THE ORIENTALIST by Tom Reiss (Random House, 2006)
This young, enterprising author, Tom Reiss, sets out to solve the mystery behind the author of Azerbaijan’s greatest literary achievement called Ali and Nino. What unfolds is the fascinating life of Lev Nussimbum, born to a Jewish oil tycoon in Baku in 1912. Caught between the Russian and German Revolutions during the first half of the twentieth century, father and son flee Azerbaijan to Persia to Istanbul to Paris to Berlin to New York to Vienna. Lev becomes a world-famous “Orientalist” writer with a fascinating “protean identity” where he becomes Muslim and changes his name as a means of survival. While the long stretches of historical context – particularly about anti-Semitism and Zionism -- can be dense, much information can be gleaned from the life of this fascinating historical character (7.5/10).
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