I liked this overall. This author writes well and I enjoyed this story. I look forward to Surani's future work.

Thanks very much for the free copy for review!!

A poetic tale of a revolution in the fictional town of Baraffo, Moez Surani’s The Legend of Baraffo feels very old. The story really does read like an old legend, with allegory swirling underneath. Baraffo is a unique town, full of strange and unique traditions, and growing unrest pulls them apart. Through the eyes of Mazzu, a boy adopted by the mayor, the revolution takes shape via the time he spends with Barbello, a political prisoner jailed in the cell in the basement of the mayor’s house, next to Mazzu’s carpentry shop.

This is a beautifully written story, and I throughly enjoyed how Surani framed it, with the story of Isabella opening the novel and setting it as a sort of timeless tale. The novel is deeply layered, while the characters are lightly created - we know very little about them; Surani’s focus is on Baraffo itself, a character in its own right. Truly worthy of its title!

The Legend of Baraffo is an intensely beautiful work of fiction that blends political ideas, philosophy and love seamlessly.
The town of Baraffo is a character all of its own, fractured and hurting. The players in Moez Surani's cast have their own views of how to repair the town; the cold logic of Bhara, the Leibnitzian optimism of the young Mazzu, the elliptical romanticism represented by the emotionally-detached Zuraffi, the personal practicality of Papa, the proud rebellion of Barbello. Each wants the town to work, but in their own way.
Surani allows his characters time to develop and we can see that no single one of them can be solely responsible for mending the town's problems.
Exquisite writing and fantastical events marry to make this one of my favourites for the year.

another installment in “poets writing novels” and also pretty obviously an attempt at a gabriel garcía márquez novel, specifically love in the time of cholera. there are some parts that are really nice but mostly the book is too preoccupied with creating an atmosphere of whimsy and kind of sacrifices purposeful characterization in favor of making people do and say weird shit. idk. not bad but not great