MixedThe Englewood Review of BooksIn his new biography, Rumi’s Secret, Brad Gooch captures all of these elements that have caused some to place Rumi in Walt Whitman’s family tree ...as much the story of the places Rumi lived and the people who influenced him as it is the story of the Sufi poet ...he is able to capture not only the geographical outlines but the character of the cities Rumi encountered...treats readers to a 2,500 mile-long feast for the senses, transporting us from the willow trees and glacial streams of Rumi’s birthplace to the splendor and squalor of the Samarkand bazaars... Gooch’s skill as a verbal portraitist does not, unfortunately, extend to his portrayal of Rumi himself ...Rumi’s transformation from pious cleric to unconventional Sufi would be more revealing if Gooch had etched his figure definitively from the beginning ... If readers are willing to connect Gooch’s dots for themselves, however, Rumi emerges from the shadows in all his startling relevance for contemporary society.
