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Summary: The story of Hassan...The story of...
Review: Aaaah that story... those characters?? I'd be a fool if I didn't compare Leo's times with our times today.. How they lived Islam then and How we live it today. This book is a story and a half, but if you're looking for a moral in this book, look elsewhere my friend.. This book is unique and is on a class of it's own...This is the bedtime story you've always wanted your parents to read you when they were tucking you in bed..
Have you ever woken up in morning not knowing where life is going to take you.. Have you ever woken up one day and found out that life is your driver and you're the passenger in the backseat? You're here today.. you're somewhere else tomorrow..
And then, one day, when you're fixing your dentures, you look at yourself in the mirror and think.. My life?? My life so far has been..
This story is life, as we know it...
We don't look for morals in life.. They just hit us as we go.. We choose our road and we're on our way to seek the unknown, discover new places, new faces and above all, we discover ourselves, our soul within. Leo's journey is our journey, because at the end of the day, when we trip on that bump in the middle of the road, we choose to either stand up again, wipe the dirt off and start marching down that road again, or sit and cry at our failures. We develop into our own characters.. our own individuality..
Maalouf has intricately described but one man's journey through life. He has painstakingly tossed the settings, the times, and the places in the right proportion for this recipe. An Arab-Muslim would know that some of the descriptions, be it from traditions or ceremonies, differ tremendously from today and yet some remain the same, while some simply don't exist.
A history Lesson?? Indeed, who ever paid attention in history class? We're talking about the late 1400s, and we're not talking American History here, try North African or maybe Italian history.. The Fall of Granada is just one among a few..
A description on Islam? Do not take this book as a solid description on Islam, it is merely an extract of it. An extract does not do a religion THAT vast any justice. If you want to learn more about that I'd suggest a book on its history and never a story that describes it through its characters... It's a book that truly draws the reader within. Quenching his/her thirst with each and every line.. It's a book that you wouldn't want to put down, because it's a lovely adventure of hardship, love, war, travel and family.
What's going to happen? What is he going to do? Is he going to survive this? Questions like these, you'll find yourself asking as you're reading...
The sad thing is we seldom seem to ask ourselves those same questions. We concentrate only on our footsteps without looking ahead at the horizon, living for today and not for tomorrow... Life in the eyes of... Leo, Maalouf, you and me.
Rating: 
Summary: A beautiful book
Review: Amin Maalouf tells the life story of Hasan al-Wazzan, a middle ages traveller extraordinaire. Known as Leo, he grew up in Granada in a mixed community, only to be thrown out, along with all the Jews, during the purges. He then travelled to north Africa where his life followed many twists and turns, some good and some tragic. There are tales of wealth, abject poverty, slavery and high position within the caliph courts. His life was a kaleidoscope of styles and standards - of religions and travelling partners. Mid-way he found himself in Rome, a Christian and papal emissary, only to return to north Africa and convert back to Islam once again. No state of mind or situation ever lasted for long. Leo the African had a fantastic life and Amin Maalouf has written a fantastic story around it. His style is effortless and the descriptions of sixteenth century Middle East are teasing enough to get you looking at the maps and travel guides again. You'll love this book. I did, and I'd recommend everyone with wanderlust to read it.
Rating: 
Summary: yawn
Review: Hey! Wow! I thought to myself: anything written about such a fascinating character must be good. Well, perhaps something was lost in the translation (from the original French) because I must tell you although I can get interested in just about anything-including the local phone book-this book made for very bad reading. It was a total bore. Plus remember this is not a true story, but a non-fiction account made up by Amin Maalouf.
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Summary: May be the translation
Review: I read the turkish translation of this book, and was a little bit suprised to see the huge difference between this one and his other novels. This book was not "flowing" like the others did, then i realized that, the translator was a different person, only for that one; so she was the one to blame:) Anyways, i still recommend starting with his other books, especially with Samarkand, to see how a great writer he is.
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Summary: WOW!East and West has never been this much integrated before
Review: It was interesting to read Leo Africanus. I all knew the stories about Luther, Selim, Suleyman, Clementius, Hadrianus or Leo X. But Maalouf created a new story about a new, unknown or blurred hero and combined all stories in a realistic way. Congratulations... I can surely say that I'm so impressed as a Turkish guy and it's the best novel I've ever read.
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Summary: A great adventure
Review: People with some education and who like historical novel will love this book (actually every book that Amin Maalouf wrote is a jewel). Fast paced well documented and well written from the Spain of the Reconquista at the end of the 15th Century to the first half of the 16th Century's Vatican and passing by North Africa, this book keeps you dreaming, from the safety of your favorite chair, of exotic lands and times
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Summary: Leo Africanus - A very good book
Review: The book's characters are from the late 1400s, but you would think Mr. Maalouf interviewed and/or lived with each of them. His character development is fantastic. His book gives the reader a different perspective on Islamic life than one tends to get from today's media. You'll hear Muslims described in appropriate human terms (good and bad) as opposed to the sterotypical and fanatical terms we often hear today. It reads like a history lesson, a travel essay, and a novel wrapped up into one. I suggest it to anyone planning or completing a trip to Southern Spain or Northern Africa. Hearing the Alhambra Palace described as a place of life, commerce and government instead of ruin was a treat. Being able to visualize the rooms, fountains and greenery with each line in the book was even better.
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Summary: The Global Witness
Review: The story of Leo Africanus or Hassan Al Wazan is a truly fascinating tale. Amin Maalouf has done an outstanding job in creating a very readable largely biographical work of a remarkable man. While a fiction there are no historical inaccuracies and a tremendous degree of accuracy in corroborating the event of this magnificent work with actual history. A wonderful aspect of Leo Africanus is the pitfalls it avoided. Amin Maalouf did not attempt to paint a picture that support a certain vision of history or advances a certain agenda. This is a common theme in modern day work on history and especially historical fiction. The one agenda that Amin Maalouf may have had in mind and advanced beautifully is that the world is full of wonderful people; they come in different religions, different colors and different ethnicity and they speak different languages. The world is also full of many awful people from different religions, cultures and colors. Reading Leo Africanus one feels a direct witness to the fall of Andalusia to the Spanish and its aftermath, the fall of Cairo to the Ottomans and its aftermath and the fall of Rome to the Lutherans. Globalization and the "global village" and easy travel may have made the world smaller in our time, for Hassan Al Wazan too, nearly 600 years ago traveling the globe and fitting in was a way of life. Exceptional historical and cultural education, beautifully written and well translated.
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Summary: Brilliantly captures Muslim civilisation as it once was.
Review: This book captures the sounds and smells, and more importantly, the ethos and underlying culture and "philosophie de vie" of the Islamic world during the 15th century in its telling of the story of the real life traveller and scholar Hassan al Wazzan from his birth and childhood in Spain to his life in northern Africa, Egypt, and Byzantium and Rome. Brilliant.
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Summary: A GREAT HISTORY BOOK AND MORE...
Review: This book will give any person, interested in history, a great perspective of the Muslim world. For example.. It describes how people behave during Ramadan. Details like this one makes the story of Leo Aficanus really interesting and easy to understand. Many exotic places and characters are described and the author does a great job on describing how Leo is a privileged witness to the impact of gunpowder, printing, tobacco and the beginnings of European colonial expansion in Africa and the Indies.
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