Seraglio by Janet Wallach

Seraglio Reviews

• 
  Yelda Basar Moers

  The author put a good effort here, but unfortunately this book succumbs to the type of orientalism that still plagues historical fiction set in the Ottoman Empire. This is the Western view of the Ottoman Empire harem life, not the authentic life in the Ottoman Empire itself. One of the biggest hurdles is language. It's difficult to have an authentic novel set in the old Turkish culture when you don't know the language or have a deep sense of the customs and ways back then.
• 
  Saleh MoonWalker

  Onvan : Seraglio - Nevisande : Janet Wallach - ISBN : 385490461 - ISBN13 : 9780385490467 - Dar 336 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 2003
• 
  Marisa Fernandes

  "Seraglio. Do Harém para o Trono" de Janet Wallach foi uma agradável surpresa e é um livro que gostei bastante... adorei ler!
  
  Cruzei-me com ele por acaso e apesar de estar esgotado aqui e ali (o que é uma pena), lá consegui arranjar um exemplar deste livro que foi muito diferente (embora algo familiar!) de tudo o que li até hoje.
  
  Janet Wallach preparava-se para escrever uma biografia sobre Aimée du Buc, prima da Imperatriz Josefina Bonaparte, que numa viagem de França para a Martinica foi raptada por piratas e levada como presente para o harém em Constantinopla... Um destino comum a muitas jovens nesta época - o livro centra-se na Turquia oitocentista, então império turco/otomano - loiras e de olhos azuis.
  
  Já em Constantinopla, Aimée doravante Nakshidil é iniciada na arte de seduzir o sultão. E há toda uma preparação: cozinha, higiene pessoal, indumentária, dança... Se em alguns momentos o facto de ser francesa é visto com maus olhos (por causa das querelas internacionais existentes), noutros há em que é exactamente isso que a torna diferente e única aos olhos de alguns... Chegando mesmo a motivar e a transformar para sempre a sua vida no harém. Porque depois de algumas aventuras e desventuras, Nakshidil chega a sultana valide, a posição mais importante que uma mulher pode ter naquela sociedade e a figura mais importante a seguir ao sultão!
  
  Em suma, Wallach conseguiu transformar a sua biografia num bonito e fascinante romance histórico sobre Aimée du Buc, pleno de detalhes sobre a vida no harém, intriga, ciúme, amor e desamor, poder, ...!
• 
  Kate

  This was my first introduction to the world of Harems and the Ottoman empire and I loved it! I was so unfamiliar with this time period and the ways of culture and life, so it was really interesting for me to read about it. Women were seemingly disposed and used very easily, which is disturbing, but it was also a life much like the courts of England - It can be an honor, until something goes wrong, that is.
• 
  Elizabeth Hunter

  The story of the French girl who was abducted by pirate, sold into the harem of the Ottoman sultan and survived to become the most powerful woman in the Empire--while her schoolmate became Napoleon's Empress Josephine--is a fascinating one. Unfortunately, Wallach doesn't seem to have either the level of historical detail or a deft hand with character and pacing to make this a very satisfying read. Decades are skimmed over and her years in power are only briefly touched on. I know that records of the harem are scarce, but I've read better versions of this story elsewhere.
• 
  Bonnie

  I really enjoyed this book, I finished it in one sitting. Great insight into the Ottoman Empire and life as a member of a harem. I know its fiction but the research that went into this work is insane. This is a period of history that I was not that familiar with so I ate it up. I can't wait to read more by this author, her style is entertaining and the amount of detail is incredible. Overall a wonderful random used book store find.
• 
  Kecia

  One of the worst novels I've ever read. The story had promise...a cousin of Empress Josephine is captured in route from Martinique to France by Algerian pirates and sold into the Ottoman Emperor's harem...but it did not live up to that promise. Boring!
• 
  Taylor Cook

  I have always been fascinated with the idea of the Aimée du Buc de Rivéry/ Naksidil story although I am aware it is historically dubious. Somehow this book took a story with a high seas kidnapping, pirates, a royal harem and two cousins becoming world rulers and made it boring. I think making the main narrator a passive observer rather than the character herself was a big mistake. Ultimately this read like a junior high book report on events.
• 
  Karen

  I absolutely LOVED Desert Queen, so I was excited to read another Janet Wallach. But I didn't love this one. I feel like I would have enjoyed it more if it was nonfiction...the fictionalized account just felt sensationalized and farfetched. Still a very easy and enjoyable read. Just not as good as Desert Queen...by a lot.
• 
  Carolyn

  Historical Fiction I love. I read this a couple years ago and honestly can't remember if I liked it or not. I started reading it again yesterday when I realized I'd already read it and I am NOT someone who reads books twice - there are just too many out there......
• 
  Angela Owens

  Interesting story! Supposedly true. Remembered learning about the history in High School and in college!
• 
  Nefertari

  Underwhelming.
  
