragmented storyline. The stories can just be enjoyed in isolation and it is not necessary to concentrate on the numerous characters and their convoluted family relationships. Although the family trees were useful, they were also a bit distracting. A fascinating and horrifying portrait of Syria at the time. I have now been inspired to read up on the history of the period. Recommended for anyone who has an interest in the modern history of the region.

Well written and enjoyable. Very atmospheric and entertaining.

Very entertaining and enjoyable book

good book, brilliant condition, fast delivery, its quite a hefty book and long detailed story so would reccommend setting aside time to ensure your really absorb it

Book as promised