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Masumiyet müzesi = The Museum of Innocence, Orhan PamukThe Museum of Innocence is a novel by Orhan Pamuk, Nobel-laureate Turkish novelist published on August 29, 2008. The book, set in Istanbul between 1975 and 1984, is an account of the love story between the wealthy businessman Kemal and a poorer distant relative of his, Füsun.Kemal has been engaged to a pretty girl named Sibel for two months when he meets a shop girl, Füsun, while buying a handbag for his fiancee. What follows in the next mon...
Wow!!!!!!!! Update: WOW!!!!! NOTE: Some people may think ..."what is she talking about?" ...nails on a chalkboard & obsessive? Yes...'sometimes'...but My God --in the best of all ways!! The writing is beyond gorgeous -and the story --OMG! I own this book! (Sorry...'not' giving it away).When I saw that Steve-goodreads member, was reading the 'not yet' released book, "A Strangeness in My Mind" --due out in a couple of days --I was a little envious! :) Istanbul: "A Love letter to a City"....(nobody...
It was quite an experience reading this book.At one stage i almost abandoned it as i just hadtoo much of Kemal's obsession and it was getting a bit tiresome.However,while i was not reading the book and moved on to other books i keep thinking about it and realised it was beautifully written.The descriptions of Istanbul life in the 1970's and 1980's were so brilliant.I would be having a coffee in my local cafe(wet and damp and indoors) and would start thinking about Istanbul and the warm feeling i...
This is a story of an obsessive love of a rich Istanbul businessman who is engaged to be married but falls in love with a distant relation of his, a teenage girl; and there begins a long string of attempts that recount the ridiculous, comical lengths he would go to try to win the love of the girl of his desire. He slides into a permanent state of profound inertia, into a complete and thorough uselessness. His work suffers neglect, his relations with friends and family are impaired, and his whole...
I must confess that for the last five years, I have had a love and hate relationship with Orhan Pamuk (I also had a similar relationship with Charles Dickens, but that’s another matter altogether). Pamuk’s style is meticulous and ornate, intensely introspective, sometimes deliberately repetitive, shot through with that particular Turkish kind of melancholy called ‘huzun’. At his best, his prose achieves a poetic, hypnotic quality that makes My Name Is Red such a compelling, mesmerizing read. But...
I have been trying to finish this novel for such a long time. It took three tries. Third time lucky. I finally finished it.An obsessive man shares his memories of a doomed love affair in a society where East and West are fusing. There is a confusion of cultures driven by mosques on the one hand, and malls on the other, which leads to civil unrest and even war in the vibrant ancient city of Istanbul. I did not manage to become as obsessed as single-minded Kamul with Füsun, the eighteen-year old g...
Rating: 2.75* of fiveFive hundred pages of long-face about a pair of star-crossed lovers.They're cousins. Only not really. And it's set in Istanbul in 1975, with excursions to the present.I know more about Istanbul in 1835 than 1975, though the latter is within my own lifespan. (Okay, okay, WELL within my own lifespan.) I like Turkish history because it's so improbable and so full of moments when they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory! I like alternate history so I love those moments wher...
Okay, I'm going to tell it as it is. Nobel-winning writer aside, this book is insufferable. I frankly don't understand the hype, the glowing reviews, attention from the New Yorker - this book is bad. Really bad.The story revolves around a privileged man in Istanbul who has a short affair with a shopgirl and proceeds to become completely obsessed with her. So obsessed is he that after the girl marries someone else, he ends up sitting at their dinner table for the next 8 years.When Kemal is no...
An extremely tedious, depressing read. I can honestly say that I read the first 150 pages, and then started skimming the rest (which I NEVER do, since I love reading) in search for dialogue.It is so melancholy and slow. It reminded me of being in a room with an extremely self absorbed person, who blabbers on and on, touching the same points over and over again without really any concern if you're listening or not. The writing style is also overly detailed, describing dry conversations with busin...
I like Orhan Pamuk but he has a flaw: he is extremely pleased with himself. I feel like he narcissisticly loves what he writes. I might be wrong, but after comparing this book to his previous work this is my take, as this book was nowhere near his good books!
