Rafael Pinto steps outside his Jewish family’s pharmacy in
Sarajevo and witnesses the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Thus begins WWI, and what would seem to be an
auspicious beginning for this book. Pinto
lands on the front lines, along with the handsome Osman, and the two become
devoted lovers. The storyline is a
series of Pinto’s adventures, including imprisonment, near starvation, a
six-year trek across the desert, a sandstorm, and almost wasting away in opium
dens. Pinto becomes the protector of a
child named Rahela, who may be Osman’s biological daughter, and whose
responsibility is the only thing standing between Pinto and the fulfillment of
his death wish. The storyline here
should be exciting, but I found that the writing style does not supply
sufficient verve. A British spy appears
in the narrative from time to time to spice things up, but moments that grabbed
my attention were just too infrequent. Also,
the author includes many untranslated sentences and songs in Bosnian or German
or Spanjol, which is a version of Spanish.
Frankly, I didn’t mind getting to leapfrog these sections, as skipping
these foreign phrases propelled me to the finish a little faster.
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