I really like Orhan Pamuk; his books can be a little difficult to get into but once I do I’m captivated. The narrator in this novel is Pamuk himself, and towards the end of the book he becomes a more prominent figure; he even makes reference to other books that he has written, and some names and themes from those books turn up within the writing as well, making me want to read all of them simultaneously to figure out the pattern . . .

One of his recurring themes is that, actually, the driving need to figure out patterns where they may or may not exist, and the desire to derive meaning from “signs” which are drawn from the everyday. Central to his work, too, is his native Turkey, and Snow has a lot to do with where Turks place themselves between home and Europe, between secular thought and Islam, and how they are viewed by the rest of the world.

The main character, Ka, seems to seek the easiest path to his personal happiness in the midst of a coup, by ignoring or going along with whatever facet of the political and ideological struggle he encounters, seeking only to get to the other side of it all. Which, you know, resonates.

Finished Orhan Pamuk’s Snow a while back… Just my humble thoughts here:
Whilst it left me appreciating the various forms of freedom so many of us thankfully, still have [although we refuse to acknowledge these], I’d found the novel rather upsetting: how so many of the characters’ ‘mundane’/everyday decisions very so often, seem to be inevitably laced with political notions, or vested with self interests hinging on power struggles (as if it’s only humanly natural to keep doing so).

Was a tad disappointed with the repetition of established/widely existent states of inequalities (objectification, for instance), instead of offering something more enlightened than stereotypes only too common in many of our societies.

Thereagain, am still glad Mr Pamuk’s book made me rethink and be thankful for how so many of us do not live in the dreadful darkness where coups transform so much of what makes us, us: our homelands, friendships/humanity – and our memories.
Wishes all, minerva*

boring. (sorry)