It is the story of boza seller Mevlut, and his life in Istanbul set over four decades which is basically a history of Istanbul through main character, Mevlut Karatas between 1969 and 2012. Mevlut works a number of different jobs on the streets of Istanbul and observes a large number of changes.
Pamuk's title is taken from Wordsworth's poem, The Prelude
"I had melancholy thoughts ...
a strangeness in my mind,
A feeling that I was not for that hour,
Nor for that place."
I loved the detail given creating a set of characters and a sense of place that I felt I had got to know intimately
The story moves forwards by seamlessly shifting from one character’s viewpoint to another and adding gradually new viewpoint which I initially didn't like but I quickly found to be effective and interesting!
It felt like a Dickensian saga.
No comments:
Post a Comment