Going through my second Orhan Pamuk book, it once again had the effect of pulling you into a completely different world and making you feel as if you’ve known the characters for years. The way it’s written is absolutely effortless and the transitions of seeing the story from different people’s perspectives gave it even more depth.

For those interested in politics and historical events in Turkey with a focus on the ones having directly affected Istanbul, you’ll absolutely love this book! (for me there were other factors that made it enjoyable 🙈)

The story started with the captivating moment of a man having written three years worth of love letters intended for a girl he only briefly saw at a wedding and their journey of running away together. The worst thing that could’ve gone wrong actually happened – it was not the right girl the main character ended up running away with, but her sister, with him not having had the chance to turn back. The only down part was that the plot got cut off at this point in time and went back to the entire life story of Mevlut, the main character, starting from his earliest childhood days. That part did drag on, when you simply wanted to know what happened after the great escape, but about 200 pages in (out of about 750), the pace picked up again.

All in all, the book was an incredibly detailed insight into Turkish culture presented over so many years up until the current time. It was a fascinating tale introducing you to daily life rituals, traditions, mentalities of people and their beliefs. It touched so many points of different relationships among people – between parents and children, between siblings, friends and married couples. All that described in such an authentic way, it almost seemed as tangible as a story about people you know in your own life. A definite recommendation from my side (with 1 reduction of a star for the bumpy beginning which took quite a while to get into).

★★★★☆ (4/5)