  Skims the surface of a fascinating time, but never comes close to mining the deep veins of history and cultural change going on at the time.
• 
  Jonas Peeters

  Easy read, but based on an unproven historic myth.
• 
  Kate

  This was an interesting and well-told story, if not exceptionally memorable, and another historical period to learn about.
• 
  Nadia

  This was a dry read. I think the narrative would have been much better served by having the protagonist share her own story. Being told the story through her eunuch's voice did not, in my opinion, offer us the riches of depth that a 1st person and or female understanding of another woman would have given the reader. The author is predominantly a biographer & writer of nonfiction, so I believe this is her first novel and therefore, should be read as such. The reader got the bare bones of the character's life, the framework so to speak, but none of the weave and texture.
• 
  Mary M

  Two and a half to three stars. I liked the time and place of this historical novel, but so much of the story fell flat.
  
  First, there are very few characters for a story that covers almost a whole lifetime, and these characters are not well developed. Supposedly Nakshidil likes to gossip, but who does she gossip about? For a story with a large harem, it's surprising that the only women whose names we really get to know are the main character, her one friend, and her enemy. And the enemy is such a cardboard cutout villain.
  
  Second, the abrupt breaks into explication of the political history of the time did not flow well at all. I like learning the history but it's strange when it's given as a jump out of the novel. I can see what Wallach meant in the Author's Note when she said she started out writing a biography and ended up with a novel. It's as if two different books were mashed together.
  
  Mild plot point spoiler here...
  Also, I wanted more detail on the harem rules and life. Why was it death for a sultan-to-be's mistress to have a child but it's seemingly ok when the man has become sultan? Why on earth would it be such a big deal/terrible secret? Why was Nakshidil offended when Aysha said she'd have to have an abortion if she got pregnant with Selim's child, but then Nakshidil turned around and allowed Mahmud's lover to get killed for having his child? I'm sure there's a reason - I just wasn't able to get it from the book.
• 
  Amber

  2 1/2 stars. The cover is enchanting. That's my highest praise for the book. I am relieved that the writing is truly wanting, because I did not LIKE it. True- what warm fuzzy happy ending could come from a realistic look at a Turkish sultan's household in the 1700's? It really, really sucked to be a woman. It was SAD. It was no romp through witty dialogue and love-conquers-all sort of thing, even being a novel. But I do not think I would dock a rating just because the book was not to my tastes; I must judge it on its own merit.
  
  However, if I wrote with such worn-out devices, dry voicing and tepid pacing, Laura would beat my head in and I would deserve it. I expect a little more craft in novel prose. It seemed like the lady transcribed her notes straight over from her research... which was good. In defense of the novel, it is praised as an accurate portrayal as far as can be determined. I did feel for the main character, a 13-yr-old French girl who is kidnapped by pirates and sold into the Turkish sultan's harem. The author neither sanitized nor glamorized life in a harem, which I appreciated. The culture is so foreign and exotic I could not help but be shocked and drawn in- but only a little.
• 
  Robin

  This is another one plucked from the stacks while weeding; I wouldn't normally be attracted to a story that starts with a sexual assault of a kidnapped young girl. The narrator is a eunuch who initially fought the life that was chosen for him and then made his peace with it, and from the first beginning chapters it looks like it will be about Aimee's strong will and decision to become powerful and important within her unbreakable constraints of the harem. There could be something positive here. And, it's based on historical research, so there's something to learn. I'll let you know. (And I'll try to limit the run-on sentences.)
  
  Well, I suppose the writing was true to life: slow moving, lonely, dangerous, frustrating. I wish Wallach had made up more of the story, filled in the shape of Aimee's days, of life in the harem, and fleshed out the discovery of her connection with Napoleon and Josephine. Since she took the fiction route, it couldn't have hurt to give the reader a little more there.
  
  I am happy my ancestors left Turkey, and I am happy to be 21st century woman with rights and self-determination.
• 
  D

  I bought this book a few years ago on a whim, thinking it might be an interesting read, since I don't know much about the time period or subject matter.
  
