I was sent on a ten day trip to Hyderabad by my firm, and while waiting in the airport, I decided the wait, the trip and the stay would definitely be sweeter n the company of a book. I had an hour to kill, so I started browsing. WHSmith has nice books. Normally, I'm picky when it comes to buying books, since it had better be worth the money, and also something not easily available in a library, or something utterly worth owning. This time, I chose to pick up Orhan Pamuk's "Snow". A lot of people had recommended Orhan Pamuk's work to me, in different contexts , so naturally, I was curious.
The book follows the time of the exiled Turkish poet, Ka, in the city of Kars in Turkey, which is quiet under the heavy blanket of snow and poverty, as he seems to work on an assignment with a newspaper to uncover the cause behind the suicides of a number of young girls there. in the beginning, this is what he sets out for, quite determinedly following up with the bereaved families of the girls, and eventually brings out the underlying conflict in the town, between Secular, Leftist ideals that Ataturk had promoted, with the surging Islamist , religious ideals. the Kurds and their rebellion are thrown in for some drama. And at this stage, we meet many important characters of the story. We meet Serdar Bey, the prophetic newspaperman, Turgut Bey, a secular father proud of his outspoken daughters Ipek, (KA's love interest) and Kadife ( a young woman with staunch Islamist ideals), Muhtar, Ipek's ex, and now a fleeting character, Necip, the young Islamist student, who grows close to Ka, and his best friend Fazil, Blue, the Islamist leader and militant, Sunay Zaim and Funda Eser theatre actors with a dramatic political agenda, and the author himself, or maybe a namesake character who buries the poet, the book and he story.
The poet starts with journalist work, but increasingly becomes tangled with the politics of the area, and with Ipek, while struggling with his ideological position, as an exiled Turk ,a known figure, as a so-called atheist, as someone who came from the "godless" West, and his journalistic assignment is lost in the mess here. Becoming caught up as a mediator in a political, diplomatic triangle as someone with no political experience, we naturally see a swaying character, and this swaying has produced more poetry than the character recollects to have come up with in a stretch of time. These poems constitute the now missing book "Snow".
His interaction with Ipek revolves around their relationship, her beauty and her exes, and with Kadife, around Islam, the issue of the Headscarf (is it called the Hijab?) which she refuses to remove, and her friends who killed themselves for the same issue, only to be condemned by Islamists, since suicide is unethical in their religion.
Kadife, her relationship with Blue, and a coup de etat by an Ataturk worshipping Sunay Zaim and his people during theatre, and with Necip, who he grows to like , around religion, love and writing, are all central characters to giving the book its breadth.
As loved ones and powerful ones get killed, following a statement, and Ka is accused of betrayal, and is forced to part from the town and people he was around, and returns to Frankfurt, only to be assassinated there. His friend Orhan concludes the story for us, hunting for his friend's poetry book, and hoping to reconstruct his final years.
I liked Orhan's writing style, as something both poetic and crisp, and good to keep readers gripped. He manages to maintain a good pace, and the novel does not feel Western, or patronising, nor so Turkish that the rest of the world couldn't connect.
The character of Ka himself, in views and character, the author has maintained a degree of ambiguity and indecision, but since we are seeing the Turkish world through this character's eyes, it was probably necessary to keep him fluid to give us a balanced and unbiased glimpse of Turkey. However, the real flavour of the character was the fact that he was a poet, yet we see none of his poems, nor does the narrative become infused with his poetic thought. The same tone is used with every character, so one misses the poet, and therefore, Ka the person.
Ipek is not as well drawn out, since she merely becomes an object of desire with a past, and Kadife, possibly because of the position she holds and the people she is surrounded by, assumes a powerful and assertive personality.
Sunay Zaim and his wife make the story rather eccentric and off centre (A political coup de etat by a performers' group? Really?) that for a moment, I really wondered where he was taking this story.
But the ending seemed a little surprising, since, out of the blue, you hear the voice of a different character, while, so far, you've been inside the head of only one.
I really enjoyed reading the story, and could connect to it in some ways, being from India, and being able to witness similar changes in my country. The sensitivity with which he portrayed these issues was well done. However, probably, the reality in Turkey feels different, but being from a multicultural country, and having encountered atheism, the idea of being Non-islamist as being equal to atheist did not convince me, since, we have come into an age where spirituality and religion can be treated separately. since, coming from a multi cultural country.
