Reading Ali and Nino was like sinking into a warm bath for me. It reads a bit as a fairytale set in a distant world, but at the same time there is something familiar about the story. I suppose that is because the book is set in my part of the world, mostly in Baku (the capital of Azerbaijan) with excursions into Karabagh, Tehran and Tbilisi. The book has plenty of the old Caucasus traditions of blood feuds, bride kidnapping and things like that. The culture and the mix of modern and traditional feels very familiar for me, though life in modern day Armenia is nothing like life in early 20th century Baku.
The book tells the love story of Nino, a Georgian girl who has been raised in a modern, Western way, and Ali, the son of an old Azeri Muslim family. The story is set against the backdrop of World War I and the brief independence of Azerbaijan following that war. At first these worldly events are far away and don’t really seem to influence life in Baku. As the war progresses, though, so does the influence of these events on the lives of Ali and Nino and their friends and family.
Nino is a fairly modern and independent girl, who refuses to give in to some of the old customs. Ali has more traditional ideas about marriage and the role of men and women in society. At first, his ideas about women irritated me, but I soon let that go because that’s the way he was and the way his society thought at that time. Besides, Ali is not an unlikable character. Somehow Ali and Nino make things work and they deal with each other’s different views. Nino discovers she might not be as modern in some respects as she thinks, but in the end it is Ali who is more torn between the old and the new and who changes the most. The book is told from his perspective, with lots of subtle humor. The story made me smile more than once. I would love to share some passages here, but I read the book in Dutch, so there is not much point.
I would love to read this story told from Nino’s perspective and to read the story of what happens to her after this book ends.
The history of the novel is at least as interesting as the novel itself. Ali and Nino was first published in 1937, then forgotten and rediscovered quite recently. Nowadays, Ali and Nino counts as one of the classics of the region and is often recommended to get acquainted with the region.
Upon its first publication Ali and Nino created quite a stir because of the love story transcending etnical boundaries. Not only that, but also was the real identity of the author unknown. Only in the late 1990s research showed that behind the pseudonym of Kurban Said hid the Baku-born Russian Jew Lev Nussimbaum, who turned out to have been a character in his own right. During the 1930s he moved around freely in Nazist Viennese and Berlin’s high society pretending to be a Caucasian prince and later living in Mussolini’s Italy.
Recently, Tom Reiss published The Orientalist, a biography of Kurban Said / Lev Nussimbaum, which I would love to read. He seems to have been a fascinating character! There is an excerpt from The Orientalist here (you have to click through a bit, because there is no direct link).
This is the first book I read for the Eponymous Reading Challenge.
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I’m going to have to keep my eye out for this. It sounds really good, and it’s from a part of the world I’ve never read any fiction about.
This has gone straight onto my must-read list!
I read this while serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kazakhstan, and I loved every minute of it. I read it in English [needless to say, perhaps] and I can say that it hasn’t aged a day. I would say that while it’s a good introduction to the Caucasus, the culture doesn’t change that much if you stay in the greater Turkic areas of Central Asia, especially considering the not dissimilar mixing of Russian/Tatar/Uzbek/Kazakh influences in Central Asia versus the Georgian/Armenian/Azeri influences in the Caucasus.
A must read for everyone interested in the region and those thinking about Becoming Interested, too! And so thoroughly readable, even your mom would love it.
Michael, I’ve never been to Central-Asia, but from what I know about the region, I’d agree with you. Though it’d never crossed my mind that much of what this book covers, applies to CA as much as to the Caucasus. Even though that should have been very obvious to someone who is not entirely new to the region! You are right, it is an easy read and at some 250+ pages a fairly fast read as well (the Dutch translation I read has about 270 pages, I don’t know how much the English prints have).
BTW, the picture I used is the cover of the Dutch edition I read. I think it is such a beautiful picture, that I really wanted to use it in my post. The back-cover has a similar picture of a young man’s face with a Caucasian or Turkic headdress. I think this cover is part of the attraction of this book for me.
It’s marvelous book. Its covers both public life, history, traditions of Azerbaijan, the ancient land of fire. Only the man with Azerbaijani blood in his veins can create this masterpiece.
We are proud of Mohammad Asad Bey (Kurban Said)
I think this book is very must read book. As a person from the land of fire, Azerbaijan I can say that it covers everything related to the that time Caucasus, and person who wants to have kowledge about Caucasus, must rerad the book. Many things chnged from that time. But you can find the most commont things in book and in reality if you visit The Caucasus, especially Azerbaijan….
BTW, there’s no real fact if Lev Nussimbaum or Mohammed Essed Bay , or Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli wrote this bokk, but the reality is that the book is the product of Azerbaijan…
Hi. Lovely book, this, no? I enjoyed it very much. What struck me, though, was that it appeared to deal with typical Caucasian stereotypes – the manly Turk, the lovely but eventually submissive Georgian, the overtly friendly but finally treacherous Armenian. Or did I get that completely wrong?
I hadn’t really thought of it that way, but you may have a point, Feanor. Or maybe I did notice it, but didn’t really give it much notice. The characters could well be somewhat stereotypical, I can definitely see a point there.
I finished this book two day ago, was completely bowled over by it and have just posted my own review (in Dutch) here: http://annavangelderen.blogspot.com/2009/03/een-liefdesverhaal-uit-de-kaukasus.html
I had come across this book before, but when I read about it on your blog I decided to buy and read it at once, so thanks for drawing my attention to this wonderful novel.
My ancestors come from Baku, Azerbaijan. I felt the heart beat of my ancestors reading this book. In this book it has been described very well that love is not limited by mentality, cultural and racial differences
I’ve been also amazed that in the beginning of the 20 century Russia made the conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis and same thing he did in the end of the 20th century also still doing that in beginning of the 21st of century. It’s exactly the same Russia now which has been described in this book 100 years ago..
I highly recommend this book for the reading.