The Zahir

The writing is wonderful and it is easy to get engrossed in the story, but in the end, I felt that the message was exceedingly unappealing. This isn't a story about loving someone and being obsessed with that person. It's a story about loving the IDEA of someone. The man who is supposedly obessed with his wonderful and interesting and delightful "Zahir" was an absent, unfaithful, cad to his wife when she was there and had a serious relationship with a woman that he didn't even care about while he was supposedly so in love and obsessed with his absent wife. Although this may be a realistic way to view how the love works for some people, I find it a sad commentary on what passes for a romantic obsession in a modern novel.

This was an excellent book about what it means to love someone. There are some fabulous quotes which I've pulled from the book and I've written down for future consideration. I understand what it is like to have a Zahir