On the whole, I enjoyed the book, and would love to discover more of the author's work.
The book follows the time of the exiled Turkish poet, Ka, in the city of Kars in Turkey, which is quiet under the heavy blanket of snow and poverty, as he seems to work on an assignment with a newspaper to uncover the cause behind the suicides of a number of young girls there. in the beginning, this is what he sets out for, quite determinedly following up with the bereaved families of the girls, and eventually brings out the underlying conflict in the town, between Secular, Leftist ideals that Ataturk had promoted, with the surging Islamist , religious ideals. the Kurds and their rebellion are thrown in for some drama. And at this stage, we meet many important characters of the story. We meet Serdar Bey, the prophetic newspaperman, Turgut Bey, a secular father proud of his outspoken daughters Ipek, (KA's love interest) and Kadife ( a young woman with staunch Islamist ideals), Muhtar, Ipek's ex, and now a fleeting character, Necip, the young Islamist student, who grows close to Ka, and his best friend Fazil, Blue, the Islamist leader and militant, Sunay Zaim and Funda Eser theatre actors with a dramatic political agenda, and the author himself, or maybe a namesake character who buries the poet, the book and he story.
The poet starts with journalist work, but increasingly becomes tangled with the politics of the area, and with Ipek, while struggling with his ideological position, as an exiled Turk ,a known figure, as a so-called atheist, as someone who came from the "godless" West, and his journalistic assignment is lost in the mess here. Becoming caught up as a mediator in a political, diplomatic triangle as someone with no political experience, we naturally see a swaying character, and this swaying has produced more poetry than the character recollects to have come up with in a stretch of time. These poems constitute the now missing book "Snow".
His interaction with Ipek revolves around their relationship, her beauty and her exes, and with Kadife, around Islam, the issue of the Headscarf (is it called the Hijab?) which she refuses to remove, and her friends who killed themselves for the same issue, only to be condemned by Islamists, since suicide is unethical in their religion.
Kadife, her relationship with Blue, and a coup de etat by an Ataturk worshipping Sunay Zaim and his people during theatre, and with Necip, who he grows to like , around religion, love and writing, are all central characters to giving the book its breadth.
As loved ones and powerful ones get killed, following a statement, and Ka is accused of betrayal, and is forced to part from the town and people he was around, and returns to Frankfurt, only to be assassinated there. His friend Orhan concludes the story for us, hunting for his friend's poetry book, and hoping to reconstruct his final years.
I liked Orhan's writing style, as something both poetic and crisp, and good to keep readers gripped. He manages to maintain a good pace, and the novel does not feel Western, or patronising, nor so Turkish that the rest of the world couldn't connect.
The character of Ka himself, in views and character, the author has maintained a degree of ambiguity and indecision, but since we are seeing the Turkish world through this character's eyes, it was probably necessary to keep him fluid to give us a balanced and unbiased glimpse of Turkey. However, the real flavour of the character was the fact that he was a poet, yet we see none of his poems, nor does the narrative become infused with his poetic thought. The same tone is used with every character, so one misses the poet, and therefore, Ka the person.
Ipek is not as well drawn out, since she merely becomes an object of desire with a past, and Kadife, possibly because of the position she holds and the people she is surrounded by, assumes a powerful and assertive personality.
Sunay Zaim and his wife make the story rather eccentric and off centre (A political coup de etat by a performers' group? Really?) that for a moment, I really wondered where he was taking this story.
But the ending seemed a little surprising, since, out of the blue, you hear the voice of a different character, while, so far, you've been inside the head of only one.
I really enjoyed reading the story, and could connect to it in some ways, being from India, and being able to witness similar changes in my country. The sensitivity with which he portrayed these issues was well done. However, probably, the reality in Turkey feels different, but being from a multicultural country, and having encountered atheism, the idea of being Non-islamist as being equal to atheist did not convince me, since, we have come into an age where spirituality and religion can be treated separately. since, coming from a multi cultural country.
On the whole, I enjoyed the book, and would love to discover more of the author's work.
