The Enchantress of Florence

De: Salman Rushdie

Narrado por: Firdous Bamji

Few writers living or dead have received the monumental acclaim that has been accorded to Salman Rushdie for his richly textured, superbly crafted works. The Enchantress of Florence once again demonstrates the author's unparalleled mastery of his craft.

In the imperial capital of the Mughal Empire, a traveler arrives at the court of Emperor Akbar. The traveler, Mogor dell'Amore, has a tale to tell, and as the words flow out of him, the tale's rich tapestry of power and desire begins to take on a life of its own. Fueled by the urgency of his narrative and its growing effect on his audience, the traveler paints a vivid portrait of faraway Florence, a beautiful enchantress, and the infamous figure of Niccolò Machiavelli.

Winner of the Booker Prize, Rushdie delights all those who revel in literature of sublime achievement. Narrator Firdous Bamji matches the author's exquisite prose with a reading that conveys the full breadth of this lovingly detailed novel.

©2008 Salman Rushdie (P)2008 Recorded Books, LLC

Reseñas de la Crítica

“This is ‘history’ jubilantly mixed with postmodernist magic realism.” (Joyce Carol Oates, The New York Review of Books)

“A romance of beauty and power from Italy to India . . . so delightful an homage to Renaissance magic and wonder.” (Michael Dirda, The Washington Post Book World)

"Ingenious...[a] sparkling return to form." ( Publishers Weekly)

A delight to the senses

I listened to this book while driving over the drab Pennsylvania turnpike, and Rushdie's attention to detail, his sparkling vision of Hindustan, gave me a vision of splendor as I crossed the state. When reading the Enchantress of Florence you smell what the characters smell, see what the characters see, and feel what they feel. A beautiful, sad, journey back to a different age where you cross a continent and delight in the colors and scents of different cultures in a different time.

A bit extreme for me

This book started out interestingly enough but eventually devolved into a level of obscenity that's just too much for me. I can take a lot of expletives and sex scenes, but this was excessive. I've got six hours left and I just can't finish it - I don't care enough to find out where it's going. The narrator was impressive, but that's all I can commend about it.

Dreadful!

So wordy and delivered in a pretentious monotone! I am thoroughly disappointed in this book. It is expensive too! I wish I had never downloaded it. What a wasted credit.

A Fairytale Overlay to the Renaissance

I suffer crippling eyerolls whenever I hear a song about music, or a poem about poetry. It's always seemed like the peak of laziness to me. So when I realized this was a story about a story, my eyeballs threatened to flip me over the back of my chair right on cue. But I love Mr. Rushdie's transportation skills as a rule, so I stayed with it. He quickly made me rethink my narrow 'Box of Boxes' verdict. This is magical. No, not at all in a Harry Potter way, which might make some readers/listeners itchy. This is the deep magic; the kind that's not readily accessible to we Westerners with nothing like the Ramayana baked into our emotional foundation. Rushdie's layering of magic, philosophy, cautionary tales of politics, ambition, ego, and possession, and a 10-car pileup of cultures all believing themselves to be the superior, can be a challenge. And there are times when his ideas are a slippery fish (what other reviewers might call 'pretentious'), but I just let the words wash over me for a minute until I find my feet again. Ultimately, I think this is the story of an important ruler considering the nature of his power in relation to the power of nature. I loved it.

Rich and haunting

This book is a feast of language. Textured, intense, and lyrical, especially as read by this narrator, the prose resonates. The characters are certainly memorable and their stories capture the imagination, but it is the depth of the language that brings this book repeatedly to my mind at odd moments and makes me want to read or listen to every other novel Rushdie has ever written.

There are "easier" books out there. If you're looking for an action yarn or a bit of romantic fluff, look elsewhere. If however you want something that enriches you, that is worth the time you spend with it, and that will keep you sitting out in the car just to hear a little more of the magic, consider listening to this.