The novel shows how Azerbaijan is a crossroads and how that puts pressures on those who love the country. Ali’s first fight is for Nino, but his last fight is for Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is as much a character as Ali or Nino. The country is not just a backdrop for the story. What made it really stand out for me, is the strong sense of Azerbaijan the book gives. Nino flees with their daughter and Ali dies fighting to defend his country.Īli and Nino is an excellent novel.
Eventually, time runs out for the couple and the country. Ali and Nino feel the constant pull between East and West, as Azerbaijan as a nation does. Added to this challenging situation is the looming presence of WWI and the Bolshevik invasion. Being from separate religions, the two face many difficulties reconciling their relationship with their families and then learning how to live together as husband and wife having come from such different backgrounds. The two meet and fall in love in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku. The story centers on the relationship between the titular Ali, an Islamic Azerbaijani, and Nino, a Christian Georgian.
Ali and Nino is a story of romance, of nationalism, and a recounting of the geopolitics of Azerbaijan in the early 20th Century all rolled into one.
This week I read the Azerbaijani novel Ali and Nino by Kurban Said.
