Snow by Orhan Pamuk Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Snow
Book Review: A leisurely reflection on the role of religion in Turkish society
Summary: 3 Stars
Exiled Turkish poet Ka travels to the remote city of Kars, drawn by his memories of a beautiful woman, now divorced. The city has recently experienced an epidemic of suicides by religious young women who were forbidden to wear head scarves. Ka arrives in Kars just as a snowstorm closes all transportation to and from the city, and wanders the city, hoping to understand it and its residents. Along the way, he finds poems coming to him, inspired by the people and places he sees.
The bulk of this novel takes place over two days in snowbound Kars, which provides the author with a framework to hang a lengthy meditation about the relationship between and the roles of the religious and the secular in modern Turkey. The people of Kars struggle to reconcile their religious beliefs with the demands of a secular government. Some find this easy, while others reject the idea that the secular has any merit. How useful this meditation might be in understanding the cultural undercurrents of Turkey is unclear, but it does show how these issues color the politics of Turkey.
Book Review: A thorough insight into small town Turkey
Summary: 4 Stars
I can see why some people will negatively review this book. It certainly doesn't read like a Dan Brown or Steven King novel. Although it won't thrill you with action it will give you a great sense of the cultural landscape of Kars, Turkey; and the diverse range of cultural identities that are inherently conflicting and absolute.
Being unfamiliar with Turkish culture outside of the little I've read about its ancient and medieval history, this book is incredibly modern and insightful, as well as entertaining. I'd recommend it to any western reader who wants to explore a new landscape without being bored by dates, battles and historical figures.
Book Review: A very well constructed, but somewhat cold novel
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a strange story of love, the meeting of East and West, a comment
on Turkish history and politics, and much else besides. Pamuk constructs
his story very carefully, with great attention to how the pieces of the
story, and the stories within the story relate to each other. Yet the novel
is much more - for instance the conversation between the director of the
local school and his assassin is very compelling - Pamuk is much too clever
to dismiss fundamentalist thinking outright.
This is certainly a book worth reading, but it will require some effort.
I think the translation is OK, but I have a feeling that it is not superb.
Book Review: An engaging listen
Summary: 4 Stars
I listened to the unabridged version of this book and found it engaging the whole way through.Book Review: An odd yet compelling read
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a slow, peculiar, and oddly emotional book. Following a Turkish poet as he visits a regional town in eastern Anatolia nominally to do a newspaper article about girls committing suicide, the book takes the reader on a journey through Turkish secular politics, Islamist discontent and the emotional struggles of one atheist Turk rediscovering his conflicted desire to return to the Muslim faith. This is of interest to anyone curious about modern Turkey but, more broadly, to anyone who has felt the conflict between atheism and a longing to believe. Pamuk is a thoughtful, inventive, disconcerting and at times quite funny writer. He writes as if uninterested in human emotion and yet nails those emotions perfectly. It's no thriller, but it kept me engaged and lingers with me now that I've finished.