Amin Maalouf - Leo the African

I just finished reading this seminal work by the great Amin Maalouf, who is a fellow Lebanese. See before reading this book and researching into the other books that the man has written, I used to think that one of the greatest things to come out of Lebanon of Gibran Khalil Gibran (he of ‘The Prophet‘ fame). I’ve read ‘The Prophet’, and honestly I wasn’t all that enamored. I remember clearly the first time I heard talked in depth about ‘The Prophet’ was in the most unlikely places with the most unlikely person. That’s a story for another time. After completing Leo the African, I can easily say that Amin Maalouf is the heir apparent for the best literary voice to have come out of that tiny little country.

One of the most important things that elevates a writer to becoming truely exceptional in his readers eyes, at least this is how I see it, is educating the reader. Not trying to show the reader how many longer words he knows, but showing him the depth of knowledge he pocesses in a way that doesn’t insult the reader. The obvious outcome is that the reader comes away actually having gained something more than simple entertainment.

Amin Maloouf writes historical fiction. However this isn’t the history I learnt at school. I would have killed to have these books when I was in school or in University. To study the time period discussed in this book would have been a dream.

Leo the African is written as though it’s the autobiography of Hasan al-Wazzan. This is a true story, with the obvious embellishments by Maalouf. Hasan was born in Granada during the fall of the Muslims from Spain. It tracks his life as he goes from one country to the next, experiencing the wonders and the horrors of the world in front of him. Leo the African is the story of travelling and discovery. It’s a story about religion in the hands of man.

Reading this book you get attached the characters in such a profound way. You feel his pain, and Maalouf uses a trick I only noticed clearly in storytelling terms when I was watching Babylon 5. The most interesting part of a story isn’t what happens, but rather the path or road to get there.

Even though the writer has already told you what the final outcome is, you can’t help but feel like you’re hoping the characters come out of it unscathed. Maalouf uses this technique to great effect during the entire book.

This book was not published in 2005, and even though it’s still relatively early to be thinking about Book of the Year type of thing, Leo the African is the one book I think I’ll remember in years to come as the stand out book I read this year.

I wrote this about ‘After the Empire’ and while both deal about completely different subjects I’m extremely lucky to have read them, and I honestly believe that everyone should at least have them on their shelves, with the full intent of reading them some day. You owe it to yourself.