Does Ka remain in this state of optimism and … I kept waiting for something worthwhile or interesting to happen, but remained disappointed. It’s written as though the author, himself, is telling Ka’s story — not as a dispassionate witness but a secondary participant. Considering these, it is quite possible for him to have revealed Blue's location to the police. by Vintage Books. I work with someone from Bulgaria, and from time to time she gets so gloomy that I simply have to say (with a smile), "Could you, for God's sake, stop being so Eastern European?" Fast and free shipping free returns cash on delivery available on eligible purchase. We are told he ran into political difficulties with his poetry and decided to leave Turkey. You're so excited and full of anticipation. The story encapsulates many of the political and cultural tensions of modern Turkey and successfully combines humor, social commentary, mysticism, and a deep sympathy with its characters. An exiled poet named Ka returns to Turkey and travels to the forlorn city of Kars. “Happiness is holding someone in your arms and knowing you hold the whole world.”, “How much can we ever know about the love and pain in another heart? I dragged myself through the first 5 chapters but can't go on anymore :/, SOLVED. I have to say, it's been a while since I liked a novel as much as this one and it's been even longer that I've had the chance to lie on a beach and read for a week, so I will say that you may want to take this re, I read excellent reviews here ; which convinced me that I can not add any new ! When I say “quietly despise” I mean they clearly have disdain for him because he an atheist [or so they all assume] and they, furthermore, assume that he believes he is better than them. Dread, yearning, identity, intrigue, the lethal chemistry between secular doubt and Islamic fanaticism-these are the elements that Orhan Pamuk anneals in this masterful, disquieting novel. The novel addresses the conflict between secularism and Islamism, the different conceptions of religion in Muslim and Western societies, and the impossibility of individualism in Muslim culture. those wanting a complex and provocative read. The protagonist is Ka, an erudite – if young – poet and writer who is given a journalistic assignment … Condé Nast Traveler included the "mystical, restive novel" SNOW by Orhan Pamuk in their list of "transportive novels that will take you around the world." Pamuk's description of the delicate (and frequently upset) balance between secular and religious fanaticism in modern Turkey is a gripping story. He is amid the bliss of falling in love. but since I am a Muslim & An Arab ; I could feel a lot of the depth of this book which showed me Turkey with a very cruel -but caring- anatomy that even the brilliant sarcasm made it more painful! It is to Pamuk's credit that he saw this sad farce coming before the rest of us. But what makes it a brilliant novel is its artistry. It has great resources, great antiquities, and great poverty. Pamuk is the author of novels including Silent House, The White Castle, The Black Book, The … Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. After graduating from the secular American Robert College in Istanbul, he studied architecture at Istanbul Technical University for three years, but abandoned the course when he gave up his ambition to become an architect and artist. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. I’m not so good at post-modern fiction to begin with, but I decided to leave my bias at the door becau. The less believable the characters, the more true-to-life they appear. Throughout this period trapped in Kars, Ka is repeatedly sucked into the middle of the conflict. Ask question about SNOW - ORHAN PAMUK get answers. I enjoy this approach as it gives me a little more to chew over as a reader, and, also, because it more reasonably captures the state of the real world, in which perfect certainty is a rarity. [However, the author does a self-insertion into the story which I did not like. Being a scholarly (and modern) young man who’s been living in Germany, in the heart of the West, Ka is seen as a natural comrade. Other Good Reads reviewers express the desire to like this book, but proceed to be confused, bored, and insecure. Like Pamuk’s other novels, Snow is an in-depth tour of the divided, hopeful, desolate, mystifying Turkish soul. Nine Reasons I (strongly) disliked this book: Written in 2002, this novel predates Pamuk’s winning of the Nobel Prize in 2006. 