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The Bastard of Istanbul audiobook cover art

  • The Bastard of Istanbul

  • By: Elif Shafak
  • Narrated by: Laural Merlington
  • Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars 267
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars 144
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    4 out of 5 stars 144

In her second novel written in English, Elif Shafak confronts her country's violent past in a vivid and colorful tale set in both Turkey and the United States. At its center is the "bastard" of the title, Asya, a 19-year-old woman who loves Johnny Cash and the French Existentialists, and the four sisters of the Kazanci family who all live together in an extended household in Istanbul.

  • 4 out of 5 stars

  • Istanbul lives

  • By Jaxcat on 04-20-07
The Essential Rumi, New Expanded Edition audiobook cover art

  • The Essential Rumi, New Expanded Edition

  • By: Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, Coleman Barks - translator, John Moyne - translator, and others
  • Narrated by: Robertson Dean
  • Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 17
  • Performance
    4.5 out of 5 stars 13
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars 12

This revised and expanded edition of The Essential Rumi includes a new introduction by Coleman Barks and more than 80 never-before-published poems. Through his lyrical translations, Coleman Barks has been instrumental in bringing this exquisite literature to a remarkably wide range of listeners, making the ecstatic, spiritual poetry of 13th-century Sufi mystic Rumi more popular than ever. 

  • 5 out of 5 stars

  • Each passage is like a mouth watering kiss!!!

  • By Jambo Jamz on 10-11-18
Three Daughters of Eve audiobook cover art

  • Three Daughters of Eve

  • By: Elif Shafak
  • Narrated by: Alix Dunmore
  • Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 78
  • Performance
    4.5 out of 5 stars 72
  • Story
    4.5 out of 5 stars 73

Set across Istanbul and Oxford, from the 1980s to the present day, Three Daughters of Eve is a sweeping tale of faith and friendship, tradition and modernity, love and an unexpected betrayal. Peri, a wealthy Turkish housewife and mother, is on her way to a dinner party at a seaside mansion in Istanbul when a beggar snatches her handbag. As she wrestles to get it back, a photograph falls to the ground - an old polaroid of three young women and their university professor.

  • 5 out of 5 stars

  • Trademark dynamic writing style

  • By Kenneth C. on 06-18-18
Rumi Poetry audiobook cover art

  • Rumi Poetry

  • 101 Quotes of Wisdom on Life, Love and Happiness
  • By: John Balkh
  • Narrated by: Clay Lomakayu
  • Length: 33 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 76
  • Performance
    4.5 out of 5 stars 65
  • Story
    4.5 out of 5 stars 65

Rumi has been described as "the most popular poet" in the United States. Rumi's popularity has gone beyond national and ethnic borders. He is considered to be one of the greatest classical poets, by the speakers of Persian language in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. His poetry is still read worldwide today and has been translated into a wide variety of languages including Turkish, Persian, Russian, Asian, English, and Spanish languages.

  • 3 out of 5 stars

  • Annoying dings

  • By David A. Williams on 08-24-17
Rumi audiobook cover art

  • Rumi

  • Voice of Longing
  • By: Coleman Barks
  • Narrated by: Coleman Barks
  • Length: 2 hrs and 27 mins
  • Original Recording
  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 60
  • Performance
    4.5 out of 5 stars 50
  • Story
    4.5 out of 5 stars 49

In the seven centuries since the death of Jelaluddin Rumi, in 1273, the world has come to know and thrill to his sacred poetry. In concert with the tabla and sitar, his writing is part of a religious tradition that is believed to excite "spiritual heroism", embracing the holiness of love, lamentation, battle, and the longing for God.

  • 1 out of 5 stars

  • Poetry recitation

  • By Charlotte Mathes on 08-22-14
Pure Water audiobook cover art

  • Pure Water

  • Poetry of Rumi
  • By: Coleman Barks, Jellaludin Rumi
  • Narrated by: Coleman Barks, Eugene Friesen (cello)
  • Length: 1 hr and 8 mins
  • Original Recording
  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 108
  • Performance
    4.5 out of 5 stars 94
  • Story
    4.5 out of 5 stars 88

A 2009 Nautilus Gold Award Winner, Pure Water is Coleman Barks’ inspired live performance of the poetry of Jellaludin Rumi (1207-1273) - with Sufi stories and jokes, accompanied with music by Bach, O’Carolan, Friesen and others. The performance captured in this recording recalls the essence of the communal celebrations of poetry, stories, jokes, prayer, and music in which Rumi’s work was first uttered, but presents it in a distinctive contemporary setting. Coleman’s words combine with the cello of Grammy Award-winner Eugene Friesen.

