I’ve heard a lot about Pamuk, because he won a Nobel Prize. But I had never read anything by him until this book. And I regret taking such a long time to read him, because he’s wonderful.
This book follows the story of Ka, an exiled poet, who returns to Turkey in order to investigate the suicide of a group of girls (supposedly because of the country’s ban of headscarves in schools). While in Kars (the city where the girls killed themselves), he becomes involved in an attempted coup, and a love affair with an old friend.

Throughout the whole book, Ka meets different types of fundamentalists. Some of them are from the religious variety; others are politically inclined, and so on. Ka, by contrast, seems to be almost devoid of an opinion. He goes from one group to another, trying to make them agree on something. His only interest in the novel seems to be the love of beautiful Ipek. He wants to marry her and move together to Germany (where he lives).

Women in the book are somewhat in the background of the action. The headscarf girls’ suicides are the trigger for many religious and political tensions to explode. Ipek is there to give Ka some semblance of purpose. Her sister, the also beautiful Kadife, is the one who seems to have a more active role in the story, but she is also used by different groups of men to make a point. I’ll probably sound like I’m obsessed with women in fiction (I am), but in a novel that starts with women killing themselves, I’d expect women’s roles being questioned. And they are, even if they are mostly questioned by male characters. That could be Pamuk’s commentary on how different groups think of women and how they’re used in their political plans.

There’s also some sort of critique to how media is used to control people’s minds. In the city of Kars, art and culture are weapons for the war they are fighting. Whoever gets control of the media, gets the control of the people in the city. Ideologies and ideals are translated into shows, spectacles that are only meant to attract the masses. It’s a very creepy view, but the scariest thing is how it seems to work. There’s a lot of fuss over Kadife’s decision to show her hair in national TV, as she is admired by many young religious men and women. Her decision to bare her head may seem trivial to westerners, but it is a big deal in the novel (and I’m sure that for women who decide to do that, it is also huge). It’s interesting how gender and sex end up playing in this novel.

I don’t know much about conflicts in the Middle East, so I can’t really comment much on the political issues here. However, there’s a lot to say about fundamentalism. As I already said, many characters here are fundamentalists; they cling to their views and are not willing to discuss them. And of course, this leads to a very conflictive and tense outcome.

I liked this book a lot, even if it is a bit slow. It is also beautifully written, so that’s a plus. If you want to give it a try, go ahead.