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Title: My Name Is Red by Erdag Goknar, Orhan Pamuk ISBN: 0-375-70685-2 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 27 August, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.29 (51 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Intriguing
Comment: My Name is Red is an extraordinary book. Set in Turkey in the 16th century, the novel revolves around a murder mystery of a Sultan miniaturist. The mystery component is fascinating and keeps the reader wanting more. This interest is further spiked by the way the novel is composed--different chapters are told by different characters, paintings, the murdered, the killer, Satan, colors, death. The reader gradually pieces together the whole story, gaining a textured and deep perspective on the plot.
The book however is as much about the mystery as it is about the perception of art--what is truly art and what is a sacrelidge. Through the eyes of the various characters, we experience the doubts, creativity and dispair artists experience when the fruits of their entire lives are questioned by the approach of more modern and open styles. At the same time, enthusiasm, freedom and ambition guide the artists who are ready to give up tradition to pursue their individuality. It is the conflict between the norm and standard vs. individuality and and ambition that gives the book its essence.
Rating: 5
Summary: crimson says: "my name is red"
Comment: This is an exciting book that makes the reader forget about the author. This book is like a diary in which we learn the stories of various objects in different settings rather then that of traditional characters of a novel. A figure in a picture pinned on the wall of a coffee house frequented by the artists, a dead man lying on the bottom of a well waiting for his murderer to be found and punished, a color in a painting (crimson), all talk to the reader and explain themselves, impeding our "misunderstanding" and complementing the mystery - not only the one about the murder that is mentioned in the very beginning of the book, but also the mystery of the objects, people, whatever, and their relationship to one an other as a web of phenomena depicting a life scene from the sixteenth century Ottoman capital, Istanbul. I confess that I was reluctant to read the book when I first heard about it, knowing that a book from Mr. Pamuk is not very easy to read. Yet, the first page stroke me and I realized that I was really thirsty to read it at once. This the best book that I have read recently, I recommmend it to everyone.
Rating: 5
Summary: Exquisite and Totally Original
Comment: Do you think there's nothing new under the literary sun? Maybe not, but MY NAME IS RED is nothing like any book I've ever read before. It's dense, it's literary, it's stunningly gorgeous. Needless to say, I absolutely loved it.
The novel takes place in the 16th century, in the Ottoman Empire and centers around the murder of a miniaturist named Elegant Effendi. Little by little, as we hear from such strange narrators as a corpse, a tree, a butterfly, a dog, a horse, etc., we learn that Elegant was no doubt murdered because of a secret manuscript, one on which his fellow miniaturists are still working.
MY NAME IS RED is definitely not a murder mystery, however. In fact, it's not a mystery of any kind. It's more an elaborate tapestry of ideas than a mystery (although we do find out the name of Effendi's killer), though it avoids polemic of any kind, in every area on which it touches.
The characters that populate MY NAME IS RED are wholly believable and totally engrossing. There is Esther, a Jewish fabric seller and matchmaker who loves gossip and makes it her business to carry notes from any one of her clients to any of the other. Of course, she reads the notes and even discusses their content with their recipients. There are the three miniaturists who were working with Elegant, each of whom is suspected of being his killer. There is Master Ossman, the master miniaturist who's trained the others and who cares deeply for all of them...but not quite as deeply as he cares for art. There is Shekure, a beautiful woman who's love story with a character named Black forms a significant and engaging subplot to the solving of the murder. Woven throughout the book is the voice of the murderer, himself, a man who is tortured by what he's done and the knowledge that sooner or later, he is going to be found out. Unlike most authors, Pamuk is quite adept at managing a large cast of characters and I know I never felt disoriented or confused. I simply felt engaged, in the fullest sense of the word.
Pamuk does a wonderful job of portraying each character's rich emotional life in this book and he does so without melodrama or hyperbole. I found myself caring about every one of the characters, whether I could identify with him or not. In no way, however, is this book a character study...unless it is a collective one.
Although this book centers on a murder, it is primarily a book of ideas and is very intellectually focused. We learn much about Turkish coffeehouse gossip and about the objections of the miniaturists to the Venetian manner of portrait painting (forbidden to the miniaturists). We learn much about Ottoman politics and everyday life in the Empire.
Like other master storytellers, Pamuk doesn't spell everything out in MY NAME IS RED. He wisely fills this masterpiece with holes and spaces for the reader to fill in. The entire narrative is infused with a nebulous, dreamlike quality that only serves to heighten the beauty and timelessness of the book.
MY NAME IS RED isn't an easy book to read. I wouldn't call it relaxing. The prose is dense and elaborate and there are times when the very convoluted plot can get to be a bit of a challenge, but any effort the reader puts into the book will be returned a hundredfold. Or more.
MY NAME IS RED is absolutely one of the most beautiful books I've ever read. It's not so much emotionally engaging as it is artistic. It is a definite masterpiece of art that is totally unlike anything I have ever read. I would definitely recommend this book to all lovers of Beauty and to those who appreciate highly intelligent, highly literary fiction. Pamuk is truly a genius.
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Title: The Black Book by Orhan Pamuk, Guneli Gun ISBN: 0156003295 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: June, 1996 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: The White Castle : A Novel by Orhan Pamuk ISBN: 0375701613 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 31 March, 1998 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The New Life by Orhan Pamuk ISBN: 0375701710 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 31 March, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds by Stephen Kinzer ISBN: 0374528667 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 04 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Ataturk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey by Andrew Mango ISBN: 158567334X Publisher: Overlook Press Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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