From Publishers WeeklyFramed by the conflict between Islamic and secular Western values, this novel from travel writer, critic and novelist Iyer (Cuba and the Night; The Global Soul; etc.) is part mystery, part spiritual coming-of-age tale and part romance. John Macmillan is a student at a Santa Barbara, Calif., university trying to finish his thesis on the lesser works of Sufi master Rumi. John begins searching the globe for a secret Islamic manuscript, reputedly smuggled out of Iran after the Shah's downfall, that may contain lost poems by Rumi. He travels through Syria, Iran, Spain and India; though the search is mostly fruitless, along the way he finds himself drawn into a romance with the flighty, fragile, slightly New Agey Camilla Jensen. At first the affair seems a trifling distraction, but as Macmillan's academic investigation stalls, he finds himself falling in love; Camilla, for her part, turns out to know much more about Sufism than John could have suspected. As he tries to get to the bottom of her connection with his field of study, she suddenly disappears. Iyer's intellectual detective story evolves into a deeper probing of love, spirituality and the clash of two world views. Without being forced or didactic, Iyer explores American ideas and misconceptions about Islamic faith, while exposing the political corruption that continues to plague many Muslim countries. Though the book is obviously timely, it never feels as though Iyer is mining the headlines for material. Perhaps its greatest achievement is the evolution of the deep, passionate love between John and Camilla, which Iyer renders with grace and psychological acuity.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.From Library JournalFamed journalist Iyer branches out with this story of graduate student John MacMillain, whose quest to understand Sufism leads him from Spain to Damascus to India and back to California, where the mysterious Camilla offers further complications. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.From BooklistIyer, best known for travel writing, returns to fiction (after Cuba and the Night [1995]) and creates an intriguing but uneven work. John Macmillain is an English student of Sufi poets, finishing his dissertation in Santa Barbara. Rigid and withdrawn, he finds reason to explore the ecstatic verses of Rumi in real life when he meets the emotionally wounded Camilla Jensen and falls in love, against his better judgment. As his emotional world changes, so does his scholarly approach to his subjects. Iyer's writing is often poetic, and in presenting the Persian diaspora in Southern California, he has an intriguing way of peeling back familiar landscapes to reveal hidden sights. John's travels to far-flung locales are also crafted with knowledge, and a subplot of his search for new manuscripts adds needed dramatic tension. This slow-paced novel is a study of small moments and big ideas, but his characters live so much in the ether, there's not a lot of them for us to hold on to. Keir GraffCopyright American Library Association. All rights reserved how can i read books online for free Abandon
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Evocative, Seductive, and SublimeBy Martha ChristianA love story like none I've ever read, Abandon held me gently but firmly as its momentum built, carrying the plot to a conclusion I did not expect. I found myself unable to read very much at one sitting, as the tension of the relationship between John and Camilla, paralleled by that of John's search for ancient Sufi manuscripts, felt uncomfortable at times. All in all, though, I was enthralled! This is the first book by Pico Iyer that I've read. It will not be the last.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Not for everyone, but worked for meBy J. HoughtonI "get" both the good reviews and the bad ones. I read the book in one sitting and found myself drawn in (could have had something to do with diverting myself from some work I'd rather not be doing). No character is described in detail, nor are many of the locations. And there is plenty of mystical (II won't call it "pseudo-mystical" -- not sure I know the difference, or even if there is a difference) twisty, self-contradictory, sound-of-one-hand-clapping stuff that's supposed to be laden with meaning. I could have done with a little less of that, but somehow the come-here-go-away tension in the love story, the ever-present though largely invisible threat of reprisal by agents of the Revolution, the occasional bit of Eastern Wisdom that had actual depth, kept me turning the pages.8 of 11 people found the following review helpful. Mind and Heart: Where they meet and where they don'tBy Grady HarpABANDON is a book difficult to classify. It is nearly a textbook about Rumi poetry and Sufism - one of the myriad Eastern forms of 'religion' to which we have little access. On the level of introducing a scholarly treatise about Islam, Muslims, and the selflessness of those religions as compared to the Western point of reference of the monotheistic, 'God as the Ruler of Creation' Christian religion author Pico Iyer succeeds valiantly. His writing is effervescent, wholly with the incensed atmosphere of the beauty of the Eastern religious mind. His knowledge of Rumi poetry is obviously rich and he shares that knowledge that makes this book an invaluable guide to understanding the differences that maintain a wall against understanding between the Middle Eastern countries and the United States - and as such the book could not be more timely!Where this reader finds problems is the attempt to create a Romance novel that illustrates the mysticism of Sufism. Iyer writes very well, but his creation of Camilla Jensen, the love interest of the narrator John McMillan as he writes his dissertation on Rumi, is hardly successful. The character is a whining, dissociative, frightened creature who rarely assumes a countenance that would be able to attract ANYONE - inside or outside the novel. She is a selfconscious, chronically late, afraid little bore. Iyer paints some lovely encounters that have all the atmostphere to accompany a love song, but it is difficult to understand why he becomes so obsessed with her.But despite the shortcomings as a romance novel, ABANDON is a book that deserves a wide audience for its introduction to Eastern religion in a format accessible to the American audience. And that is far more important than yet another mindless love story.........