The story is very predictable, from the beginning the author practically tells you how it ends. The story's background is very well carried, but the main character is naive to the point of stupid. He aspires to a position in which politcs and intrigue are a must but he falls in a clumsy trap that everybody can see miles aways but not him. His personality is very tiresome, as is his voice in the narrative.

Not particularly interesting. Had interesting facts, but that's it. I don’t like it when the main character is addressing me: dear reader, especially in historical fiction. Placed in Venetia, 12th century. Lots of yada yada and disconnections and I’ve found it to be really flat.

Sooo boring. I just wanted the book to be over. It was hard to follow whatever political drama that was supposed to keep me enthralled. The woman with the ruby in her navel was hardly even in the book.

I very much enjoyed this book. A variety of characters some young and foolish, some old and wise and others somewhere in between. Set in southern Italy, during the Middle Ages, before the First Crusade the novel tells the story of a time of great change. I have placed the book in my re-read pile.

A contracapa diz que o livro é tão intenso como “O Nome da Rosa”. Hummm, isto interessa-me, pensei eu. Fiquei à espera de uma história com um acumular de suspense, com uma reviravolta no final… Mas tal não aconteceu.

O autor leva-nos até à Sicília da Idade Média, algum tempo depois da derrota dos Cristãos na Terra Santa. Aparentemente, a ilha é um paraíso para os diferentes credos, pois o rei promove o entendimento entre cristãos, judeus e árabes. No entanto, os normandos, magoados com o fracasso da última Cruzada, começam a conspirar, utilizando um jovem aspirante a cavaleiro, Thurstan Beauchamp, que trabalha para o Camareiro árabe do rei.

Barry Unsworth é muito bom a recriar os ambientes da época – o bulício das cidades, as caçadas dos nobres, as peregrinações aos locais santos, o amor cortês – e gostei dos detalhes que tornaram os locais tão vivos. Porém, em termos de conspirações e suspense, foi tudo extremamente previsível. Eu, que não sou grande detetive, consegui descobrir logo quem era o traidor e quem ia morrer no final. Assim, a leitura ficou um pouco “desenxabida”…

Ako volite povijesne knjige u kojima ima svega, dakle ljubavi, čulnosti i romantike, ali i spletki i intriga, svakako pročitajte ovaj roman. Radnja se odvija na Siciliji u 12. stoljeću, a pisana je očima mladog Normana koji je rasrgan između dvije žene. Priča me od početka zainteresirala, Unsworth piše jako zanmljivo tako da me je do samog kraja radnja držala u napetosti. Neke rečenice sam si čak i prepisala. Ja mu dajem čistu peticu!

Fascinating story of Sicily in the 13th C. just after the 2nd Crusade which was disastrous for the Franks. Sicity, like Spain, had many Muslims, Jews, and Christisns working together peacefully during most of the reign of King Roger. But the Roman church destroyed that late in the century. Unsworth's books are well written, well researched. I've loved every one of them so far.

(3.5) Bond is back! Reincarnated in 12th century Sicily, then under Norman rule, he's had the best military and academic training and is working for M in one of King Roger's various dirty tricks departments, but there are growing trust issues between them. Beset by enemies on all sides, Bond picks his way between exotic beautiful women on his international missions to uncover conspiracies and find personal peace. The historical settings are convincing and as a whole the tale hangs together even if at times along the way the balance between the two seems to tilt. The Booker judges obviously had more down to earth tastes in 2006 than the last few years. Excellent.

Za tako interesantno povijesno razdoblje u kojem je autor smjestio radnju ove knjige uspio je odabrati tako napornog naratora da ga se zapravo jedva čekaš riješit jer je zaista naporan do bola. Prijevod je divan i zapravo pomaže pri čitanju. Šteta što je zbog glavnog lika cijela knjiga zapravo osrednja.

Description: Set in the Middle Ages during the brief yet glittering rule of the Norman kings, The Ruby in Her Navel is a tale in which the conflicts of the past portend the present. The novel opens in Palermo, in which Latin and Greek, Arab and Jew live together in precarious harmony. Thurstan Beauchamp, the Christian son of a Norman knight, works for Yusuf, a Muslim Arab, in the palace’s central finance office, a job which includes the management of blackmail and bribes, and the gathering of secret information for the king.
But the peace and prosperity of the kingdom is being threatened, internally as well as externally. Known for his loyalty but divided between the ideals of chivalry and the harsh political realities of his tumultuous times, Thurstan is dispatched to uncover the conspiracies brewing against his king. During his journeys, he encounters the woman he loved as a youth; and the renewed promise of her love, as well as the mysterious presence of an itinerant dancing girl, sends him on a spiritual odyssey that forces him to question the nature of his ambition and the folly of uncritical reverence for authority.
With the exquisite prose and masterful narrative drive that have earned him widespread acclaim, Barry Unsworth transports the reader to a distant past filled with deception and mystery, and whose racial, tribal, and religious tensions are still with us today.

Opening: W"hen Nesrin the dancer became famous in the courts of Europe, many were the stories told about the ruby the glowed in her navel as she danced.

CR The Ruby in her Navel
5* Sacred Hunger
4* The Quality of Mercy
5* Morality Play
4* Stone Virgin
4* Pascali's Island
3* The Hide

I got sucked into this book because of the pretty cover, I admit it. It was okay, a good beach read I'd say but it definitly dragged in places and I felt it coulda been sooo much better.

I really want to give this book a "3.5"...can I do that?

This is the story of Thurstan Beauchamp, the young and handsome Christian working as the Purveyer of Pleasures (entertainment) and purse bearer in the court of King Roger. It is set in Palermo in the middle ages, and peace among the Latins, Greeks, Christians, Arabs and Jews who live there is threatened daily. Thurstan becomes inwittingly involved in a plot to overthrow authority...and his life is changed forever.

...Oh, and then there is Nesrin, the beautiful dancer in a troupe Thurstan hires to dance in the palace...can't tell you much more or I will spoil this intriguing story.