  • 2 out of 5 stars

  • Not much about Rumi

  • By Emanuele on 11-02-18

Editorial Reviews

Laural Merlington’s talent for vocal transformation makes The Forty Rules of Love: A Novel of Rumi by best-selling Turkish novelist Elif Shafak a spellbinding experience. Merlington deftly and clearly moves between American characters living in Northampton, MA, in 2008 and 13th-century townspeople of Konya, Turkey, giving all depth, emotion, and personality.

The Forty Rules of Love jumps back and forth between the two time periods as Ella, a 40-year-old American housewife and mother of three, begins to wade back into the work force by taking a job reading manuscript submissions for a literary agency. Her first assignment, a story of the relationship between the mysterious 13th-century Sufi, Shams of Tabriz, and the Islamic scholar, Jalal al-Din Rumi (now world renown as the Sufi poet Rumi), becomes the catalyst for changes well beyond Ella’s desire to work outside the home. Ella finds herself drawn to the manuscript’s author, Aziz Zahara, a peripatetic Scottish photographer and Sufi, seeking out the author through email. As the online friendship between Ella and Aziz escalates, the manuscript Aziz has written begins to shake Ella loose from the conventional moorings that she has, for decades, assured herself complete her life.

While Merlington easily gives voice to Ella’s snarky teen-aged children and distant husband, her talents shine as she moves to the book’s characters from 13th-century Turkey. The listening experience borders on magical as Jackal Head, a mercenary assassin, Desert Rose, a young woman forced into prostitution, and Suleiman, the village drunk, share their stories. However, it is the depiction of Shams of Tabriz, a wandering dervish searching the land for his soul’s companion, and Rumi, the scholar blindsided by this itinerant spiritual seeker, that shapes the rich world of The Forty Rules of Love. There is bewilderment in the voice of Jalal al-Din Rumi as he attempts to reconcile his connection to the dervish who has entered the scholar’s well-ordered world. It can be heard in the voice of Shams that he knowingly traverses a deadly path as he expresses his Sufi faith in the ultimate power of love while testing the intransigence and jealousies of Islamist zealots and the scholar’s followers.

The Forty Rules of Love contains not only a book-within-a-book but an introduction to Sufism as well. However, it is the vibrant, talented performance of Laural Merlington that allows the story’s message of love to resonate across centuries. —Carole Chouinard

Publisher's Summary

In this follow-up to her acclaimed 2007 novel The Bastard of Istanbul, Turkish author Elif Shafak unfolds two tantalizing parallel narratives---one contemporary and the other set in the 13th century, when Rumi encountered his spiritual mentor, the whirling dervish known as Shams of Tabriz---that together incarnate the poet's timeless message of love.

Ella Rubenstein is 40 years old and unhappily married when she takes a job as a reader for a literary agent. Her first assignment is to read and report on Sweet Blasphemy, a novel written by a man named Aziz Zahara. Ella is mesmerized by his tale of Shams' search for Rumi and the dervish's role in transforming the successful but unhappy cleric into a committed mystic, passionate poet, and advocate of love. She is also taken with Shams's lessons, or rules, which offer insight into an ancient philosophy based on the unity of all people and religions, and the presence of love in each and every one of us. As she reads on, she realizes that Rumi's story mirrors her own and that Zahara---like Shams---has come to set her free.
©2010 Elif Shafek (P)2010 Tantor

What members say

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Audible.com Reviews
Amazon Reviews
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Incredible!!! I can't put the book down

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I purchased the novel at 6 pm today. Now it's 12 am and I don't want to go to bed...Could only put my iPhone down (listening on audible app) to charge the dead battery... Showered and blow dried my hair w earphones on!! Lol. One of the best fiction books I ever read! Thanks.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

So well done.

Where does The Forty Rules of Love rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top Ten

What did you like best about this story?

