Ali and Nino

The title of this book by Kurban Said says a lot. The two names are the names of lovers, like Tristan and Isolde, or Romeo and Juliet. And like Ali Babba and the Forty Thieves, this story takes place in the Middle East.

Just before the first world war, two young people in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, fall in love. Ali is a Muslim boy of aristocratic descent. Nino is a Christian girl with Western values, yet the two share a deep bond from the first. Even as a school boy, Ali thinks Nino is the most beautiful girl in the world. From the very first chapter, the question is raised: is Baku in Europe, or Asia? As the city struggles with its identity, so do the lovers. Ali feels at home in a Persian palace, while Nino refuses to wear a veil. Ali's ancestors killed Nino's namesake's husband. As Ali says, "We ought to be blood enemies."

In the end, though, the two are seperated by death, not by religion or beliefs or culture. This book explores the controversies that accompany love when the lovers have different ideas about religion and social rules. Is it possible to have a deep, spiritual bond with someone who practices a different religion and values different ideas? Is it possible to have a lover or spouse whose cultural ideas about love and marriage are very different? In Ali and Nino, the it does seem possible. Yet they are rarely happy at the same time, and since they share such a deep bond, this means that for most of the story they are both unhappy. So while Said seems to idealize love that overcomes cultural boundaries, he also portrays it as an unhappy struggle. Thus, the romantic message has a stipulation: love can overcome anything, but it'll probably leave everyone miserable if it has to overcome much of anything.

One thing that Said does very well is characterization; unlike some authors, who rush to tell us exactly who all of the characters are, he slowly reveals them. In real life, we rarely know who anyone truly is, and we learn about them slowly if at all. If you've read A Tale of Two Cities, you know that Dickens rushes to tell us everything about a character: what they look like, what they wear, what distinct mannerisms, habits, and idiosyncracies they have, and everything else that usually takes time to notice about a person. Said lets each character slowly tell the reader who they are through actions and dialogue, often with many contradictions and changes along the way. This is appropriate for a novel that deals with a crisis of identity for a city and for two people.

This book can be read as an entertaining romance, or a thought-provoking commentary on culture, religion, and human nature. It examines issues that divide the world today, and is a beautiful love story.