Sonia rushes to the shelf that houses the Pamuk collection, his visit to Goa has got everyone in a tizzy, should we read Pamuk or not is the question of the day. Nobel Laureate visiting our homeland after all. Museum of Innocence she thinks, how quaint, comfortably seated she plunges into the book; her eagerness knows no bounds…. Page 1; Wow, sex on the very first page. Isn’t that a tad antiquated? A Nobel Laureate knows what he is doing. She reads better writing is sure to follow…Page 5-25; Hig...
I think this will be a short review because i don't want to give too much away. This is probably one of the more unique books i've ever read, done completely unpretentiously. most of the time i was reading it, i was thoroughly swept up in its melancholy atmosphere, but as the story began to resolve toward the very end, the tone lightened and i happily noted Orhan Pamuk's sense of humor and ability to make fun of himself. at least that is how i processed certain things at the end of the book.as a...
I can't believe I finished a 532 page book that was pure drudgery. But I have a good reason - I've liked every other Orhan Pamuk book I have read. I assumed that at some point it would all come together and I would understand why it was meaningful to suffer through years of a narcissistic man's wearisome obsessions about his unrequited love. Since others have rated this highly and Pamuk is brilliant, I'm probably missing something here.
ObsessionThe Museum of Innocence is a novel developed with significant depth in relation to the main character, Kemal, and the obsession he has towards a beautiful woman, Fusan. Kemal never managed to secure a full relationship with Fusan because of his obliged engagement to marry Sibel. He always remained infatuated and felt she held his heart. The obsession manifested itself through Kemal collecting objects that had a connection with her, from cigarette butts to kitchen-ware. He would collect
Aren't we all surrounded by thousands of tiny little things of the ones we love(d)?"What a bore is life and how predictable: to be born, live and die." This is what I told my grandma (from my mothersside) at the age of eight after reading next weeks TV-guide completely. She looked at me with a little mysterious smile and said "Yes, you are right". I was old at the age of eight. The strange thing is this feeling never really left me. In retrospect my opinion back than was only a part of 'homo sap...
I'm not sure what to think of this book. I loved Pamuk's memoir, Istanbul: Memories and the City. But this novel, which covers much of the same material from a fictional perspective, with a woman, instead of a city as the focus of attention, was a frustrating read. The cataloging of every meaningful interaction with Fusun, the focus of Kemal's obsession, and the collecting of thousands of objects she touched or that are associated with her, does capture something ... a period of time? Reading th...
(Additional notes below)One thing I just realized, whenever I am about to finish reading a book, usually some sketchy ideas or sentences appear in my mind, so that right after I finish it, I can just open Goodreads, rate the book and write those ideas. I am also usually satisfied after writing three or four paragraphs, feeling that I have said what I have to say. But, I can't do that with Pamuk's books. The night I finished this book, I was sitting at my desk with my hands laid on the closed boo...
Orhan Pamuk. Why have I waited so long to experience your writing? Because that is what this was. An experience. The Museum of Innocence has a deceitfully simple premise. Kemal Bey, from one of the wealthiest, more prominent families in Turkish society, is to be married to the lovely Sibel, daughter of a diplomat. She is well educated, beautiful, resourceful, well matched for his family even; no one can be anything but ecstatic at their engagement party, where they are on display for all of the
After finishing "The Museum of Innocence," I found myself in need to talk about it. I wanted my friends to know about this, but I wanted them to know about it slowly, in small drips, and tiny pieces. -"Do you have time for another cup of coffee?" I'd ask, "This might take a while, but chances are this book might be too long for your taste and you might not want to read it yourself, but you have to at least hear me out till the end. Let me tell you about it!" It's not typical of me to do this sor...
“Time had not faded my memories (as I had prayed to God it might), nor had it healed my wounds as it is said always to do. I began each day with the hope that the next day would be better, my recollections a little less pointed, but I would awake to the same pain, as if a black lamp were burning eternally inside me, radiating darkness.” — Orhan Pamuk, The Museum of InnocenceI must say, when I first started reading this book, I groaned inwardly. I had come across it while I was researching the Tu...