Jeanne's Reviews > A Sultan in Palermo

In the 12th century, Siqilliya (Sicily) was a kingdom ruled by an Islam-leaning, Nazarene (Christian) ruler, in the shadow of Rome and its bishops. Their actions in the Sultan of Palermo make me despise my Catholic roots.

The Siqilliyans Tariq Ali described were often wise, with Idrisi, Sultan of Palermo’s central character, a widely-read and traveled consultant to the sultan, who wrote widely on geography and medicine. With the sultan’s death, however, Believers were either massacred or forced underground and into hiding.

Sultan of Palermo is the fourth book of Ali’s quintet that I’ve read ( Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree , The Book of Saladin , and The Stone Woman ), although I read the first three five years ago.

Like Ali's first three books, sex plays a major role in the story. There are several extramarital affairs, children fathered by one man and knowingly raised by another, many farting jokes, and many, many double entendres. I wondered, though, whether I would have enjoyed Sultan of Palermo more if I were Muslim or more historically knowledgeable. I was probably appalled in the right places (e.g., some bloody killings and massacres that took place, mostly off-stage).

"Extremely annoyed by what the Pope had done, he responded in the time-honoured tradition of the Siqilliyan side of his family. He farted." (Kindle 16691)