Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

I suppose, for a lover of historical fiction, I’m on the picky side–not only do I generally avoid the American Civil War like the plague, I lose some interest with each receding century. I was, therefore, less than enthusiastic to see a book with a Silk Road setting on this year’s list of Newbery Honor books–and an outrageously long-titled book to boot. From the very first line of Daniel Nayeri’s The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams, however, I was pretty much hooked. (Seriously–how can you not want to read a book that begins with “The first time I was stoned to death by an angry mob, I was not even a criminal”?)

I read somewhere that Samir is a buddy comedy, and when I finished it, I realized that it’s true–when I try to compare it to a movie, classics like “The Sting,” “Lethal Weapon,” and “Undercover Blues” come to mind. (That last is a husband/wife team, but still.) Having been saved by the aforementioned angry mob by a portly merchant with a penchant for tales–especially tall ones–Monkey is disturbed by his new master’s casual relationship with the truth and yet somehow drawn into his schemes. When Monkey, Samir, and the rest of their caravan realize that multiple killers have been hired to exact someone‘s revenge upon the Seller of Dreams, however, the novel takes on an “Indiana Jones” sort of quality–with a sprinkling of “Charade” thrown in. What results is a humorous action/adventure tale with an astonishing amount of heart (both emotional and philosophical), and I’m still inwardly grinning over how much more I enjoyed it than I thought I would. Don’t miss this one!