Thank you @penguinukbooks for my free copy of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak - it was my first by Shafak but I don’t think it will be my last!
.
Tequila Leila is dying. Or, to external eyes, she’s already dead. But in her head, her synapses are still firing, and for 10 minutes 38 seconds, she relives some of the most important memories of her life through a series of memorable tastes relating to different events. It was a unique plot device I’ve not seen used before, and a great way of giving us all the important details and formative events of Leila’s life without it turning into a pseudo-biography. Trigger warning for sexual abuse here, as Leila’s past life is very hard to stomach.
.
That’s part one, and then part two focuses on Leila’s five friends who were introduced to us along the way in part one. I LOVED the friends. Everyone needs a group of friends (or just one friend) who is there for you and accepts you and loves you for your flaws. Definitely a group of misfits, they showed the strengths friendship can have and proved that sometimes water is thicker than blood.
.
Having never experienced Shafak’s writing before, I wasn’t sure what to expect but it was very readable and she just tells a great story! She also paints such a rich, multifaceted portrait of Istanbul, as a city torn between east and west, its darker underbelly where crime is rife and people live on the margins of society, but also where friendship and love flourishes wherever it can. I did think there was sometimes a bit of telling rather than showing, and part one was stronger than part two, but overall a very enjoyable and at times heartbreaking read!