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Nesacat · 17th August 2007, 08:43 AM

The Palace Of Tears by Alev Lytle Croutier

It's not a very big book. Just 171 pages comprising many very short chapters. It reads like a tale that could belong to the Arabian Nights. It's a very beautiful little book.

In 1868 in Paris, a young winemaker named Casimir de Chateauneuf wanders into a tiny shop called Orientalia. In it he find a series os miniature portraits. One of them captures his eye and possibly his heart and even his soul. It's a woman with one blue eye and one yellow eye. At the bottom of the painting two words ... La Poupee. Casimir has come face to face with his kismet.

He leaves Paris for the Orient trying to find the painter they call Nomad. His travels take him across the sands of Egypt where he sees Nomad's home and the man himself destroyed in a flash flood. He moves on to Damasus, Antioch, Ephesus always, always asking about the woman with one blue eye and one yellow eye. Finally, exhausted and close to death he's brought home to Paris.

He returns to his vineyards, a man without a soul. He works, he eats and sleeps like an automaton until the vines are struck by a desease. He returns to Paris and the arms of a mistress with a man of red hair ... Love is the name given to sorrow only to console those who suffer. We suffer because we either desire what we have not or we possess what we no longer desire.

It is a time of great change in history. The Suez canal is being built and the Empress of France decides to visit the Sultan of Constantinople. Casimir is to go with her to find vines that might be grafted with those in France and so defeat the desease.

They arrive at the city of the world's desire, filled with minarets, gardens, and grand palaces. Casimir watches the ships pass in the night, the illumination of the grand palaces and the gardens filled with magnolia ... I have seen the crescent and the star over the Bhosporus. A cycle of my life closes.

Here in this six thousand year old city, Casimir meets his kismet. The girl with one blue eye and one yellow eye. They bring her from the Palace of Tears because only she speaks both the language of the Empress of France and that of Constantinople.

La Poupee had been the living doll of a Sultana now long dead. For having dared to master the art of reading, which belonged to the realm of men, she was fated to live out the rest of her life alone, with the other wives and concubines and dolls of the Sultans and Sultanas of yore.

"What happens to 'living dolls' when they come of age," Casimir asked the Sultan.
"They still remain the property of their mistresses."
"And should any misfortune befall the mistress?"
"Then, a marriage would be arranged."
"Always?"
"Almost always. Unless a rule has been betrayed."
"A rule such as?"
"Such as, having learned things that belong to realm of men."
"Then what?"
"The Palace of Tears."
"The Palace of Tears?"
"The Palace of the Unwanted Ones."
"What is the exit from the Palace of Tears?"
"A great sacrifice."
"And then?"

The Empress and her entourage leave the city but Casimir stays. Although a man may have many lives, he only has one kismet and Casimir stays to discover what it will mean to make a dream real...

And in the end ...
"What happens if we possess what we once desired?"
"It brings us closer to our destiny. We become human."
"And if we cannot?"
"Then we belong only in the realm of the senses."
"Which is better?"
"It depends on one's fate."
"Are you suggesting then that fate and love are one and the same?"
"Not the same but one always invites the other... And it is never what we expect. But the search keeps us thriving. Otherwise we would perish."

17th August 2007, 08:43 AM	#70 (permalink)
Nesacat The Cat Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Malaysia Posts: 2,685	Re: Other Recommendations - for the unenlightened The Palace Of Tears by Alev Lytle Croutier It's not a very big book. Just 171 pages comprising many very short chapters. It reads like a tale that could belong to the Arabian Nights. It's a very beautiful little book. In 1868 in Paris, a young winemaker named Casimir de Chateauneuf wanders into a tiny shop called Orientalia. In it he find a series os miniature portraits. One of them captures his eye and possibly his heart and even his soul. It's a woman with one blue eye and one yellow eye. At the bottom of the painting two words ... La Poupee. Casimir has come face to face with his kismet. He leaves Paris for the Orient trying to find the painter they call Nomad. His travels take him across the sands of Egypt where he sees Nomad's home and the man himself destroyed in a flash flood. He moves on to Damasus, Antioch, Ephesus always, always asking about the woman with one blue eye and one yellow eye. Finally, exhausted and close to death he's brought home to Paris. He returns to his vineyards, a man without a soul. He works, he eats and sleeps like an automaton until the vines are struck by a desease. He returns to Paris and the arms of a mistress with a man of red hair ... Love is the name given to sorrow only to console those who suffer. We suffer because we either desire what we have not or we possess what we no longer desire. It is a time of great change in history. The Suez canal is being built and the Empress of France decides to visit the Sultan of Constantinople. Casimir is to go with her to find vines that might be grafted with those in France and so defeat the desease. They arrive at the city of the world's desire, filled with minarets, gardens, and grand palaces. Casimir watches the ships pass in the night, the illumination of the grand palaces and the gardens filled with magnolia ... I have seen the crescent and the star over the Bhosporus. A cycle of my life closes. Here in this six thousand year old city, Casimir meets his kismet. The girl with one blue eye and one yellow eye. They bring her from the Palace of Tears because only she speaks both the language of the Empress of France and that of Constantinople. La Poupee had been the living doll of a Sultana now long dead. For having dared to master the art of reading, which belonged to the realm of men, she was fated to live out the rest of her life alone, with the other wives and concubines and dolls of the Sultans and Sultanas of yore. "What happens to 'living dolls' when they come of age," Casimir asked the Sultan. "They still remain the property of their mistresses." "And should any misfortune befall the mistress?" "Then, a marriage would be arranged." "Always?" "Almost always. Unless a rule has been betrayed." "A rule such as?" "Such as, having learned things that belong to realm of men." "Then what?" "The Palace of Tears." "The Palace of Tears?" "The Palace of the Unwanted Ones." "What is the exit from the Palace of Tears?" "A great sacrifice." "And then?" The Empress and her entourage leave the city but Casimir stays. Although a man may have many lives, he only has one kismet and Casimir stays to discover what it will mean to make a dream real... And in the end ... "What happens if we possess what we once desired?" "It brings us closer to our destiny. We become human." "And if we cannot?" "Then we belong only in the realm of the senses." "Which is better?" "It depends on one's fate." "Are you suggesting then that fate and love are one and the same?" "Not the same but one always invites the other... And it is never what we expect. But the search keeps us thriving. Otherwise we would perish."