26 Aug / Snow by Orhan Pamuk, translated by Maureen Freely
Here are the two most important things I got out of Snow: 1. it definitely had memorable glimpses of Turkish social and cultural history that I had little to no knowledge of previously; 2. Orhan Pamuk is a clever, intelligent writer, which – given his array of hard-to-miss international accolades – I definitely had an inkling of before opening a single page.
So here’s what I didn’t experience: the highly-anticipated WOW factor in finally reading the 2006 Nobel Prize-winning author’s work. Why, oh why …
The basic story revolves around a poet named Ka, recently returned to his native Turkey from 12 years of political exile in Germany. He travels from Istanbul to a remote town, Kars, allegedly to write an investigative piece about the recent succession of suicides by young women – the “head-scarf girls” – who chose what they believed to be an honorable death rather than impiously baring their heads. In this provincial society, certainly no separation of church and state exists.
While in Kars, Ka is serendipitously reunited with a woman from his student days, the beautiful İpek, who conveniently happens to be divorced from her husband. Ka, convinced he is madly in love with İpek, is suddenly inspired by fresh creative surges that allow him to write one stunning poem after another. Amidst finding love, Ka is swayed back and forth in his religious beliefs by various residents he meets, befriends, rejects, and even betrays, who run the gamut from avowed secularist to wanted militant Muslim terrorist.
Beyond the story, the more intriguing characteristic about this novel is its format, presented in multiple layers of exposition. While Ka’s is clearly the primary point of view, the actual I-narrator is a character named Orhan who is Ka’s longtime novelist friend. Years after Ka’s death, Orhan journeys to Kars hoping to find further record of Ka’s missing poems. This Orhan happens to mention he’s working on a new novel, The Museum of Innocence, which is the title of the real-life Pamuk’s most recent novel, published in 2008 and in English translation in 2009.
At book’s end appears a provocative appendix, “The Order in Which Ka Wrote His Poems,” complete with poem title, the chapter in the novel in which the poem is mentioned, and the corresponding page number … as if the reader could – should? – continue the poetic search long after the story itself has concluded. The novel’s potential afterlife proves to be more captivating than the actual pages … long after the book is back on the shelf, Ka’s missing poems continue to resonate.
Readers: Adult
Published: 2004 (United States)
one of my favorite books of the last 5 years, and by far my fave Pamuk novel.
Clearly you will have to explain to me why it’s so high on your list. I liked the mental gymnastics for sure … the rest … well … something clearly lost in translation for me.
Good yes, WOW, not so much. Which, for some reason, really really bugged me. Have you read all his others?
It looks to me, you didn’t like the novel that much. I think it’s because this is your first Pamuk book and according to the author himself this was his ‘first and last political novel.’ Though there are politics (East and West!) involved in almost all his stories (Novels that is), other novels are not highly political. Personally I feel Snow is not his greatest work of fiction. I think either My Name is Red or The Black Book deserves that honor. Both are my personal favorite too. I think you should pick up My Name is Red, which is a grand literary experiment. a murder mystery, a love story, tension between East and West, and above all mind bending philosophical discussion on art (miniatures and calligraphy), or rather form and even faults of art! I sincerely believe the reading of My Name is Red will change your certain perception.
I am a dedicated Pamuk reader, a 21 year old, from eastern India. Thank you.
Thanks for the recommendation. My Name Is Red is sitting on my shelves, as yet unopened … as are a number of his other titles. I am fascinated with the idea of his writing, if that makes sense, and certainly he has quite the international reputation. I do plan to read more of his books, hopefully sooner than later, especially Museum of Innocence.
And am always soooo very glad to hear about young people’s reading choices. You apparently are quite a discerning reader. Do come back and share more of your favorites. Hope you find some good reads on BookDragon, as well.