  Apparently, the author intended to write a biography of Aimee du Buc de Rivery, the cousin of the woman who would later become Empress Josephine (but that's really neither here nor there). According to legend, Aimee was kidnapped by pirates and given to the sultan of the Ottoman Empire as a gift. Her name was then changed to Nakshidil, and she was inducted into the sultan's harem. Later she became the (surrogate) mother of a sultan and rose to the title of "valide sultan", the most powerful woman in the Empire. The author couldn't find enough facts to substantiate them to write a biography, so she wrote a novel instead, which would have been fine, except there's far too much "telling" and not enough "showing".
  
  Nevertheless, it was a quick read, and it did help me learn more about harems and the Ottoman Empire during the turn of the 18th century.
  
  The review at the Historical Novel Society pretty much sums up my thoughts:
  https://historicalnovelsociety.org/re...
• 
  Elena

  Presumably well researched - it all sounds very authentic... HOWEVER - BOOOORINGG! BOOORING!!!
  Even if this was a biography - i really wished that the story was more fleshed out! We still know nothing about Nakshidil's life other than the few things described by Tulip... I don't understand what she did everyday for 30 years, how she spent her time?! Because all we are told are about dressing richly and getting "groomed" to satisfy the sultan, but those were a few events out of 30 years of the woman's life! Also - for someone who was dying to escape the harem - she showed no inclination of escaping when she became "rich and pampered" ! I found that strange also... Who else was she friends with?! Any other characters in this whole book!? Tulip, Aysha (who acted like a treasonous witch and got away with it for years, while some people got executed for merely speaking out of turn?!), Perestu and the old sultan's mother?! That's all?! For 30 years this is all the author could give us about Nakshidil's life?!
  
• 
  Sarah

  I picked up this novel in my local library because it was near another book I was looking for, and the cover drew me in. This story really develops into one of female empowerment, seeing as Nakshidil becomes the top position a woman could hold in the empire. I loved the embroidery motif, seeing as I have a knack for needlework myself. It really gave the reader a wide eye into Turkish Ottoman culture: the way they mixed Greek fluidity and Islam's rigidity. As a lesbian who is obsessed with LGBT fiction, I really did appreciate the level of acceptance the culture had for sexual fluidity.
  I really suggest this book to anyone who wants a captivating novel about history and culture. This book is so lovely, that I finished it in less than 24 hours!!
• 
  Sarah W.

  This is a fictional tale based on the life of Aimee du Buc de Rivery, cousin to Josephine Bonaparte. Aimee was kidnapped by pirates at a young age and became a slave in the sultan's harem, where she was known as Nakshidil. Like the other inhabitants of the harem, Nakshidil spends most of her time engaged in intrigues, hoping to gain the sultan's favor, and to outwit her rival Aysha's schemes. While interesting, Seraglio fails to be engrossing and I felt the characters were not well developed or believable. I would suggest this book to anyone interested in historical fiction about the Ottoman Empire or life in the harem, but I cannot highly recommend it.
• 
  Richelle

  Sounded like this would be interesting or exciting, but it was boring. None of the characters drew me in, and the story just kind of fell flat. The author set out to do a biography, but after researching, could not find enough information to write a biography, so she just made it historical fiction. In my opinion, this strategy didn't turn out well. It seemed like she had already put enough effort into the research that she didn't want to give up on it, but it read more like her research with just a few made-up details added in.
• 
  Melissa Mahle

  I chose this book because I am a fan of Wallach's biographies and I am interested in the story of Aimee du Buc Rivery. Wallach conducted extensive research, intending to write a biography on Rivery, but was unable to conclusively determine if the French-born Aimee was indeed the Nakshidil, the French speaking mother of Sultan Mahmud. Therefore, she decided to turn the book into a historical novel.
  
  Wallach's writing style for biographies is delightful, but did not work as well for a novel. Voice was a problem throughout. Still, I enjoyed the setting and story.
• 
  M . J

  This book was quite odd. I can't abandon things once I've committed to them, I simply have to know all that happens, but this experience was not enjoyable. The author is some type of historian I believe, but I regrettably found lots of instances where culture and religion were blurred and misunderstood in the eyes of the ignorant. Also the story, characters etc were neither interesting nor enjoyable for me.
• 
  Joe

  This book just wasn´t that interesting. It went fast, but mostly because the writing was very basic. It was good to learn a bit of history about the Ottoman Empire, but I felt like the writing style was just way too poor. I am not that smart, and I don´t remember one single vocabulary word that I didn´t know in the entire book.
• 
  Lindsey

  This was so much better than The Four Queens. It's the same story-a European girl gets kidnapped and sold into the sultan's harem-but I enjoyed the characters in Seraglio more. Also, this book didn't focus on the sexual side of the harem like The Four Queens does; it focuses on the political intrigues and the influence of the European powers on the Ottoman empire.