Ali and Nino
"One feels as if one had dug up buried treasure--. An epic of cultural change that seems more immediate than this morning's headlines."--The New York Times
I can say the same about this book, even much more than “Times” says. After having read, my feelings could be compared only with feelings of person who really found a treasure. It’s best novel I have read ever. It’s captivating, fascinating, unique, enchanting masterpiece which affects themes like love, war and tolerance. First when I got the book, I did guess that the center of novel will be love, but I couldn’t just imagine what kind of love would be described. This was a love between two young people with different cultures, religions and even outlooks on life were different. About love which appears on the streets of Baku. About love which goes through many barriers and in spite of everything it was saved. Love which made stay them together, but religion and war which separated them.
The novel also covers the history and the differences of cultures like Arabian, Georgian, Russian, Armenian, Turkish and Persian. Due to quotes said by “Times” newspaper, I believe that I would not be mistaken to say that this story is the only story which covers East and West, Islam and Christianity, both.
I cannot possibly or how to say adequately express neither how poetic the book is, nor how beautifully were described the nature and each palace, bazaar and landscape. So much beautiful, amazing and at the same time funny legends, for instance those which were told by some Aga (with whom he smoked together) at those nights when he left Baku and stayed in one of the furthest villages from the city. During the novel I could learn some great stories which were about backgrounds of those towns which Ali visited. Each great story, which was retold in the novel, made me believe that the place where was Ali on