5 " provocative, desolate, yearnful" stars !! The author creates great scenes where the snowy landscape itself almost is it's own character. Orhan Pamuk is a great author, At times this novel reminded me of some of the great Russian novelists. He went on to graduate in journalism from Istanbul University, but never worked as a journalist. This is my fourth Pamuk novel and the more of his work i read, the more i want to read his work. Review: Snow by Orhan Pamuk. Poems flood his mind with unprecedented ease. As it happens, Ka is prone to a kind of mystical experience while in Kars. I haven't been this bored by a book in a long time. To read a novel is to confront its author’s imagination and the real world whose surface we have been scratching with such fretful curiosity.” In Snow, it explores the complexities pertaining to the cultural symbolism circulating in Turkey. One of multiple covers for ISBN 9780375706868. The protagonist is Ka, an erudite – if young – poet and writer who is given a journalistic assignment in Kars, a small city in the far eastern portion of Turkey — near the border with Armenia. The first. Complacent and listless he may have seemed, but what strikes more after his meeting with Ipek is his desperation for a happy life. As Pamuk puts it, “Novels are neither wholly imaginary nor wholly real. His personal thoughts also reflect that. First Vintage International Edition, August 2005. So, doesn't come across as contradictory to me. Achetez neuf ou d'occasion Kar is the word for Snow, but the main character also abbreviates his name to Ka, with the novel … At the age of 23 Pamuk decided to become a novelist, and giving up everything else retreated into his flat and began to write. Snow is a big, ambitious novel, in which Pamuk perhaps tries to do too much. Then baffled, irritated, and finally dismissive. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Most wrap up with the dismal feeling that they didn’t GET it, and so didn’t succeed in really liking it. I read a few sample pages of Snow in the bookstore, drawn by its blurry, snowy cover; drawn by a recent New York Times review; drawn by its non-westernized roots in Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk; drawn, too, by curiosity at this recent Nobel Prize winner for literature. Buy Snow by Pamuk, Orhan online on Amazon.ae at best prices. An Islamist murders a bureaucrat, and an actor-cum-reformist political powerhouse stages a controversial play that results in troops firing into the audience at agitated Islamist high school boys. It’s the story of Ka, a gloomy but appealing poet who hasn’t written anything in years. Buy Snow by Pamuk, Orhan, Lee, John online on Amazon.ae at best prices. 4.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes a Great Novel. Pamuk keeps so many balls in the air that you cannot separate the inquiry into the nature of religious belief from the examination of modern Turkey, the investigation of East-West relations, and the … Add to that his desperation for Ipek and his intense desire to take her back to Germany with him. It chose a sectarian path for its government after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and for the past two decades it has moved closer and closer to Islam. cntraveler.com Des milliers de livres avec la livraison chez vous en 1 jour ou en magasin avec -5% de réduction ou téléchargez la version eBook. Orhan Pamuk is a novelist, well known for his works 'My Name is Red,' 'The Black Book' and 'Snow'. As he writes in his autobiographical book Istanbul, from his childhood until the age of 22 he devoted himself largely to painting and dreamed of becoming an artist. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Snow at Amazon.com. As the ‘kar’, or snow, begins to fall, a journalist who writes poetry arrives at the remote city of Kars on the Turkish border. Like Pamuk’s other novels, Snow is an in-depth tour of the divided, hopeful, desolate, mystifying Turkish soul. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. It is a character study, a portrait of obsession and jealousy. Book about a place where young women were committing suicides, [s]. Part poetic meditation, part absurdist satire, Snow vividly depicts present-day Turkey as pervaded by despair. Orhan Pamuk, Author, Maureen Freely, Translator, trans. As author Pamuk presents their various points of view, the reader finds the novel exploring broad philosophical and intellectual issues almost never tackled in western fiction, in addition to more specific issues related to poverty, modernization, technology, religious doubt, and freedom. It is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Association and has been waiting to have its me. This book enters that category. It might be redundant for this review to state so considering the renowned dexterity of the Nobel awarded author, nonetheless, such sensibility discerned along the redaction was a surprising contentment. The good parts of Snow are so good they leave you unprepared for how bad the bad parts can be. There are a few phrases that I believe directly explain both the reasons for this novel's existence and why it is written the way it is: This book came to my attention nearly 4 years ago, soon after I became a member of Goodreads.