3.5
The Bastard of Istanbul
ByPublisher Description
A “vivid and entertaining” (Chicago Tribune) tale about the tangled history of two families, from the author of The Island of Missing Trees (a Reese's Book Club Pick)
"Zesty, imaginative . . . a Turkish version of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club." —USA Today
As an Armenian American living in San Francisco, Armanoush feels like part of her identity is missing and that she must make a journey back to the past, to Turkey, in order to start living her life. Asya is a nineteen-year-old woman living in an extended all-female household in Istanbul who loves Jonny Cash and the French existentialists. The Bastard of Istanbul tells the story of their two families--and a secret connection linking them to a violent event in the history of their homeland. Filed with humor and understanding, this exuberant, dramatic novel is about memory and forgetting, about the need to examine the past and the desire to erase it, and about Turkey itself.
"Zesty, imaginative . . . a Turkish version of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club." —USA Today
As an Armenian American living in San Francisco, Armanoush feels like part of her identity is missing and that she must make a journey back to the past, to Turkey, in order to start living her life. Asya is a nineteen-year-old woman living in an extended all-female household in Istanbul who loves Jonny Cash and the French existentialists. The Bastard of Istanbul tells the story of their two families--and a secret connection linking them to a violent event in the history of their homeland. Filed with humor and understanding, this exuberant, dramatic novel is about memory and forgetting, about the need to examine the past and the desire to erase it, and about Turkey itself.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Bastard of Istanbul Reviews
3.5
“while I can't deny how well written and fleshed out all the characters are, I think the pacing was a bit all over the place, it would pick up sometimes and then slow down a lot. But it was definitely moving and awful to read at some parts but an important story to be told. I'm so shocked that Banu came out of this the MVP but goddamn. Good for her. Fuck Mustafa.”
“My first Elif Shafak book did not disappoint. An intricate tale that touched on themes of sisterhood, pain, identity and how the past lingers in the roots of who we are today.
Shafak’s writing brings to life so many familiar situations, some of which brought a smile to my face. On the surface these situations may seem trite (see here “family drama”) but upon reflection speak to something deeper.
I have a feeling I’ll be thinking about this book for a little while…”
“Slightly disappointed by this book and raging that I was. What got to me:
- Too many characters and too many names that were all ridiculously long?? Was there any need
- The timeline in the book was also confusing, would’ve preferred it was more distinctive
- The last 20% of the book got really good and touched on a very sensitive topic and issue and I would’ve loved more of that explained than the backstory that I felt didn’t really say a lot most of the time”
About Elif Shafak
ELIF SHAFAK is an award-winning British-Turkish author of a dozen novels, including There Are Rivers in the Sky, The Island of Missing Trees, shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award, and 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World, shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Her work has been translated into fifty-six languages. She holds a PhD in political science and has taught at universities in Turkey, the U.S. and the UK. She lives in London and is an honorary fellow at Oxford University.
Other books by Elif Shafak
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