Rumi is great, a genius! This is not about Rumi.
—
I would rate this -1 if that was possible to do. I love Rumi, and I've read quite a lot of his work. This is the worst thing that can happen with Rumi's work! I'll just say it simply, do not pick this book. I repeat, DO NOT!
Skip this in every possible way, do not come near this, please read the original literal translations - which is available in most languages - or you can go for the one by Coleman Barks or the one by Bernard Lewis, anything except this!
I am so furious to see this charlatan's name associated with Rumi! I knew about Deepak Chopra before this too, and so it was not very surprising to me to see this converted into this crap. This is extreme nonsense. He 'improved' and 'translated' this! I don't know where to begin, but I won't say anything more about this Chopra guy for...reasons.
For people who've read this, and thought this was 'good', 'okay', or 'beautiful in its own way', I feel sorry for you - I am sorry.
Some people think Trump is good, some think Kanye is better than Eminem - maybe they're all one. I don't know. Let's just leave that here.
I'm sorry to rant, but just...just skip this one, okay?
Thanks! ( )

Rumi is great, a genius! This is not about Rumi.
—
I would rate this -1 if that was possible to do. I love Rumi, and I've read quite a lot of his work. This is the worst thing that can happen with Rumi's work! I'll just say it simply, do not pick this book. I repeat, DO NOT!
Skip this in every possible way, do not come near this, please read the original literal translations - which is available in most languages - or you can go for the one by Coleman Barks or the one by Bernard Lewis, anything except this!
I am so furious to see this charlatan's name associated with Rumi! I knew about Deepak Chopra before this too, and so it was not very surprising to me to see this converted into this crap. This is extreme nonsense. He 'improved' and 'translated' this! I don't know where to begin, but I won't say anything more about this Chopra guy for...reasons.
For people who've read this, and thought this was 'good', 'okay', or 'beautiful in its own way', I feel sorry for you - I am sorry.
Some people think Trump is good, some think Kanye is better than Eminem - maybe they're all one. I don't know. Let's just leave that here.
I'm sorry to rant, but just...just skip this one, okay?
Thanks! ( )

So one night I got all hopped up on the idea of getting my poetry collection all entered into goodreads, so spent the evening transporting stacks of books from my shelves to my computer and back, entering ISBNs. Many books I spent some time flipping through, trying to remember if I'd read them all the way through, and if so, what I'd thought of them. This book was so short, I thought, "I should just read it now, and I'll know for sure."

This book was, sadly, a disappointment. It was Rumi, alright, so there was wisdom, and irreverence, and reverence, and love. But the translations just didn't sing to me. They were too heavy, somehow. Just as I was thinking how much better I loved Coleman Barks's translations, I reached the end, where Chopra confesses how his work was inspired by Barks, and he includes a few of Barks's versions of examples and immediately I found them as moving as Chopra's versions weren't. These were cleaner, brighter, somehow. More fully realized in a modern poetic sensibility.

Okay, that last sentence gave me the vapours. I need to go lie down. ( )