The Prophet

I have read this book before and in rereading it I'm really disappointed that I waited this long to pick it back up. It is a collection of maxims and advice that fortunately, while it has a spiritual feel, does not really identify itself with any particular religion. That may be the defining point of the book, its universality.
While by the end of each section it seems like I'm ready to call what I just read my favorite part of the book there was, happily, one part that really stuck out to me this time through.

"Work is love made visible.
And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy."

The meaning or effect of this short quote may be significantly different from person to person, a lot of this book is left that way, it nevertheless reminds me in its own prescriptive way that there is still a lot of enjoyment to be had even from hard work (a nice thought with finals coming up).

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

In reading the few books I have by Pamuk the name Ataturk comes up often especially in reference to many statues that exist all across Turkey as representations of him. I became intrested in just who he was and looked it up on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ataturk#Turkey to find out that he was a revolutionary leader who was responsible for much of the founding of modern day Turkey. He could be compared to George Washington in the United State's history except it seems that he is viewed with even more reverence than our first president. In fact, and this is the part I found the most interesting, it was recently made illegal to defame either his legacy or any of the many physical representations (statues and such) that exist across the country. Also at the time of his death, November 10 9:05am, all of Turkey generally pauses for one minute in rememberence of him.

You Have My Attention Mr. Pamuk

Recently there have been a few newsworthy Nobel prizes handed out for works of fiction, notably to a United States political figure, but when reading Pamuk a person really gets the sense that he deserves it. Now I'll gladly admit that I still have a ways to go before I'll be finished with The New Life, however I think I can still give a good, if only preliminary, review of the writing.

I still wholeheartedly believe, this book has only encouraged what I thought last week, that everyone should try to find a book by Pamuk that interests them and see how captivating his writing style really can be. That said, if I was to consider The White Castle easily approachable The New Life has been anything but, nearly half way through I'm not sure that I understand what's really going on; I'm not sure that I need to though, or want to. I can say that his writing style remains interesting and original enough to make the book hard to put down and that I still have faith that everything will make sense by the end.

Page by page reading through this work I find myself asking questions and wondering why, much like in The White Castle, certain thinks are refered to only by pronouns. Originally I assumed that they were simply MacGuffins ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin ) however I doubt that now. Some of the real fun of these books, for me, has been trying to work out (both while reading and after) just what the hell everything means.

"I read a book one day and my whole life was changed."

This beginning line to The New Life seems like a great example of Pamuk from what I know of him now.

Before you think it, I understand that you may not like these books as much as I do and upon reading them may wonder how I found them so facinating (though I doubt it). By far the most important thing about all of his writing, in my opinion, has been his truly unique writing style, I hope (if you get a chance to read him) you will at least appreciate that.

Cultural Exchange

At one point in The White Castle the young sultan makes a comment along the lines of "people are the same no matter where in the world they are fom". While on the surface this seems to be a rather played out or trite thing to say, it in fact may be some of the deepest advice/commentary that the book has to offer. This isn't to say that the book itself is shallow or trite but that instead it finds a way to enter into the reader's, or at least my, thoughts that reminds him or her of the genuine importance of this suggestion.
This also goes along with the purposeful confusion as to whether or not there is one main character. In fact, it is extremely interesting to see how two people from very different backgrounds might have so much in common with one another that their differing cultural identities cannot mask their similarities.

Not Just Good

This book was solidly the best read I've had in the last year at least. I'm not someone who reads books in one or two sittings as I generally like to get up and go do something else every 50 pages or so but I read this book in two sittings over a span of less than 24 hours.

Why is it so good? I could easily tell you all about the plot and character development making this a fun and interesting read, but I've already said I liked the book so let's leave that as assumed. Pamuk has a wandering and almost dreamlike style of writing that on the one hand allows the reader to believe the characters may have actually existed but upon reflection makes him or her feel as they'd been hypnotized for a time.

As for who should read this book, in my opinion everyone, but it's probably most appropriate for high schoolers and above. There are definitely a good number of words refering to things specific to the Middle Eastern culture that are simply not explained, it is asssumed the reader is familiar with these already which could make it a bit tough on anyone without a good international vocabulary. By far the best part of this book is it's real presentation of the old culture of the Middle East, a kind of fair presentation that most westerners are want to find even in their history books. This presentation of the culture is guaranteed to open the eyes and mind of anyone beginning to be interested in Middle Eastern studies, along with anyone who picks the book up for fun.

Enough analysis, what I mean to say is basicly this: If you have time to read just one book in the next year do yourself a favor and make it this book.

It's so unlike me to really like any new novel...

Living on the Street

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQh7KlT2_wk

Here is a fantastic slideshow video. Though I'm not sure the name of the video does that great a job of explaining it, it certainly brings to life a few aspects of Under the Persimmon Tree that I found a bit hard to imagine. First, it shows many pictures of Afghan women wearing burquas and just what that looks like. More importantly though it shows what it looks like when those women are forced to live of the street. Throughout the book there is a lot of talk of women being forced to live on the streets and how they would beg or hold their children, this could be a great illustration of just what it looked like for real women or refugees to have to go through such a hard time.

Cutting down trees

This may very well just get deleted but I thought it might be fun to blog/take notes on Under the Persimmon Tree as I read it, so here goes:

On picking up the book - The author is American, bad start.

First glance through (author's note and such) - There's a glossary of unusual/foreign terms, it's fantastic. The author is already admitting to taking liberties with the timeframe and series of events.

First chapter - Meet Najmah, a little farmer girl, and then thank god for the Taliban because another 20 pages on that farm and I'd have been ready to fall asleep. Najmah means "star".

Second chapter - Meet Nusrat, actually Elaine, a young blonde haired blue eyed woman from New York who is now living in Pakistan with her husband who is currently away. 9/11 is mentioned.

Third chapter - Uncle Mohiuddin is a bad guy, he wants their land. All the men and boys are gone from the village, the rest leave for Pakistan. Habib is born.

Fourth chapter - Meteors, omens, sick Margaret, no friends. Nusrat means "help"

Through chapter 7 - The author is starting to sound painfully American and some of the descriptions of the land are just dragging on forever. I could easily forgive these things if there was some original plot to hold my interest, but I'm still left hoping for that to develop.

Through book's end - Not much changes, certainly the story plays out and the plot is as predictable as anything could be, the author maintains an American perspective which makes most of the caracters seem out of place or simply not at home in an otherwise well described culture. I did not like this book, and the glossary was the best part, just as I had feared.