The story is straightforward and not tricky - and it's beautifully told. The poetry of Rumi and the relationship with Shams of Tabriz reflect well in the past as well as the present time. There is a gentleness in the story that I liked. The mundane-ness of a woman planning meals for her family -- I do this to escape life's realities. Maybe it's just the timing of this particular choice, but the story resonated on many levels. Can't wait to listen to more by this author.

What does Laural Merlington bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Oh, the deliciousness of her deliberate pronunciation of each syllable gives the words weight and value. Loved it.

Any additional comments?

I'm well read and a tough critic -- I absolutely loved this story and it's delivery. Definitely worthwhile. So much so, I need to listen again - and I just finished it last week. Every aspect of the story and delivery were solid. Good work.

7 of 8 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

enchanted..educated.and droolingly good listen

let it play out and take time to Savor the storytellers honesty...after it finished I played the jig saw puzzle template it left in my mind accompanied by Sufi net music.i am 75 years old but I feel like I needed my years of experience to really resonate with this work of art.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

This book is written for a different audience.

Would you try another book from Elif Shafak and/or Laural Merlington?

No.

Has The Forty Rules of Love turned you off from other books in this genre?

If it's the genre of fiction based on history and religion, then I am not turned off. Books like The Alchemist and The Prophet are excellent examples and I would recommend.If it's the genre of romance novels, then yes I am turned off.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Laural Merlington?

Laural Merlington worked hard on her narration, I do not want to criticize her. She clearly did the best she could, despite the difficult words to pronounce and wide range of characters she had to act out.

What character would you cut from The Forty Rules of Love?

Ella. The most confused character of them all, even her moments of wisdom at the end of the book were based on pure hedonism and escapism, not inner happiness or deeper insight on life and purpose. She had not learnt anything, and failed to change anything in herself, she simply ran away.

Any additional comments?

I'm not the target audience, that's all. A note for readers: The book had a few moments of explicit sexual writing, which read as a pornographic novel in those rare moments. But that is how it is written for its target audience, which I am sure would enjoy it this way.However, I did appreciate the few rare moments of spiritual and philosophical clarity in the book. But that was about 1/5th of the book, and they became less frequent as the book went on, especially the last bit where almost all spiritual guidance, stories and allegories were not as deep or as well thought out. I guess the deadline for the book was drawing near.Bless you all, I hope you enjoy the book if you think it is what your are looking for.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Couldn't put it down!

A Very c!ever intertwining of 12th century Turkey and
an upper class suburb outside NYC today. The story grabbed me from the beginning and didn't let go! Profound Sufi teachings on love, dying to the ego, and living in the present moment hung skillfully on two main characters so far away in space and time. The bonus was to understand more about the beloved Rumi.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Reading on the Camino de Santiago

I'm read this book at a time in my life where I have been evaluating everything that's important. Wow... this book has spoken to me. I've just finished and I'm immediately going to listen again. It's so beautifully built up and the stories are intertwined so perfectly. I now crave more books similar to this, something to widen my grasp of reality, and let go of things not serving me. I m officially a Rumi lover.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful

Such a beautifully spiritual book. I thoroughly enjoyed how the writer chose to describe the relationship between shams and rumi. So poetic.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • LDV
  • Glen Allen, VA, United States
  • 05-20-14

One of the best books to listen to!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I have never heard a better narration of the story. Absolutely wonderful story that captivates from the beginning.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Forty Rules of Love?

Each of the 40 lessons

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Not worth it

Spent a good amount of time rolling my eyes. Could have been good, I suppose... I found the execution lacking and the inconsistent narration did not help.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Borders on religious propaganda

First off, I'm agnostic leaning towards Buddhist. I heard some of Rumi's poems and loved them so I thought this would be an enjoyable book. It's actually 2 completely different books and neither of them are any good. The story of Ella is totally lame and poorly written. The story set in the 13th century is not engaging, hard to follow, and there are few if any parallels to Ella's story. At 4 hours in, I give up. The language is insipid, and Ella's story is less interesting and more poorly written than any third rate romance novel I have read. If you are an intelligent person who seeks knowledge and well written books, skip this one. I think I will just go buy a book of Rumi's poems now.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful