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Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood

My newest hobby is finding connections to my next read from my last, and that’s how I found Oryx and Crake – from a similar word in The Forty Rules of Love that made me instantly think of this Margaret Atwood novel. Also, while looking for another novel by Shafak, being totally in love with the last one, I came across another future read: Curiosity which just happened to be misplaced beside Shafak’s other novels. I love coincidences.

Not being totally excited about the topic of this novel – a dystopian future world – I was reluctant at first to start it. I decided to give it a chance, and started enjoying it a little more by the time I got to page 23. It was the quote at the beginning that ignited my interest and kept me plugging away, determined to find out what the author hopes to transpire:

“I could perhaps like others have astonished you with strange improbable tales; but I rather chose to relate plain matter of fact in the simplest manner and style; because my principal design was to inform you, and not to amuse you.” Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels.

From this you get the direction and focus of the novel. Wanting to have open eyes, I’m going to read the rest of this novel and, hopefully, will enjoy it. But I have discovered through the process of wanting to have open eyes that the future, which has not happened yet, depends on our thoughts and actions. If this is really the case, shouldn't we all be reading more books about utopia?

I appreciate the knowledge so far, and look forward to writing more about this novel as I continue on. Who knows, reality could be stranger than fiction after all.

The Forty Rules of Love - Elif Shafak

I have a new ability: I seem drawn to the right book at the right time - it’s almost as if the book is yelling “Yoo-hoo, over here”... well, not exactly like that, but that’s the only way I know how to explain it. If only everything in life was so clear.

My eyes settled on The Forty Rules of Love when I was at St. John’s Airport, just as my Dad ran off to grab a coffee. I grabbed it right off the shelf and didn’t think for another moment about whether it was worth my time – I knew it was!!

This novel is pure and simple magic and a pleasure to read from start to finish. To-date, I can’t think of a story that has inspired my mind and heart and flowed in such a way as this one did. I made little stars along the way to mark where I must go back and read again the poetic little scriptures that seem to hit the nail right on the head.

About the poet and scholar, Rumi, Elif Shafak takes us on a journey through time to Konya, Turkey, and the Anatolia/Asia Minor area in the thirteenth century to Rumi's moment of enlightenment, love and connection to his spiritual advisor, Shams of Tabriz. Sham's is a wandering, dancing dervish who practices Sufism.

There is so much more to this book than I can explain. Like Shams of Tabriz says, “There are different levels of wisdom, truth, and vision to everything” (he was speaking about the Qur'an).

There’s also a parallel story of modern day love between the writer of Sweet Blasphemy, Rumi and Sham’s story, and a married woman who’s writing a report of the novel for work. This contrast was nice and made the rules of love easy to apply to the world we live in today.

The fortieth rule made me cry and, although it closes off the novel nicely, in a way it brings us right back to the beginning, letting us know that there may be lessons but no rules, and this may be the hardest lesson of all. We are responsible, if not entirely for our path, for our spiritual growth and actions and how we view all things.

“Fret not where the road will take you. Instead concentrate on the first step (Faith). That’s the hardest part and that’s what you are responsible for. Once you take that step let everything do what it naturally does and the rest will follow. Do not go with the flow. Be the flow.”